Orvieto - Orvieto

Orvieto is a city of Umbria.

To know

Geographical notes

Orvieto is located in the south-western sector ofUmbria, in the province of Terni and stands on a tuff cliff that stands out between 20 and 50 meters from the level of the valley of the river Paglia, a right tributary of the Tiber.

When to go

Thanks to the rather mild climate, Orvieto can be visited all year round. Autumn is often foggy, due to the influence of Corbara Lake on the climate. On these occasions it can happen that a sea of ​​fog covers the valley floor, offering a suggestive spectacle to those who look out from the cliff.The best times to visit Orvieto are spring, when most of the cultural events are concentrated, and autumn , recommended instead if you want to do a food and wine tour in the city.

Background

Its origin is due to the Quaternary activity of the volcanic system of Volsini, near today's Bolsena. Orvieto was probably a notable Etruscan center in ancient times Volsinii, seat of the sanctuary Fanum Voltumnae, and subsequently an important medieval municipality, when its possessions reached Orbetello is Talamone on the Tyrrhenian Sea. During the thirteenth century it was the seat of five popes: Urban IV, Gregory X, Martin IV, Nicholas IV and Boniface VIII.

How to orient yourself

How to get

By plane

• 43.09583312.5130561 Sant'Egidio Airport (Perugia airport), ☎ 39075592141.  
• 41.80027812.2388892 Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport (Fiumicino Airport), Via dell 'Airport of Fiumicino, Fiumicino, ☎ 39 06 65951. The main airport of Rome.  
• 41.79944412.5972223 Giovan Battista Pastine Airport (Ciampino Airport), ☎ 39 06 65951. With less traffic, it is reserved for Low Cost companies.  

By car

Orvieto can be reached from the highway , thanks to the toll booth of the same name, located at kilometer 451 of the motorway, about 150 km from the toll booth of Florence south and 80 km from the branch for Rome north. The exit is located in the hamlet of Orvieto Scalo along the Amerina, a few kilometers from the city center.

For those arriving in Umbria using the freeway , it is possible to get to Orvieto using the exit Todi/ Orvieto, about 25 km from the city, along the state roads by Baschi e Amerina and passing in the vicinity of the Corbara Lake.

On the train

• 42.723912.12654 Orvieto station (The station is located outside the city, in the hamlet of Orvieto scalo). it is located on the Florence-Rome line 189 km from the Florence Santa Maria Novella station and 125 km from Rome Termini. Connections with Rome is Florence (regional trains, approximately every 2 hours). Perugia (2 hours and 30 mins)  

By bus

Several connections with smaller cities are carried out by FS bus Italy^{[link previously not working]}. The terminus is in Piazza Cahen in front of the funicular.

By bus Cotral can be reached Bagnoregio.

How to get around

The unique card

There single card is a city card that allows free use of public transport and entry to all museums and affiliated facilities. The card has a cost of € 20 (reduced € 17) and can always be used on subsequent visits as it does not expire.

By public transport

Buses allow connections to various parts of the city. In this link you can find all the information about the races and timetables. The most useful buses are:

• Circular A and C: piazza Cahen-duomo
• Line 1: piazza duomo-station
• 42.721412.120085 ^{[link previously not working]}Orvieto funicular. € 1.30 (May 2018). 07:15-20:00. It connects the train station to the historic center with a frequency of between 10 and 15 minutes.  

By car

Being a city not very accessible to cars, the best solution is to find a parking space. The city has several parking possibilities:

• 42.721412.11946 Piazza Cahen parking, Cahen square. 83 places. 
• 42.716712.1057 Parking area of ​​the fair, Street of the sawmill. For a fee. Very large parking 
• 42.717312.11548 Piazza Marconi parking. 

