Today is our Orvieto day – we are using the Carte Unica to its fullest extent and visiting everything we can. We have charted out our course, and after a leisurely coffee or two, we head out toward the Duomo where we plan to spend the morning.
On the way, we make a detour through the weekly market. It’s full of fresh produce (we should buy some, but we really don’t have enough time to eat anything this trip – darn it) and tons of clothes and shoes and kitchen utensils. This is a great place to be if you are in a shopping mood (5 euro sweaters!). But, we’re on a sight seeing mission, so we just “tent” shop, then head over to the Duomo.
We time it just perfectly and get to the Duomo within 5 minutes of opening time (the literature is incorrect – it says the Duomo opens at 7:30 – but in actuality it opens at 9:30). We are the first people inside which is fantastic. We have the church all to ourselves. It is a gorgeous, if not plain place. It looks huge, but is actually smaller than it appears. The architects built it so that the altar area is wider than the front of the church, giving it a very spacious and cavernous appearance when you first walk in. But once you arrive at the altar and look back, you can see it isn’t quite as big as you’d thought. Totally interesting.
Other interesting features are the alabaster windows – completely different. And the grey and white stones make for an arresting appearance. We tour the whole Duomo, exploring the Chapel of the Corporal where the bloody cloth from the miracle is supposed to be displayed. We never found it (we saw pictures – but never found the actual cloth), but the frescoes in the chapel were incredible.
Out in the church proper, we stood on the floor patch where the altar used to stand before they moved it back, marveled at the huge organ up above – and wondered how in the heck they played that thing in the early ages. Now it is all wired and computerized, but before? Did someone really climb up there and play the thing in situ? We’ll have to research that.
We move on to the Chapel of San Brizio which is the main draw here. The frescoes in this chapel were all created by local artist Luca Signorelli and tell the story of the Day of Judgement and Life after Death. They were painted between 1499 and 1504 – and are spectacular. The scenes are vivid and detailed, and look like they were painted yesterday. It is a beautiful chapel with the light streaming through to illuminate the frescoes on every inch of the walls.
It is about 10 when we finish with the Duomo, so we move on, looking for the Cathedrale musuem, part of the Duomo museums included in our Carta Unica. We actually stumble into the Emilio Greco museum, which is totally neat (but not what we were expecting because we are following Rick Steves’ tour – and this museum is not what he was describing). The Greco museum is a small little place that packs in a lot punch for the small space. It basically follows Greco as he designs the modern doors of the cathedral. They have his drawings posted around the walls and you can follow the sketches back to the original door and see how he created the finished bronze product. In addition, there are quite a few of his bronze statues in different displays all around – complete with the sketches that accompany the design. It was really a great little find – even if we weren’t looking for it.
The museum also had a wonderful iron gate as the front door – which Sunny enjoyed – well- sort of…
After the Greco museum, we went to the Underground office (which opened about 5 minutes later) and booked a tour for this evening at 5:15. There were only 2 English tours, and we thought later would be better.
It was still pretty early, and we didn’t want to rush through everything, so we made a pit stop at the Bar Caffetteria Hescanas for cappuccino. We had stopped here on our previous visit, and the location is so convenient, we couldn’t resist. The cappuccino was excellent, as was the price. We figured it would be high because of the location and were pleasantly surprised. But looking around, it was quite busy and we were the only tourists, everyone else was a local. It made for was a nice little diversion.
Back out in the Piazza, we struggled to the find the Cathedral art collection. We finally headed back toward the Archeological museum and found what we think is the art museum. It doesn’t match Rick’s description but it has art! Actually some really cool art – for religious art that is. The main level is comprised of underground caverns that contain a lot of excavation material and different artifacts from the cathedrale grounds. Then the upstairs, outside and up into a gallery contains full size paintings – taken off the walls – literally chopped off the walls – the entire wall of tuffo or wood or canvas hanging in a variety of displays.
There are also reliquaries and various communion items like the incense thing and host boxes and lots of other odd items Ed has to explain to me. But the one thing that grabs my attention is the little box that is used for the communion wafer – it is the same type of box that restaurant last night used for the check. How wild! totally taking their location and city reputation into play. Pretty neat.
Onward we explore – into more and more rooms of cathedrale art. It is fascinating, and interesting, but the one thing that keeps drawing my attention is the statue of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus with the angels and wise men around her. I don’t know why, but I just love this bronze and marble creation. Don’t ask! I can’t answer.
Next up, we go to the archeological museum which has a ton of awesome Etruscan relics. Pottery, iron, you name it – it is here. Orvieto has a long history – and it is contained here from Etruscan to Roman rule to more Medieval times. All displayed here in its glory.
All the museums have been wonderful, but you know, we’re sort of museum’ed out at this point – so we call a break and head to lunch. We head up the street to the Enoteca Antica Botega Al Duomo. A quaint little deli type cafe off the beaten path (if a block off the Piazza Duomo can be considered off the beaten path) – run by a family who takes great care of all their customers – even when they don’t speak the best Italian! It is by far the best place we’ve been.
Local, relaxed, just totally perfect. No one speaks English really, so we make do with our basic Italian. Wine and beer – that’s easy. We finally decide on Porchetta panino for me and Antipasta mixto for Ed. We’ll share of course. And oh boy – do we share! Holy cow – the portions are amazing – and the taste. Well, let me just say it was the best porchetta panino I’ve had….ever. Oh….heaven. The antipasto comes with mixed bruschetta – which is excellent. My porchetta – well, you can see from the pictures. It’s monstrous and delicious. And the Antipasto is plated to perfection – just gorgeous, all styled on olive wood serving boards. I’m not saying anything more!
We’re stuffed and happy – and then – Pippo (the owner) comes out and gives us biscotti and sweet wine for dessert. This place is a keeper!
We pry ourselves away from the table and make our way back out to the square to visit the museum Faina. Housed in a one time Palace, the museum holds tons of Etruscan and Medieval works – including a huge coin collection. The palace alone is worth the visit. The rooms are pretty much decorated as they were when the palace was constructed in the mid 1800s, so just looking at the wall coverings and paintings is enough of a historical lesson. The displays just add to the ambience and history. Because of the earthquake, some items have been moved. When we purchased our Carta Unica here yesterday, the woman who sold us the cards asked us to read her translation and tell her if it made sense or was right. So sweet. It made perfect sense – and she was very happy we confirmed her translation abilities.
Another bonus of this museum is that we can get great pix of the Duomo across the way and the clock tower down the via. Even better than being down in the square.
We are now officially museum’ed out. Done. Ready to take a big long break. So, we head back to the apartment, via the grocery store and relax for the rest of the afternoon. We’ve done a lot today – and are ready for a little break!
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