So another week in Orvieto passes and I find out even more about my small town. It’s crazy to think I’ve been here for almost three weeks and in another week I’ll have been here an entire month. I’m not really sure where the time is going. Next thing I know, I’ll blink and it will be thanksgiving. Another blink and I’ll be flying home. The though is both comforting and depressing. With that in mind, I thought I'd make a quick post before I go to bed.
We walked around the walls this week. Being up on a volcanic plug, Orvieto has a path that winds all the way around its edges, overlooking the sweeping views below. Locals like to use it as their main exercise path and I’ve taken quite a liking to it as well. Mostly because it's pretty and reminds me of home.
Weaving up and down along the cliffs, it kind of feels like I'm hiking trails back in the Rockies. Thankfully, it’s thick enough that my acrophobia has no problem with it either. Even if there were no views, the path itself is interesting enough. There is the perfect balance of ups and downs to make it challenging but enjoyable and it goes through patches of open air, trees, and city so you are constantly seeing something new. Even the walls look different depending on the formation of the rocks and the supporting buttresses used to brace them.
Another nice feature Orvieto (and Italy) has are the sporadic water fountains. Occasionally along the walk, you’ll see a spicket sticking directly out of the cliff face. Push it and you get clean, fresh water that’s perfectly safe to drink. There were fountains like this in Rome too, so I guess this is the trade off in Italy? You have to pay for water at a restaurant table, but you get free fountains all over the place for the rest of the time. Who knew?
Along the same path, there are multiple other interesting features as well. Old roman and Etruscan ruins dot the hillside, such as the old fort, and we took the time to stop and sketch a few.
Its crazy how many interesting places there are to see, even in a small town like Orvieto. It makes me wonder how many sites I’m going to miss whenever we go to Florence or Venice or back to Rome. Among all these hidden gems, I found my new favorite spot in Orvieto: St. Patrick’s well. From the outside, it’s really underwhelming honestly. Just a big, round, brick building made with some ridiculously long time ago. Also, up till this point, my experience with wells have been small to medium holes dug in the ground. Impressive, but also something I could do if I even got really bored and decided I needed to build up my upper body strength (which I really need to do). Just saying.
This well is different though. It’s not just meant for a bucket to be sent down and brought back up. This well was made to host large amounts of people climbing down and back up with gallons of water. So instead of a boring, small hole in the ground, it’s a… really cool, big hole in the ground
You enter to see the sun streaming through a massive skylight in the roof. Turns out that boring brick building up top, was only brick on the outside walls and open on the roof. After you get over the initial shock, you start to descend the staircase, with a similar but different view through each window. The well itself has two spiraling staircases in it, so those going down and going up never meet. It makes the entire process fee very private and streamlined. Like it was made just for you.
The architecture in this space is amazing though. The light seemed as though it changed every step you took, weakening and changing the further you descended into the earth. What was most amazing was the sound though. The curve of the walls picked it up and bounced it around, so when you were standing in one place, you could hear the voices of those across the well and up the stairs as if they were right next to you. I would try to describe it more, but this is one instance where hearing is believing. You have to be there. Then, you eventually reach the ground and you’re treated to a view like this:
It’s hard to say, but besides the Pantheon, this may be my favorite spot in Italy yet (not that I’ve been here long). It all simply accumulated into the perfect end for the day of hiking. If you ever come to Italy, I would stop by in Orvieto simply to see this. To make it better, it’s right next to the Funicolare (the gondola that takes you down the hill to the train station), so you really have no excuse.
All and all though, it was another week of surprises from Orvieto, and possibly my favorite yet. I’m left looking forward to what more I will learn about this small town as the semester wears on.
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