What see

• 42.72212.1211 ^{[link previously not working]}St. Patrick's Well, Viale Sangallo, ☎ 39 0763 343768. 5,00 €. November-January: 10: 00-16: 45; March-April, September-October: 9: 00-18: 45; May-August: 9: 00-19: 45. Built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger between 1527 and 1537, at the behest of Pope Clement VII, it was designed to supply water to the city in case of calamity or siege. It has a cylindrical shape, with a diameter of 13 m and a depth of 54. Access is guaranteed by two helical one-way ramps, completely autonomous and served by two different doors, which allowed the water extracted to be transported with mules, without get in the way. The steps, of shape and inclination suitable for mules, are 248.  
• 42.71848412.1053462 Well of the Cava, Via della Cava, 28, ☎ 39 0763 342373, fax: 39 0763 341029, @[email protected]. 4,00 €. Tue-Sun 9: 00-20: 00. The well is 36 meters deep and there is still water at the bottom. Of Etruscan origin, it was reused in the 16th century, but closed as early as 1646. It was then rediscovered in 1984. It is part of an underground complex of nine communicating rooms. The cavities are rich in Etruscan, medieval and Renaissance archaeological finds. 
• 42.71851412.1106673 ^{[link previously not working]}Torre del Moro, Corso Cavour, 87, ☎ 39 0763 344567. 2,80 €. March-April, September-October: 10 am-7pm; May-August: 10: 00-20: 00; November-February: 10: 30-16: 30. The tower is 47 meters high and on each wall has a large clock face installed in 1875. On the top there are two bells whose tolling marks the hours and quarter of an hour. The tower is located in the urban center of the city, at the intersection of corso Cavour, via del Duomo and via della Costituente. It is the meeting point of the four historic districts of Serancia, Corsica, Olmo and Stella. From the top you can admire the narrow alleys of the city and the surrounding hills among which the Cetona and Amiata mountains stand out. 

• 42.71944412.1030564 ^{[link previously not working]}Necropolis of the Crucifix of Tufo, Location le Conce, ☎ 39 0763 343611. 3,00 €. 10:00-19:00. Etruscan necropolis located at the base of the Orvieto cliff, reached its maximum extension between the mid-sixth and fifth centuries BC. The necropolis is structured as an agglomeration of small quadrangular shaped tombs and all of approximately the same size (3 x 2 m). The tombs, about seventy, made of tuff bricks, are of the "chamber" type and are generally arranged orthogonally so as to leave small walkways that allow you to move between them. These are mostly small single-family tombs and part of them can be visited: in most cases you descend into the tombs via a couple of steps, and inside there are some quays leaning against the walls on which the dead were laid. In front of the door or above the roof, stones were placed with the function of funerary markers whose shape indicated the sex of the buried person: for men in the shape of a pine cone, for women in the shape of a cylinder. During the excavations, which began in the 19th century, many objects belonging to funerary objects were found: fibulae, mirrors, spears, jewels, bronze vases, terracotta and buccheri, most of which are now preserved in the Faina museum.  
• 42.71503712.1174675 ^{[link previously not working]}Necropolis of Cannicella. Free. Guided tours: € 5 (min.15 people), € 8 (min.6 people), € 10 (1 to 5 people). Etruscan necropolis located at the base of the Orvieto cliff dating back to the 7th century BC. Archaeological excavations have brought to light the remains of a sanctuary: a wall that delimits a quadrangular area, basins and other structures, antefixes, plates with friezes and decorated terracotta, witnesses of the various renovations undergone by the sanctuary. Among the findings, a great acroterion with the matricide of Orestes preserved at National archeologic museum and the Venus of Cinnamon, marble statue preserved at Faina Museum. 

Churches

Luca Signorelli and Orvieto

When Luca Signorelli proposed the contract for the frescoes of the Cathedral of Orvieto, he added the clause with which he would receive all the wine (of Orvieto) he could drink! Apart from this anecdote his Universal Judgment at the cathedral is an absolute masterpiece. He is considered among the first to introduce anatomically correct nudes. It is also believed that this important fresco provided the inspiration for the most famous Universal Judgment of Michelangelo in Sistine Chapel.

