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The 'dead city' of Civita - you're looking for a room with a view May 20, 2007: Hospitality, Fortress-style + The Dead City of Civita Day 9 PHOTO GALLERY "If this doesn't capture the imagination, nothing will." That's the first thing that escaped from my lips as the 'dead city' of Civita appeared before me like some kind of surreal Magritte daubing. It is called 'dead' because of the dwindling number of inhabitants now eking out a living in this medieval village perched on a rock in a giant volcanic basin. Erosion of a massive scale separated the city from the nearby town of Bagnoregio. It reminded me of a little Disney World fortress, floating on a giant moat of thin air. We locked up the bikes and began the hike on the long suspended footbridge spanning the chasm to get to the village. There wasn't a lot over there, a few cafes, souvenir shops, a church and so forth, but a wonderful cobbled ambiance and I could

Breakfast in a fort on the penultimate day. Ciao Italia, buon giorno to new found friends in cycling. May 21, 2007: A descent through the Tuscan Maremma to the magical Meditarranean Day 10 PHOTO GALLERY The final day. The final hill. The final 7 course wine dinner blowout. And a 56 mile slight downhill all the way to the Mediterranean. What more could you want? Maybe a gold leather bag. "See you in the Prada shop," said Andreas back in Orvieto. I didn't see any Prada shop, but Sandra somehow managed to located all the cool shoe places. The first half of the day covered what Dana called the Tuscan Maremma. Here's what the Wiki says about it:  ... an area in Italy, consisting of part of southern Tuscany (and partly coincident with province of Grosseto area) and some part of northern Lazio (a bordering region of the province of Viterbo). It was traditionally populated by the Butteri, cattle-breeders who used horses until recently, with a dist