Orvieto

It was a much nicer day with a clear blue sky as I headed off to Orvieto, a hill town about an hour away from Rome by train.

Ovieto is a town on top of a hill with steep sides. The station is at the eastern end and you can take a funicular up to the town from the station.

The bottom of the funicular.

The car was packed by the time it started up the hill. 

There is a matching vehicle that comes down the hill as the ascending vehicle goes up.

Entrance to a small park near the station at the top.

View over the lower town. You can see the old train line closer to the hill that I came on and the fast train line farther away with a fast train whizzing past. 

Ramparts.

A shady leafy street leading into the town. It is possible to take a bus but I chose to walk.

The shade petered out.

As usual in Italy there were quite a few churches.

A relatively plain interior but elegant.

Picturesque side lane.

I usually wander inside churches to check them out. Some can be very interesting but not this one.

What is that building lurking in the background? More later.

The ceiling of the entrance into an opera house, the Teatro Mancinelli.

Inside looking towards the stage.

Ceiling of the auditorium.

On the stage looking at the audience. I did my usual finger snapping to test the acoustics and it was a dry hall which works better for opera and singers. I suspect opera singers would love performing in this theatre.

The orchestra pit.

One of the boxes.

The teatro has a cafe attached but it was too early in the day for any patrons.

You look down mysterious  passageways like this and wonder what life is like on the other side of the gate.

A more interesting interior than those of the prior two churches.

So when you you have some many churches of the same faith so close to each other how do you decide which one to attend?

Interesting gate.

Shortly after this point I came across the Duomo which deserves its own blog along with the associated museums.

Lunch at a cafe on the square in front of the Duomo. Basically a selection of sausages ham and cheese along with a glass of very undistinguished Orvieto. Apart from the wine it was all good.

Back in Rome I had a two euro bottle of Orvieto from the supermarket that tasted much better than what this cafe offered.

However the cassata gelato more than made up for the dismal wine. A -.

These gelato photos have been making my sister Clare jealous. Each time she see one she feels like she needs to rush out and get one so that she doesn't fall behind. I don't blame her.

What a collection of roofs. A quintessential Italian sight.

The surrounding countryside.

Picture perfect rural Italy.

I walked for a while along the northern ramparts.

Down there is an Etruscan Burial area. I was too tired to descend.

The top of a well where inhabitants could get water if the city was besieged.

It is a long way down. Before my triple bypass I might have been tempted to go all the way down and then climb back up again. Not any more. I think that would be asking a bit too much of my body which was already quite tired at the end of a full day of walking. I was glad to get on the train to return to Rome.

But I really enjoyed Orvieto. It's a wonderful place.