Overview

Orange Flag of the Italian Touring Club

The village of Civita, at the foot of the Pollino massif and near the Lower Gorges of the Raganello stream, is part of a natural context of great value. The town stands on the site of the ancient Latin village of “Castrum Sancti Salvatoris”, which was later renamed “Civita” by refugees from southern Albania around the end of the 1400s. There is still a strong Italian-Albanian ethnic minority in the area and its identity is protected and promoted for example with the Arberesh Ethnic Museum of Culture, a very active place of cultural and social exchange. The town can be discovered by means of a historical-artistic route, such as the itinerary of the chimneys and of the anthropomorphic dwellings known as Kodra houses, or via a nature trail through the Forra del Raganello, characterised by its Low Gorges, a habitat marked by a rich biodiversity whose morphology calls to mind Dante’s bolgias. Finally, do not miss out on the Devil's Bridge, one of the symbols of the Pollino Park, with its characteristic donkey-back structure, whose construction is linked to a series of myths and legends.