After a tearful goodbye to my Mom at the FCO Roma airport, Jake and I headed to Orvieto where we met up with my Dad. Orvieto was a new town for us in a region south of Tuscany called Umbria. From the train station, you need to get up into town by either taking a bus or taxi, or you can ride the funicular up. There’s not much going on in Orvieto but it was a good spot to catch up with my Dad for a few nights and we had some really great meals.
My Dad visited Italy with me for 7 nights and in addition to Orvieto, we stayed in Siena, Florence and Rome. This is us sitting down in our apartment in Orvieto. I think it's the only time we sat down the entire visit so it is a memorable photo!
The first major sight we laid eyes on in Orvieto was the Duomo. I was pretty disappointed that the facade, which is known to be the “liveliest” one in Italy, was covered in scaffolding. Oh well. The inside was still very impressive, especially the Chapel of San Brizio. The chapel was painted by Luca Signorelli between 1499-1503, is in great condition, and contains frescoes of the Day of Judgement and Life after Death. I had never heard of Luca Signorelli and as I studied the stories on the wall, I felt like this guy had copied Michelangelo’s style - the bodies were so detailed and life-like. It turns out that it was actually Michelangelo who meticulously studied the work of Signorelli when developing his own style.
We did a 45 minute guided underground tour of Orvieto where we learned that there are 1200 known caves beneath the city. They date back to the Etruscan and Medieval times where they were used as basements and also as places to store animals, including pigeons (one of the delicacies of Orvieto - yes we all tried it). It’s hard to describe how cool the experience was walking through the caves so I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.
The last thing we did in Orvieto was climb up and down St. Patrick’s Well. It is 175 feet deep and 45 feet wide and was built in the 16th century. It is a double-helix pattern with two spiral staircases that allowed for one way traffic flow. After Rome was attacked in 1527, the pope fled to the hill town of Orvieto. It had no water source on top and he was afraid that the town, even though tiny, would be besieged. So, he commissioned the well to be built and ten years later it was complete. The town was never besieged.
Looking up from the bottom of St. Patrick's Well
Me and my dad in the well.
The day Jake left for Budapest my dad and I took an hour bus trip to a town called Bagnoregio. From there we walked up to the hill town of Civita di Bagnoregio. It’s a very tiny, traffic-free village that has almost absolutely nothing going on but is worth the trip. I think this speaks for itself:
Civita di Bagnoregio
This town no longer has any permanent residents. Many left after an earthquake in 1695 because they were afraid that their houses would fall off the cliffs into the valley below. Today, there are a handful of B&B’s and restaurants and perhaps some second homes. The only access is via the pedestrian footbridge. You only need a few hours there but if you ask me, it is well worth it. It’s set in a canyon and looks to be frozen in the Middle Ages. I thought it was breathtaking and we had a great meal during our two hour visit. The half liter of vino rosso della casa (house red wine) was only $3 Euros!
Although we’ve arrived in Prague, I still have more to say about my last week in Italy so stay tuned for a bonus-Italy post from Prague….or whenever I have time to sit down and write it!
Update on my leg: After slipping on the wet rocks on our first day in Milos, Greece way back in July, I’ve been in a lot of pain and unable to run. I iced and elevated, and in retrospect should have seen a doctor. However, I’m finally happy to report that it is significantly better and I’ve even gone running three times with no increased pain! I can’t wait to really start running again and hope to enjoy some runs over the next few weeks before we enter the hot and humidity of SE Asia. I want to keep it up there too, but let’s be realistic - I hate running in the heat so we’ll see what happens. One of the runs we did was at the base of the cliffs of Orvieto. It was pouring rain and much more hilly than we expected but it was great to be out there!
If you look closely you can see the path we ran on at the base of the clif. The circular structure on top of the clif is St. Patrick's Well.
Jesslyn