A Saturday in Orvieto

Atop Orvieto's wall

Two of the many lovely things about living in Rome are 1) the ease of travel outside of Rome and 2) the abundance of day trips in close proximity to the city. My friend Kaitlin and I decided to take advantage of this aspect of our study abroad experience and went on a day trip to a beautiful medieval town, Orvieto.

Just over a 1.5 hour train ride from Rome, Orvieto sits atop a large hill surrounded by a massive wall that was used to keep out adversaries throughout the centuries. To reach the historic part of town, you have to take a funicular up the hill (or ride a bus, but the funicular was much more fun). We didn't go with any sort of itinerary, so we got to spend most of the day wandering Orvieto's lovely but confusing streets.

So picturesque

Orvieto is known for its pottery!

Outdoor market

One of the most defining landmarks in the town is the massive Duomo (cathedral) perched on a large open piazza (plaza/square). I was intrigued by the stripes along the side of the Duomo, however the front is the most capturing part of the structure. The intricacy of the carvings and murals combined with the color was truly stunning. We spent awhile just standing in front of it and admiring the artwork.

Fun fact that I didn't know: during World War II, there were locations such as Orvieto, among others, that both the Allies and the Axis powers agreed not to bomb to preserve their cultural and historical history. Orvieto was preserved for its Duomo and underground caves (discussed later). This was just an interesting and sort of "hope for humanity" type of fact, that even in the middle of a war there could be agreements made by both sides to preserve cultural relics.

After wandering around for awhile, we stopped in at a local feeling hole-in-the-wall deli type restaurant. The waiters only spoke Italian which pushed both of us to work with our Italian certainly more than we have to in Rome which was very cool, and we appreciated the fact that the town is trying to preserve its own culture and not cater solely to tourists. We had a lovely meat and cheese plate along with a caprese salad and some local wine. Everything was so tasteful and fresh it was a wonderful meal, and we even sat next to two Italians who were very patient and let us practice more of our Italian with them. It was an all around enjoyable time.

Italian "aperitivi"

Everything so fresh!

We spent the afternoon walking along part of the outer wall of the city, taking in the Italian countryside views. It was a relaxing couple of hours that we just got to spend enjoying the lovely outdoors.

The outer wall

Views from outside Orvieto

In the early evening, we took a tour of Orvieto's underground. Apparently developed starting with the Etruscan civilization around 700 BC, nearly the entire underground of Orvieto is composed of caves. In 700 BC, the Etruscan's used the underground part of the city to work and store food, a process that carried through the middle ages. During this time, the medieval town was so overpopulated that people only lived above ground and all work happened below ground. Now most of the caves are privately owned as they still sit under houses and are used by families for storage.

Tools used to make olive oil

Another fun fact: these pictures with the holes in the wall show old aviaries where the people of Orvieto would keep pigeons for times of famine. Between this and their underground water source, they were able to wait out the Roman army for two years without starving just within their own city walls.

After our underground tour, we wandered around the town a little more and had a couple appetizers before heading back to Rome. It was a lovely day trip, and the perfect Italian medieval town to explore!