During my experience learning Italian in Rome, the Scuola Leonardo used to organize day trips not only in the city but also a bit further away and today I am going to tell you about the time we went to the beautiful Orvieto.
The group of students and the beautiful Marta met at Termini to take the train, some bought the tickets at the machine others did it online. I suggest you to always carry your identity card because every time I’ve travelled by train I’ve been asked for it.
We arrive after just over 2 hours and find the sky blue and a spectacular day. We take a small funicular that take us up to the entrance of the town, where my friends pose for me.
Orvieto belongs to Terni (Umbria), it is a medieval town built on a hill of volcanic tuff and positioned very strategically, under it there is an intricate network of wells, caves and galleries.
To avoid running out of water during sieges, centuries ago they built wells like the one we are going to visit. The Pozzo di San Patrizio was built between 1527 and 1537 by order of Pope Clement VII and has 248 steps, which we will of course walk down. They were so clever that the stairs going down and the stairs going up were intertwined in such a way that people and animals did not meet or get in the way, what a work of engineering, I think it is impressive.
Do you remember I told you about the Etruscans and the egalitarian society they had? They were also established here, reaching their peak between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, and proof of this is the Belvedere temple dedicated to one of their deities. We are lucky to be accompanied by the founder of the ‘scuola’ Pier Alberto, who tells us the story of this place.
From there, we walk through those beautiful little streets, full of flowers and artisan shops, to the city center where we find the Torre del Moro. Climbing it costs €3.80, but as we are a group, it costs us €3, and of course, there are 240 steps.
The views are magnificent.
We stop to eat in a very local place before heading to see the crown jewel. Its most emblematic monument is its Gothic cathedral, the Duomo, which is located in Piazza Duomo.
Its exterior is beautiful, white, black, with golden inlays; it made me think that if the one in Palma had them, they probably wouldn’t last long due to the proximity of the sea. Its interior is even more spectacular, with those frescoes and colours, it is all marvelous.
From a viewpoint heading back, we can see how this city is built into the rock and check its clever strategic position. This land is also a place of good wines.
In the company of a good wine, in my case, a tea, I recommend a book that is set between Florence and Ferrara in northern Italy in the 16th century, among medieval castles. While writing this post I am reading “The Marriage Portrait” by Maggie O’Farrell (you’ll remember her famous book Hammet) and I can’t help but imagine Lucrezia, the youngest daughter of Duke Cosimo di Medici, when her sister Maria, destined to marry the Duke of Ferrara, dies, she is the one chosen to marry the duke, threatening her quiet existence within the walls of her father’s palace. This story is a portrait of the life of this girl with amazing painting skills and her discovery of who her husband really is, a charming one or a tyrant?
