Fine Settimana (Weekend) 20-21 Settembre

Saturday began with a photo of Sylvia at the “Giacomini” Ceramiche Artistiche where we purchased our dishes and then onto the “Busatti” where we bought some table linens. Not bad for one day, especially since we made the purchases the afternoon we arrived in Orvieto – this past Thursday!

Silvia, the proprietor of the ceramics shop that took a good chunk of our change

And next door, the source of some new linens for the dining room at home

We went to the market which is held every Saturday and as you can see there was a lot to choose from. We picked up enough for dinner Saturday followed by a trip to the Pam – which is the local grocery store. Stopped back at the room to drop off the goodies we bought and ventured out again.

Saturday market at the Piazza del Popolo – there were many more venders!

The vendors’ stalls stretched around to the right at the end of this row.

The bread, cheese and meat section inside the supermercato Pam.

Packaged meats and other goods in another section of the supermercato

And this is the door into the supermarket – no giant storefront like at home

We came upon a store which had a loom with the beautiful colors of natural yarns of linen, cotton, silk and wool. There was yarn of 100% Andean Alpaca for sale as well. Unfortunately, I can’t do wool.

English is almost as common as Italian on store signage.

There was a wedding at the cathedral so we decided to take a photo of the car. On every visit we’ve made to Italy, we have been witness to at least one wedding and one funeral, plus one or two baptisms. So far, one week into this eight week visit, we’ve logged a wedding and a baptism. Probably catch the funeral while we are in Sicily, like the last couple of trips!

The decked out car used to take the newlyweds of to their next function

Here is the soup and salad we had for dinner,

It was a homemade soup and salad dinner Saturday, with local bread

After that we took an evening walk, or passeggiata, and decided to head down to the park by the upper station of the Funicolare that brought us up to the town from the train station below. I don’t think we mentioned it but Orvieto sits atop a pretty tall cliff that from some angles looks like the mesas or buttes one sees out West. The train station sits at 550 feet above sea level and the city elevation is 1,100 feet. In other words, a 550 foot rise. So, from this park and several other locations around the city, there are spectacular views of the surrounding valley as well as the cliffs that form the “table” for the city.

*Porta Rocca*, or Fortress Door. The park is on the site of one of the fortresses around Orvieto.

View of the valley. The A-1 highway and the railroad tracks are visible.

Cliff face and walls made this town quite defensible. Nice house by the way!

We then made the return trip up to the Duomo level which itself is about 100 foot rise above this part of the city. Next stop? il letto – the bed!

We attended la messa, or Mass, in the Duomo. The service, including the baptism at the beginning of the Mass, was pretty much identical to those in the States. Well, the language was a tad different! Even the length was the same. Then there was the beauty of the church, the organ and use of incense.

Then we were off to lunch. Much to our surprise, the little girl that was baptized and her extended family of about 30 showed up at the same restaurant! We took a photo of our lunch but missed the baby.

Il pranzo was gnocchi with Porcini mushrooms. Really good.

Now to walk off that pasta, we headed back up to the Duomo as there was an antique car show underway. Some pretty neat cars.

Must have been two dozen antique cars on the piazza.

On the opposite side. There were even some ladies dressed in period outfits.

Never could tell – is she a mannequin or alive? Never saw her move.

While walking around, we came upon an entrance to what turned out to be multiple sets of stairs from the upper level of the city down to the first level below the cliffs and walls, all underground! There must have been seven or eight different sets, maybe more. Like the funicolare, this could have been as much as a 500 foot descent. Fortunately, there was an “up” escalator next to each set of steps!

Outside at the bottom of the many steps to the lower level.

Needless to say, we took the escalators back up to our level of the city! After the gnocchi for lunch, we were quite happy to finish up the leftover soup for our supper. Tomorrow we plan to hit up the Orvieto Underground and Il Pozzo di San Patrizio or Well of Saint Patrick. Plus, we are expecting some friends from home (Peachtree City) to be stopping by on their one day tour. A presto.