• 42.71694412.1136116 Duomo, Piazza Duomo, ☎ 39 0763 343592, @[email protected]. 3 € Cathedral plus chapel of San Brizio; 5 € if you also want to see the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and the church of Sant'Agostino. November-February: 9: 30-13: 00, 14: 30-17: 00; March and October: 9: 30-18: 00; April-September: 9: 30-19: 00. Large Gothic basilica built from the end of the 13th century. The tripartite facade has a large 14th-century rose window, gold mosaics on the top and bas-reliefs representing stories from the Bible from Creation to the Last Judgment at the bottom. The bronze doors are a modern work of the sculptor Emilio Greco. The interior has a basilica plan with three naves covered by a wooden trussed ceiling. The transept, originally not protruding from the side walls, consists of three spans covered by cross vaults, and was later enlarged to form the two chapels at the two right and left ends, respectively, the chapel of San Brizio (15th century) and that of the Corporal (14th century). The first was frescoed by Fra Angelico is Luca Signorelli with images of the Last Judgment. The second contains the Corporal of the Miracle of Bolsena, which took place in 1263, when the linen covering the altar was stained by the blood that came out of the host during a mass held in Bolsena by a Bohemian priest who doubted the transubstantiation. The interior was frescoed by Ugolino di Prete Ilario with images of the Miracle of Bolsena and the mystery of transubstantiation. The Corporal chapel also houses the Corporal Reliquary, a masterpiece of Italian and European Gothic art, created between 1337 and 1338 by the Sienese goldsmith Ugolino di Vieri. The reliquary, intended to hold the Corporal, reproduces the tripartite silhouette of the facade of the Cathedral with scenes from the Life of Christ and the miracle of Bolsena made in silver, gold and translucent enamel. The presbytery, with a square plan, is beyond the central span of the transept and was frescoed starting from 1370 by Ugolino di Prete Ilario himself, with images depicting stories of the Life of the Madonna. 

• 42.71945612.1035037 Church of San Giovenale, Piazza San Giovenale. free. Mon-Sun 9: 00-12: 00, 16: 00-19: 00. One of the oldest churches in Orvieto, is located on the western edge of the cliff, from which you can see the valley below the Paglia river. It was built in 1004, on the remains of an early Christian church dedicated to San Giovenale and probably on the foundations an Etruscan temple dedicated to Jupiter. The church was initially built in the Romanesque style, but was remodeled in the 14th century, following Gothic dictates. The plan has a basilica structure on two levels joined by a short flight of steps, divided into three naves, a larger central one culminating in the square apse and two smaller side ones ending in cross vaults. The interior of the church has frescoes from the medieval Orvieto school dating from the 12th century which have been preserved despite the various renovations undergone by the church starting from the 15th century. The altar is a Byzantine-style marble sculpture. In the 20th century, a 15th century Majesty, known by the name of, was found under a silver plate Madonna del Soccorso, of which traces had been lost. On the front wall a bas-relief in Lombard style is carved with an intertwining of knots; some small columns on the sides support carved pillars of various subjects: (a dove with a griffin, an abbot who officiates, acanthus leaves, Saint Juvenal who blesses and finally the Archangel Michael who has a tripartite lily on his left hand, a symbol probably linked to the Patarin heresy). 

• 42.71817712.1087178 ^{[link not working]}Church of Sant'Andrea, Republic square. Free. Built next to the Town Hall, the Church of Sant'Andrea stands on a place of worship that has been active for more than 3000 years. The current building, from the 12th century, was built on an early Christian church from the 6th century, which in turn was built on the ruins of an Etruscan temple. The church has a Roman cross structure, divided into three naves with a transept and a semicircular apse. The aisles are covered with wooden trusses, while the intersection between the central body and the transept is covered by cross vaults supported by beam pillars. The perimeter walls are made of tuff, the floor is marble. Inside there are a Cosmatesque pulpit, a tomb aedicule, the remains of a corpus of frescoes that include works dating back to the fourteenth, seventeenth and late nineteenth centuries. On the outside, the high-reliefs in the lunette of the portal, the stained glass window in the rose window and the majolica and terracotta of the new portico were inserted during the restoration in 1926. I Underground they still retain the remains of the previous religious buildings. 

