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Orvieto, Umbria's grand hill town, whilst being a mecca for visitors and hence quite busy during the day, still has much to recommend it – in particular its cathedral, the white wine and its ceramics – and in the evening most tourists have long since gone so it is also an excellent place to have dinner. Orvieto sits majestically on a big chunk of tufa rock 660 feet above the river Paglia. Its streets are lined with exhaust-stained buildings made from this volcanic material. Train travellers and drivers use a handy funicular that shuttles them quickly from the train station and car park at the base up to the hilltop town. Though Orvieto is full of historic buildings, none can equal its superb Romanesque-Gothic cathedral, begun in 1290, and the medieval square it faces. It is also the centre of Umbria’s wine industry. The vineyards extend along the line of hills on the right and left banks of the Paglia to the point where, what is now just a small stream, joins the river Tiber. So famous is Orvieto’s wine that the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio described it as "the sun of Italy in a bottle" on account of its fragrance, strength and colour. While in his will, Pope Gregory XVI ordered that his body first be washed with the wine of Orvieto before being buried. Today, Orvieto Classico is without doubt one of Italy’s best known and most appreciated white wines. |
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Coastal villas · Inland & city holiday homes · About us · Contact & booking · Home |
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Dimore Italiane Ltd 257 Dover House Road London SW15 5BZ carolina@dimoreitaliane.co.uk |
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