Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The site of the city is among the most dramatic in Europe, rising above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone.
The ancient city (urbs vetus in Latin, whence "Orvieto"), populated since Etruscan times, has usually been associated with Etruscan Velzna, but some modern scholars differ. Orvieto was certainly a major centre of Etruscan civilization; the Archaeological Museum (Museo Claudio Faina e Museo Civico) houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate neighborhood. An interesting survival that might show the complexity of ethnic relations in ancient Italy and how such relations could be peaceful, is the inscription on a tomb in the Orvieto Cannicella necropolis: mi aviles katacinas, "I am of Avile Katacina", with an Etruscan-Latin first name (Aulus) and a family name that is believed to be of Celtic ("Catacos") origin.
Orvieto was annexed by Rome in the third century BC. After the collapse of the Roman Empire its defensible site gained new importance: the episcopal seat was transferred from Bolsena, and the city was held by Goths and by Lombards before its self-governing commune was established in the 10th century, in which consuls governed under a feudal oath of fealty to the bishop. Orvieto's relationship to the papacy has been a close one; in the tenth century Pope Benedict VII visited the city of Orvieto with his nephew, Filippo Alberici, who later settled there and became Consul of the city-state in 1016.
Black pottery technique from Etruscians - very labor intensive and rare!Orvieto, sitting on its impregnable rock controlling the road between Florence and Rome where it crossed the Chiana, was a large town: its population numbered about 30,000 at the end of the 13th century.[1] Its municipal institutions already recognized in a papal bull of 1157,[2] from 1201 Orvieto governed itself through a podestà, who was as often as not the bishop, however, acting in concert with a military governor, the "captain of the people". In the 13th century bitter feuds divided the city, which was at the apogee of its wealth but found itself often at odds with the Papacy, even under interdict. Pope Urban IV stayed at Orvieto in 1262-1264.
The territory of Orvieto was under papal control long before it was officially added to the Papal States (various dates are quoted); it remained a papal possession until 1860, when it was annexed to newly unified Italy.
Tufa caves used for pigeonsBelow the city there are about 1200 caves and tunnels, dug in the past centuries to get additional space for workshop, shops, storage, and to extract building materials. Digging below the city was relatively easy because of the soft basaltic rock and volcanic debris, but it has compromised the stability of the city laying above.
Don't Miss:
- Tufa cave tours below the city - buy a ticket across from the Duomo: http://www.umbriantravel.com/?p=195
- Etruscian necropolis in the valley: The necropolis, which forms a vast archaeological park, is made up of a series of small chamber tombs, aligned along the burial “roads.” The arrangement of the tombs, which follows a definite “town” plan, provides precious elements for the study of the layout of the ancient city. Built from blocks of tuff, the entrance lintels of the tombs are inscribed with the name of the deceased. "Omphalos" or egg-shaped stones, represented rebirth for the Etruscians.
- Believe it or not, some of the best Chinese restaurants we've ever found is in Orvieto - near the lower gate. Bonsai - 39.0763.343.355
- Hot springs at Viterbo and Saturnia: http://www.termedeipapi.it/