• 42.72107412.1134059 ^{[link previously not working]}Church of San Domenico, Piazza XXIX Marzo. Free. Located in Piazza XXIX Marzo, it is what remains of a building with three naves, after the demolition of the rest of the body of the church in 1932 for the construction of the women's academy of physical education. Its construction began in 1233, a few years after the death of St. Dominic. Of the original building only the apse and the transept remain. Inside is preserved the mausoleum of Cardinal De Braye made by Arnolfo di Cambio around 1282. The latest restorations have highlighted how the statue of the Madonna is actually a Roman statue of the 2nd century BC. From the church comes the beautiful Polyptych with Madonna, Child and Saints by Simone Martini (1323-1324), preserved today at Museum of the Opera del Duomo. 

Museums

• 42.71688912.11433310 ^{[link not working]}National archeologic museum, Piazza Duomo - Papal Palace, ☎ 39 0763 341039. 4,00 €. 8:30-19:30. Housed inside the Papal palace, collects finds of Etruscan origin found during excavations in the Orvieto necropolis of Crucifix of Tuff and of Cinnamon and funerary items from the necropolis of Porano. Also preserved are the wall paintings of the two Golini tombs, discovered in the 19th century, and now exhibited in a faithful reconstruction of the original rooms. 
• 42.71680612.112511 Claudio Faina Museum and Civic Museum, Piazza Duomo, 29, ☎ 39 0763 341511, fax: 39 0763 341250, @[email protected]. 4,50€. April-September: 09: 30-18: 00; October-March: 10 am-5pm. Closed on Mondays (November-March). Founded as a private collection in 1864, it has belonged to the municipality of Orvieto since the second half of the 20th century. The museum preserves Etruscan funerary objects and finds of Greek origin including a collection of Attic vases with black and red figures from the 6th-5th century BC. On the ground floor the pediments of the Belvedere temple, while on the top floor there is a numismatic collection. Worthy of note are the Venus of Cinnamon, statue found in the Etruscan sanctuary inside the Necropolis of Cannicella, and a warrior-headed cippus from the Necropolis of the Crucifix of Tufo. 

Events and parties

• Umbria Jazz Winter. From December 30th to January 3rd. 
• Corpus Christi. between late May and early June. 
• Palombella. Pentecost Sunday. 

What to do

The city is a pleasant place to stroll and discover hidden corners.

• ^{[link not working]}Guided tour of the city, Via degli Agrifogli 11 b (Piazza Duomo), @[email protected]. 12 €. Mon-Tue, Fri-Sat 14:00. A pleasant orientation tour of Orvieto, an aggregation tour with an expert local tour guide who will accompany you along a route of over two kilometers through the main streets and squares of the city of Orvieto and up to the suggestive and panoramic medieval district. 

Shopping

Orvieto has long been and still is a famous center for handcrafted pottery. You will find many shops near the Duomo, often with competitive prices. In addition, the city is full of different wine shops that feature Orvieto Classico, the white wine that takes its name from the city.

• 42.7173812.112271 Foresi winery, Piazza del Duomo, 2, ☎ 39 0763 341611. A nice place to have a glass of wine and traditional cured meats and cheeses from the Umbrian region. But what makes this place really interesting is the opportunity to visit the cellars dug into the tuff and dating back to the 13th century. 

How to have fun

• 42.71858612.1128521 Mancinelli Theater, Corso Cavour, 122, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 3061, 39 0763 340422, @[email protected].  

Where to eat

Moderate prices

• 42.718312.11081 Pasqualetti ice cream parlor, Via del Duomo, 10, ☎ 39 329 837 6959. € 2 / 3.5 (May 2018). 11:00-24:00. There is also another Pasqualetti ice cream shop in Corso Cavour. 
• 42.7186912.114422 Caffé del Corso, Corso Cavour. 

