Orvieto

We made our first foray out into Umbria a few days ago. We left Assisi and drove the cute little rented car to Orvieto.

Dave drove, and the Italians came up fast to pass us on the left. We were a little jumpy but we are getting used to the Italian roundabouts and buried street names.

We parked easily up on the "rock" of Orvieto, a lovely medieval town on a high hill (which turns out to be rock all the way down--more on that later), with a famous cathedral. We had heard the cathedral referred to as the most beautiful in Italy, which is really saying something--but it is staggering.

Dave remembered it from visiting as a teen, and it is memorable. It's black and white striped, the entire thing, inside and out, like it was carved from a block of striped marble. Then, the candles on the huge columns are black and white striped as well. Inside there are frescos by Fra Angelico, many paintings, and a beautiful pieta by Hippolytus Skalzi. The floor is wildly patterned in red, white and dark green tile. Wow.

We then threaded our way through the stone streets to find the recommended restaurant. And we DID! and it was one of the best meals we've had, distinguished especially by me ordering everything with artichokes on the menu. Artichokes baked with mint. Artichoke risotto with ginger and green tea. Dave ate a pigeon. Really wonderful place, named after the Etruscans who first settled the rock.

THEN--we took the underground tour. This is a cool tour where you explore only 2 of the 12,000 or so caves that lie beneath the town, carved into the rock. We heard about the Estruscan settlement 2500 years ago, a town called Velzna that was eventually destroyed by the Romans (of course). They have found deep Etruscan wells burrowed into the rock, underneath more medieval caves that were used as olive presses and pigeon breeding dovecotes. Weird and cool!

We returned to Assisi and it felt like a metropolis in comparison. Yesterday we ventured out again, to Gubbio, where Francis tamed the wolf. More on that later.

We love hearing from everyone.

--Jessica