Around the World In A Wheel Chair

Civita de Bagnoregio, Italy.

We checked out of the Hotel Oravieto, waved goodbye to the friendly staff and headed for a tiny Etruscan Hill town called Civita di Bagnoregio where we had made reservations in a B&B overlooking the town square. On the way we passed other hill towns but stayed on course until we saw before us a most imposing site.

“There it is Deb,” I said.

“My God! I’m not going up there”, she said.

“There are no cars in Civita, I will have to push you up that goat path or donkey trail to the gate at the top. I see a place where we are supposed to park the car at the bottom.”

“I think you should call and cancel the reservation,” she offers.

“Let us at least try it,” I suggested.

We park the car and unload the wheelchair and a single overnight bag that was placed on Debbie’s lap and I commenced pushing the wheelchair up the donkey trail. We got part way and Debbie suggested I take a break as she heard me huffing and puffing. We stopped for a moment and put the breaks on the wheelchair.

“How are we ever going to get down from here”, she asked.

“Let us get up to the top first, maybe they can lower us on a rope” I chuckled.

I started pushing again and we were about half way up we heard voices behind us, saying:

“Can we take it from here?”

I turned to look and found two young athletic men, an American and an Italian; both looked to me like body builders, compared to me at age 70.

I said, “welcome to the chariot race.” They laughed and pushed the wheelchair near the top of the hill where another surprise was waiting for us.

The goat trail curves near the top, and was no longer a flat surface, and became pie shaped steps to go around the curve. Lots of pie shaped steps. The young men picked up Debbie in the wheelchair negotiated all the steps and placed the chair down under the gate marking the entrance to Civita di Bagnoregio.

“Hey guys, thank you, lets go the that café where I can buy you some beers.”

“No thanks,” they replied “We are happy to help. Arrivaderci.”

As we entered the town square we spotted another café, and ordered beers. Quaffing down a cold beer we noticed our B&B across the square, above the Tratoria “Antico Forno”. The few rooms upstairs were being cleaned and a woman at an open window was leaning out banging her dust mop against the outside of the stone building. Each window had a flower box of red geraniums hang from the sill.

“I’ll bet that is our room”, Debbie said.

“Probably. We can’t check in until noon so let’s check out the rest of Civita. As we walked through this historic Etruscan Town we discovered the birthplace of St. Bonaventure, a small stone building, right on the edge of a cliff with great views of the farmlands far below the cliffs. In another tiny stone building an old man was making bruchetta over an open fire in his fireplace. He invited us to try some, which we did and found it delicious.

As we approached our B&B to check in we noticed stone steps at the entrance. As I parked the wheelchair behind a planter, Debbie was already sitting on the steps and with her arms lifting her buttocks up one step at a time. Where there is a will, there is a way, says it all about Debbie’s endurance. Once through the door we checked in and now had to go up another set of stairs to the second floor. This staircase was a narrow staircase with a railing on both sides that Debbie using her arms again was able to ascend.

As we entered the room and looked out the window, Debbie laughed knowing she bet it would be the same room and window that we noticed the cleaning lady preparing for us.

From this window you could see the entire square, with the old Etruscan Church dominating the head of the square and its bell tower peeling off little bells every 15 minutes and the big bell on the hour every hour. The shops and café’s across the square and the many orange tiled roofs atop the brown stone buildings bordering the rest of the town square.

In mid-afternoon, Debbie was taking a nap, I could hear a put-put sound and look out the window to see a vehicle which appears to be a motorcycle for the front wheel with two wheels in the back with a tiny truck body atop the two wheels.

“So that is how they get food and supplies up here” I thought.

We later went downstairs to Tratoria “Antico Forno” and Chef Franco Sala, came out to introduce himself.

The dinner that evening was excellent as expected, the friendly chef offered the services of the little cart I saw to take us down the goat trail the next day.

Toward noon the next day we heard the put-put of the little vehicle waiting to take us down to our car. The bumpy ride down the pie shaped steps is the reason for the single front wheel. Once we got to the flat surface it became easier but like a roller coaster ride nonetheless.

Thanking the driver as he dropped us off at our car we both looked up at this thirteenth century Etruscan town knowing that our experiences in Civita di Bagnoregio will last a lifetime.

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