Perugia | Terni | Assisi | Gubbio | Foligno | Spoleto | Orvieto | Amelia | Todi | Trasimeno | Norcia-Cascia | C. Castello
 Versione Italiana |
Historical outline of Orvieto One of the oldest cities in Italy, Orvieto stands high on a lava plateau, and the distinctive outline of its cathedral, whose west front glitters spectacularly in the evening sun, is visible for miles around. The plateau is all that remains of four extinct volcanoes which provide rich soil for the area's internationally famous white wine. Today, Orvieto is a lively, lived-in city with good communications; a funicular runs between the railway station in the valley and the city itself. Settled originally by Iron and Bronze Age tribes, by 500 BC it had become a leading member of the Etruscan Confederation, and extensive Etruscan remains are still to be seen. Under the Romans, to whom it capitulated in 264 BC, it was known as `Urbs Vetus' (meaning `old city'); hence its present name. Given its easily defendable site, it proved a difficult but highly desirable target, and was successfully attacked by Goths, Byzantines and Lombards. In 1137 it became a free commune as well as a prosperous and sophisticated administrative centre, even for a while securing an outlet to the sea on the Tuscan coast by means of a treaty with Florence.A spate of new building followed, and within a few decades Orvieto had acquired much of the appearance it has today. It had long been an important religious centre, but scepticism had begun to undermine the Church's influence when, in 1263, a miracle occurred at nearby Lake Bolsena involving a young Bohemian priest and the doctrine of transubstantiation (commemorated today in the Feast of Corpus Domini). On the wave of renewed religious fervour that followed this event, the magnificent cathedral was built, serving both to underline the authority of the Church and to reaffirm, in its connection with the miracle, the power and mystery of the Faith. However, in the early fourteenth century Orvieto was convulsed by some of the bloodiest battles of the medieval period, waged between the noble Monaldeschi and Filippeschi families, the first of whom supported the Guelphs, the second the Ghibellines; even after the Filippeschi had been driven out of the city in 1313, the Monaldeschi divided into rival factions and fought amongst themselves. The arrival of the Black Death in 1348, an earthquake and another plague in which 5000 people died ten years later brought the city to its knees. It was not until the mid-fifteenth century, when Orvieto came under the dominion of the Papal States, that it achieved a permanent and lasting peace. What to see at Orvieto - Cathedral (begun 1290, completed 1619) - Palazzo del Popolo (twelfth-thirteenth century) - Well of San Patrizio (designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, 1528-1537) - Cathedral Museum (Palazzo Soligno or Palazzo dei Papi) - Etruscan Museum (Museo Claudio Faino) - Etruscan Archaeological Museum (Palazzo Soliano) - Torre del Moro Palazzo Comunale (rebuilt 1500) - Church of San Giovenale (before 1000) - Sant' Andrea (twelfth-fourteenth centuries) - San Lorenzo di Arari (thirteenth century) - Il Pozzo della Cava Feasts and festivals in Orvieto - Good Friday: Requiem mass in cathedral - Pentecost: Feast of the Palombella - May: Car rally from Orvieto to Colonnetta di Prodo - Corpus Christi: Events and Procession in medieval costume - July: Theatrical events - August: Fair celebrating local wine and produce and traditional handcrafts - December-January: Umbria Jazz winter season How to Get There By car - Autostrada del Sole A1 Florence-Rome, exit Orvieto - Superstrada Perugia-Todi, then SS 448 Todi-Orvieto By train - Rome-Florence line to Orvieto Scalo By air - International flights to Rome or Florence - Internal flights to Perugia. |
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Perugia | Terni | Assisi | Gubbio | Foligno | Spoleto | Orvieto | Amelia | Todi | Trasimeno | Norcia-Cascia | C. Castello
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