Discover Church of San Donato

San Donato stands on the main square of Civita, facing the old communal palace, on what was historically the centre of the village's plan. It was the cathedral of the diocese of Bagnoregio from the year 600 until an earthquake took the see away in the 1690s, and it has been an Italian national monument since 1940.

The gate into Civita is cut through the tufa under a tower with a small arcaded loggia at the top. The two lions are dated to 1497 and the eagle with its carved head to around 1550, so the sculpture was added over roughly half a century rather than at once.

It is the last of five, and the only one that is both a monument and the working front door. Inside it the street plan is Etruscan in origin -- cardi and decumani, inherited by Rome -- under an architectural dress that is medieval and Renaissance throughout. Cutting a passage rather than building one is the normal method here: the chamber tombs, the cisterns and the Bucaione tunnel through the lowest part of the village are all made by removing rock.

The site is older than the church by a thousand years. Civita was founded in the sixth century BC by the Etruscans, on one of the oldest roads in Italy -- the route joining the Tiber, then a major navigation artery of central Italy, to Lake Bolsena. Its Etruscan name is unknown, probably through the damnatio memoriae the Romans applied after conquering Etruria. The square San Donato faces is the centre of a plan laid out on Etruscan lines.

The church began Romanesque and was dated by tradition to the fifth century. It became the cathedral of the diocese of Bagnoregio from the year 600, and traces of that first Romanesque building survive under everything done to it since.

1511 removed the east end. To a design by the architect Nicola Matteucci of Caprarola, the eastern wall, the two choirs, the crypt and the high altar were demolished and replaced by the present presbytery and choir. The façade was reworked into a Renaissance front in the same campaign, receiving its central portal in 1524 and its two side portals in 1547.

1695 ended its career as a cathedral. An earthquake did serious damage, and by the brief Super Universas of Innocent XII, dated 20 February 1699, the seat of the diocese was moved to nearby Bagnoregio, where the collegiate church of San Nicola became the new cathedral. San Donato has been a parish church since.

And the ground has never stopped moving. The Etruscans were already fighting it: earth tremors and landslips hit the area in 280 BC, and they embanked rivers and cut drainage channels to carry the water off. The Romans, arriving in 265 BC, took up the same works of rainwater canalisation and torrent containment on an imposing scale. After them the works were neglected, the territory degraded quickly, and Civita was in the end abandoned.

Was this really a cathedral?

Yes, from the year 600 until 1699. The earthquake of 1695 damaged it badly, and by the brief Super Universas of 20 February 1699 Innocent XII moved the diocesan seat to nearby Bagnoregio, where the collegiate church of San Nicola became the cathedral instead.

What is the crucifix?

The wooden SS. Crocifisso. It is taken down inside the church on Good Friday and carried on a bier in Bagnoregio's Good Friday procession. Legend has it speaking during the plague of 1499 to a pious woman who prayed before it daily, telling her the pestilence would end -- which it did, a few days later, as she herself died.

Are there really Etruscan sarcophagi in the bell tower?

Two, in basalt, built into its base.

Do I have to pay?

Not for the church, but yes to reach it. Access to the borgo has been chargeable since June 2013, at 5 euros bought at the gate, with a long list of exemptions including under-6s, residents, licensed guides and journalists.

How do I get there?

On foot, over the reinforced-concrete footbridge of 1965, entering by the Porta di Santa Maria. Residents and authorised persons may cross by cycle or motorcycle at set times. From Piazzale Battaglini the village is a 15-minute walk, or there is a shuttle to the Belvedere.

When was the church built?

Tradition dates it to the fifth century and it is Romanesque in origin. The east end -- wall, both choirs, crypt and high altar -- was demolished and rebuilt in 1511 to Nicola Matteucci's design, and the Renaissance façade was completed with its portals in 1524 and 1547.

What else is on the square?

The old communal palace opposite, Palazzo Alemanni with the Museo Geologico e delle Frane, the Palazzo Vescovile, a sixteenth-century mill and the remains of the birthplace of St Bonaventure.