September 26:
We had breakfast at the hotel which was reasonable. The blood orange juice (the first time I ever had) was quite refreshing. I had my usual piece of bread with cheese and coffee.
Orvieto sits on the top of a volcanic tuff (325 meters above sea level)-consolidate and compressed volcanic ash and down below, there is the other part of Orvieto which has the train station and some businesses. The hill top town has narrow roads, the Cathedral and other tourist attractions.
We explored Orvieto on foot together with our local guide who met us at the hotel. We all walked together and took some pictures of the 'Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo' which served as both market place as well as town's meeting hall. The building style was used as a template for other building is Italy. Presently it is used for conferences and community meetings.
The town has lots of narrow, winding cobbled streets under arches; between fortified walls, both new and ancient. There are lots of delightful little shops; restaurants; gift shops; shops selling leather goods, bread and olive oil etc. We were also guided to the Collegiate Church of Saints Andrew and Bartholomew- built on the ruined Etruscan place of worship. The dodecagonal bell tower was quite interesting. We did go inside the church. There were frescos which were not in great shape with plaster peeling off. St. Andrews in stained glass was nice (but not my picture of it).
As we still had plenty of time to meet after lunch to visit the Cathedral; we decided to take in, more of the town and discover on foot. The Bottega Michael Angeli Wood Atelier was very good with so many toys and things crafted in wood. We also passed in front of the Institute of higher education for art and crafts building; the various shops selling art works, ceramics, leather goods, etc.
Since we were on our own for lunch and dinner in Orvieto, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called, 'Trattoria la Grotta'. It was OK and soon after we entered, a big Scandinavian group entered.
Tiramisu was very good.
After lunch we were to meet in front of the Duomo (the Cathedral), the most imposing structure in Orvieto with an elaborately carved facade with three sections. This is considered a masterpiece of Italian Gothic. The Rose window is very arresting, both from outside and from inside. We waited for our local guide and I had enough time to take more detailed shots of the façade.
Our local guide showed up and we all entered the Cathedral. The Cathedral interior was huge and imposing; the black and white zebra patterns from marble was everywhere, on the columns supporting the cathedral and on the walls. Herein, one can find the masterpiece frescoes of Luca Signorelli. My shots are not good but captures the essence. Another piece of sculpture, one will not miss is the Pieta -completed by Ippolito Scalza around 1579.
After the Cathedral we made a brief visit to the underground caves which shielded the locals during enemy incursions near the Parco del Grotte. We had a special city guide to takes around the cave, quite an elaborate network (we only saw a part of it).
We returned perhaps around 5:00 PM and later we had a cheese, old meats and wine party. Two of the ladies in our group celebrated their birthdays which brought on birthday cakes and more singing.
We left a little early to have some supper at a nearby restaurant Antico Bucchero, a fine restaurant but a little expensive.
We are almost finished with our visit to Orvieto and tomorrow, after visiting Assisi we will come back to Orvieto to say goodbye the following day.
Here are some pictures of our visit:
More pictures in the video here.
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