Orvieto, Italy

We’re sticking to Orvieto again today so this morning while A, Drew and L went for a walk around the property, B and I was spent our time wisely in the pool.

L&M, Orvieto, Italy

After having lunch at the house, A, the boys, Drew and I drove back to the train station to catch the funicular up to Orvieto. We walk back up towards the Duomo on Corso Cavour, but not before stopping at Pasqualetti for our daily gelato fix.

B & L, Pasqualetti, Orvieto, Italy

We purchase tickets for The Underground Tour, but have to wait until 5pm so spend some time wandering through other parts of the city we hadn’t seen, and also finding a restaurant, Charlie, that our hosts recommend. It doesn’t open until 7.30pm so I’m not sure we’ll get to it tonight.

At 5pm we meet our guide and about 6 others outside the tourist info and we walk down to the underground caves of Orvieto Underground Tour. 1,200 caves built as long as 2500 years ago were built by the Etruscans, mostly for private use or to dig wells as water was sparse in the town. We spend about an hour and a half in only 2 of them. We see old olive oil presses, pigeon homes, (for food – still a delicacy in Orvieto today) and still functioning wells. That, and Drew and his geology brain, is in overload. There are a couple of tight squeezes that Amy stops at, and are hard for me to pass because of height, but for the most part this are the most open caves I’ve been in. Most older structures didn’t consider those over 6 foot tall. We also were shown (couldn’t go in) a passage way that was used to take injured people, in times of war, straight into the hospital. While these caves are public, many of today’s caves are used in residences as private storage and basement areas. It took us that time to see 2, imagine taking the time to go through the other 1200.

L, Drew & B, Orvieto, Underground Tour, Italy

Dad, Orvieto, Underground Tour, Italy

After riding the funicular back down to the car we drove half a mile to have dinner outside the city walls at San Michelle Trattoria/Pizzeria. It was comfortable enough to sit outside (actually it was preferable to the non-air conditioned inside). I had a sausage & potato pizza (which turned out to be French fries on the pizza – after I told the boys they couldn’t have fries). The food was great, and the service wonderful as our waitress/probably owner marveled as the boys tried to speak in Italian. We also took a pizza to go for Pops & NanNan.

We got home in plenty of time for a night swim, which is so perfect after a hot day out. This pool has been a blessing.