Civita

Civita was settled in the fifteenth century by Albanians moving across the Adriatic, one of around fifty Arbëreshë communities in southern Italy that have kept their language, a form of Albanian preserved separately for five centuries, along with the Byzantine rite and their own costume and songs. Street signs are bilingual. The village stands on the rim of the Raganello gorge, and the Devil's Bridge crosses the ravine on a high arch below it. Some houses carry chimneys of unusual shapes and facades with window arrangements that look like faces, known locally as case Kodra after a painter.

What you actually see

• The Arbëreshë language - Albanian preserved here for five centuries.
• The Raganello gorge - a deep ravine below the village rim.
• The Devil's Bridge - a high arch crossing the ravine.
• The case Kodra - house fronts whose windows read as faces.

When to go

April to October; the gorge itself is entered only with authorised guides and closes in rain. Village festivals follow the Byzantine calendar. Winter is cold and quiet.

Honest expectations

Gorge entry requires an authorised guide and closes without warning after rain, following a fatal flash flood in 2018. The village is small and steep.

Nearby

The Pollino park surrounds it; Castrovillari lies west.