Outstanding Orvieto...
To sum up this beautiful Umbrian hillside town is quite difficult. A city upon a city, it was built in layers: medieval edifices rest upon ancient subterranean remains. In the 8th century BC, Etruscans burrowed for tufa (a volcanic stone out of which most of the medieval quarter is built), leaving behind an entire city beneath the ground surface. Six centuries later, Romans sacked and reoccupied the plateau. Today, the town is a tourist destination made popular by its spectacular underground chambers, distinctly Medieval ambiance, refreshing Orvieto Classico wine and for us, the book, The Lady in the Palazzo: An Umbrian Love Story by Marlena de Blasi.
Its Duomo has one of Italy's most amazing façades (from 1330). One has to ask, "Why such an impressive church in a little town?" According to Rick Steves:
It was a fantastic day of exploring a new city, enjoying great company, shopping and learning some interesting history!
Its Duomo has one of Italy's most amazing façades (from 1330). One has to ask, "Why such an impressive church in a little town?" According to Rick Steves:
Because of a blood-stained cloth. In the 1260s, a skeptical priest — who doubted that the bread used in communion was really the body of Christ — passed through Bolsena (a few miles from Orvieto) while on a pilgrimage to Rome. During Mass, the bread bled, staining a linen cloth. The cloth was brought to the pope, who was visiting Orvieto at the time. Such a miraculous relic required a magnificent church.
It was a fantastic day of exploring a new city, enjoying great company, shopping and learning some interesting history!
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