Orvieto

A couple of weeks ago, my class went to visit Orvieto. This town has a unique history surrounding the fact that it is built on a small mesa of tufa, a light pourous volcanic rock. When it was first inhabited by the etruscans, they used the rock that they excavated from the site on top to build their buildings. Also, being on a mesa, the cliffs created a natural defense so, unlike most ancient towns, there was no need to build thick fortress walls. When the Romans conquered it, they didn't like being up so high, so they abandoned the town on the mesa and built in the valley below. Later, when they were being threatened by invading huns, they went back to the "old town", or "urbs vetus" in Latin, where they get the name Orvieto. Fortunately, nowadays, to get to the city, you can take a small cable car up to the top.

... some of the tufa stone buildings.

... view down the side of the mesa's cliffs to the valley below.

I love how all the old little towns in Italy have these great streets and paths amongst the buildings creating picturesque views each time you turn a corner...

This is the Duomo of Orvieto, the main cathedral for the town, in Italian Gothic style.

The front facade has elaborate sculptures and pretty mosaic pictures with gold leafed accents and backgrounds that simply glisten in the sunlight.

...detail shot of the intricate leaf patterns on the columns and the touch of gold that makes them shine.

Beside all the doors along the bottom of the front facade are large panels of low-relief sculptures that depict the stories of the Old and New Testament. This particular piece is the story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit and forced out of the garden.

Similar to the cathedral in Siena, the exterior is done with narrow horizontal stripes made from white travertine and black basalt.

...inside the stone stripes are also used. The ceiling of the nave is a simple gable roof with visible rafters instead of the more typical ribbed vaults which are seen in the side chapels and dome.

... more of the interior.

One of the more unique aspects of this church is the windows that use thin sheets of alabaster to help keep the church cooler during the day. It also adds an attractive warm glow throughout the space that differs from other stained glass windows found in most churches of the time period.

One of the side chapels is reknowned for its large frescoes covering the walls and ceiling that depict the apocolypse and scenes of heaven and hell. One note of interest: in the paintings there is one specific woman figure that is repeated several times, always in the scenes of sin and hell. It happens to be the painter's ex-girlfriend! Haha, funny how some things never change, no?

... just another example of the beautiful organ pipes found in all the churches I've visited.

Afterwards, we got to go see another site special to Orvieto, the undergrounds. Since the town is on a mesa, they have to go to the valley to get supplies and food. While being up high worked as a natural defense, when they were attacked they were completely isolated. So, they dug caves and cellars all over the mesa beneath the city to store provisions and to hide for protection during raids.

Of course, all of the structures were built out of the stone the excavated in making the cellars... good use of recycling.

They also used the cellars to house their pigeons, which were used for food. They were actually considered a delicacy and for the nobles, so the rich had their own private pigeon quarters for their families. These are some of the pigeon holes.

Being up on top of the mesa made for some incredible views of the valleys and hillsides of the area.