Orvieto, Italy - September 15 & 16 (part two)

As we mentioned, we loved the little B&B that we found. Unfortunately, it was down the hill from the city and required a walk up a dirt path to the road that led to the parking lot with the elevator that led to the city. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the impending storm that was threatening all day our second day there.

The road was already made muddy by some rain the night before forcing me to roll up my pants and look strangely like an old lady in the picture below.


Nevertheless, we had sightseeing to do and would not be put off by a little rain. We bought the Orvieto Pass and knocked out nearly everything to see in Orvieto in one day. First, we did the Orvieto Underground tour featuring the pigeons and the Well, both of which Ali discussed earlier.

Then we went to the city's extremely large and flashy Duomo (only the best for when the Pope comes to visit) which can apparently be seen from miles away. It also has a side chapel with an impressive end of days fresco said to be the inspiration for the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed).



We also went to two nearby museums: an Etruscan history museum where Ali enjoyed the little statue below and an archaeology museum of which we were probably the only visitors all day.



Next, in furtherance of our mission to climb every single thing in Europe, we stomped to the top of the city's bell tower. From up here, we could really see the storm coming on the horizon.





Unfortunately for Ali, despite being at the top of a bell tower, there was one thing we didn't see coming (it's a little long, but wait for the end).



It started drizzling as we left the bell tower and headed for our final sight, a private cave with a well inside. Out of the hundreds of caves under the city, you can only go into 2 of them, most of the others still connect to the kitchens of houses and are still in use as wine cellars, work rooms, and dove cotes. This one was cool to see as you could see how the well had been utilized throughout the centuries. The cave was open to the public because the house had been converted into a bar.

As we were finishing up, we could hear it start to pour outside. We decided to grab a drink in the adjoining bar and wait for the rain to die down. After a while, there was a slight break in the action we decided we would just go for it and hope for the best. Unfortunately, we got about 10 feet outside before the skies opened up and sideways rain engulfed us. No matter what I did with the tiny umbrella I couldn't find a way to keep us dry. We sprinted towards the elevator and found a brief respite from the rain, but the damage had been done.



Nothing to see here.

We did all of the above sights for only 18 euro each, including parking or a funicular ride that we had no need for. It was a great deal and very manageable within one day.

After we got back and rested, the rain stopped. We decided to head back up the hill for dinner. As we waited for a table, the rain began again and in the dark night we once again avoided injury walking down a wet muddy hill in the rain.

Orvieto, Italy - September 15 & 16 (part one)

I'm posting under Kevin's name because I started this and just realized it was under Kevin's name. I am lazy.

Orvieto was our last stop before Rome. We had lots of options, and originally looked at extra nights in Siena or checking out Asissi . . . then we went to Florence. Church overload. Church Art Overload. And I think we ate too much. Walking out of the Uffizi I was a little dizzy. I might have been having an art attack. But seriously folks, one more Madonna and Child and I was going to pass out. Then we found Orvieto. Pre-Roman Etruscan Ruins? Check. Caves and wells to climb down? Check. Pigeon eating? Check Check.

We also found Casa Selita, quite possibly the cutest 70 Euro a night B&B in Europe. We had our own balcony, looking over the hills of Tuscany and the room was spacious and comfortable. Seylita picked us up at the train station herself, and even made her own fig jam from her own trees for breakfast. YUM.


Here's Kev trying to do the crossword puzzle from the International Herald Tribune on the balcony. That sucker was tough. Too many British joke clues.


This was the view.

We got to use the balcony our first night there, and took a lovely stroll up through the olive orchard, along the street, up the crazy 4 level escalator into town (there is also an elevator) and ate a pigeon, wild boar ragu, and fresh home-made pasta topped with olive oil and freshly shaved truffles. More on this later, at least the pigeon part. Truffles and wild boar in Tuscany speak for themselves.

Now for the well. Orvieto has a really long, intersting history. You can read about it here, if you like. It was the site of an Etruscan (pre-Roman Tribe) city, completely abandoned for hundreds of years, and then in times of danger in Rome, the home of the Pope. They have a gorgeous Cathedral, but the city is definitely most famous for it's man made caves. Peope have been digging into the mesa type structure of soft volcanic rock under the city for centuries. They made caves for mining rock, worked in them (because it was tax free), stored food, wine and hid out when it was dangerous. They dug super deep wells with pickaxes. Read the wikipedia. It's cool. That concludes my tour.

It's me at the bottom of the well, It's me at the bottom of the well!
400+ steps down to the bottom of the well. Very deep. Now try getting that song out of your head.

This is the view of the well that the Pope had dug so that the city would have water even it was under seige by the enemies. Seige was a big deal. This place is on the top of a rock hill in the bottom of a valley. It's a tough place to attack. When they were under seige, they were also almost totally sustainable. Because they ate pigeons.


Pigeons were really important and are delicious. They reproduce every 20 days, so the people dug caves, made dove cotes (or pigeon nests) inside them with tiny windows to the outside. The caves connected straight to the kitchen so mama could walk downstairs, strangle a pigeon or two, pop them in the pot and dinner was served. If the city was under seige, the pigeons could fly out the windows and eat, then would come back to nest at night (pigeons are not very smart and did not realize they were in for a dinner trap). Every hole in this picture was a nesting spot, and the middle is the stairs up to the kitchen (cemented over because of landslides -- they dug too many caves and ground has become unstable on parts of the hill-- lots of homes/businesses still have private caves, this is just one that is now "public" for tours since it was fixed up after a landslide).