Average prices

• 42.7173112.112163 Maurizio restaurant, Via del Duomo, 78, ☎ 39 0763 341114. Umbrian cuisine and reasonable prices. 
• 42.7185312.109764 Dell'Ancora Restaurant, Via di Piazza del Popolo, 9, ☎ 39 0763 342766. The owner is local is Carlo, his wife Silvia also owns a shop in town. Tiramisu is exceptionally delicious. Dining on the candlelit outdoor terrace surrounded by lush green plants is a romantic experience. 
• 42.7181512.107145 Charlie (pizzeria), Via Loggia dei Mercanti, 14, ☎ 39 0763 344766. 5-7€. 19:00-23:00. great pizza and an affordable price. 
• 42.7204312.1150826 L'antica Rupe restaurant, Vicolo Sant'Antonio, 2 / A, ☎ 39 0763 343063. Excellent quality and possibility to eat on the terrace with a nice view over the city. 

High prices

• 42.716512.11177 Typical Etruscan Trattoria, Via Lorenzo Maitani, 10, ☎ 39 0763 344016. Restaurant located in a 15th century building. 
• 42.718912.1158 La Locanda del Lupo Restaurant, Corso Cavour, 231, ☎ 39 0763 344103. 

Where stay

Orvieto is flooded with tourists every day. So the best time to enjoy it is before the tourists arrive, which means you have to stay there. The Piazza del Duomo is worth a visit when there is no one else around.

Moderate prices

• 42.717712.14211 Orvieto hotels, Orvieto Scalo. 60€. Located outside the center on a through road, practical for those who own a car because it is close to the motorway junction. 

Average prices

• 42.7176112.1132 Hotel Duomo, Via di Maurizio, 7, ☎ 390763341887, 390763393849, fax: 39 200763 20394973. 90€. 

High prices

• 42.801212.15973 Griffin's Resort, Location San Faustino 24, ☎ 390763 616727, fax: 39 0763 616716. A few kilometers from Orvieto in the enchanting hills, the Griffin's Resort is an exclusive and characteristic hotel with a gourmet restaurant. 

Safety

• 42.732212.14529 Santa Maria della Stella Hospital, Ciconia locality (Located outside the city to the east.). 

How to keep in touch

Post offices and banks

• 42.71828612.11306410 Italian Post Office - Orvieto Post Office, Largo Maurizio Ravelli, 4, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 398349, fax: 39 0763 343361. Mon-Fri 08: 20-13: 35 Sat 08: 20-13: 35. 
• 42.7218712.13536611 Italian Post Office - Orvieto Station Post Office, Via Monte Peglia, 20, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 392749, fax: 39 0763 349534. Mon-Fri 08: 20-13: 35 Sat 08: 20-13: 35. 
• 42.71841812.11086112 Unicredit - Orvieto Duomo, Via del Duomo, 1, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 457005, @[email protected]. Tue, Thu, Fri 08: 20-12: 45/14: 35-16: 35. 
• 42.72171412.13523613 Unicredit - Orvieto Monte Peglia, Via Monte Peglia, 10/12, 05019, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 457004, @[email protected]. Mon-Fri 08: 20-13: 20/14: 30-16: 00. 
• 42.71765612.10781614 Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 24, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 39821. Mon-Fri 08: 20-13: 00/14: 15-16: 00. 
• 42.71857912.1078815 Savings Bank Of Orvieto, Piazza Della Repubblica, 21, 05018, Orvieto, ☎ 39 0763 3991. 

Keep informed

• Tourist information, Piazza Duomo, 24, ☎ 39 0763341772, 39 0763341911, 39 0763343658, fax: 39 0763344433. 

Around

• Lake of Bolsena, southeast of Orvieto.
• Todi
• Perugia
• Assisi
• Civita di Bagnoregio - The small medieval village can be reached by a Cotral bus.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Orvieto
• Commons contains images or other files on Orvieto
• Wikiquote contains quotes from or about Orvieto
• Wikinews contains current news on Orvieto

Usable : the article respects the characteristics of a draft but in addition it contains enough information to allow a short visit to the city. Use i correctly listing (the right type in the right sections).