Italy Day 8 - Orvieto

Bueno Sera! It's a clear, cold evening here in Capena. A crisp ending to a truly phenomenal day. It was about an hour drive in the rain up the autostrada to Oriveto. The rain ended just as I was entering the city. I parked in a parking garage, figured out how to manipulate the ticket, walked up (always up) lots of stairs, and entered the city. Wow! This first picture is of the cathedral, which was begun in 1290 on the foundations of an Etruscan temple. I wish I had been able to take a photograph that adequately conveys its size and glory. It is truly an amazing structure. Take a minute and notice the group of people on the bottome left side of the photo -- it will give you some indication of how enormous this building is. I took some photos of the front later in the day when the sun was reflecting off the gold in the paintings and it truly glowed.

This is one photo of the inside of the cathedral. There are 144 chairs set up in front of the altar. Behind the altar are numerous paintings on the walls and about 24 stained glass depictions in the center. My neck got sore from straining to see all the way up at the paintings and sculptures inside.

I just love all of the intricate round windows I've seen on many of the churches here in Italy. So much work on a seemingly insignificant part of the buildings. This particular one was in the church of Sant'Andrea.

This is one of the windows in the cathedral.

This is one of the many pictures of the walkways in Orvieto.

I took 96 pictures today and still only captured a fraction of what I saw. I bought a very informative guide book to Orvieto and it had itineraries which I followed throughout the city. It gave great tidbits and interesting facts that I would have missed. I spent about 5 hours here and could have easily stayed busy for 2 days learning about its history and seeing the many churches and museums. There is even an underground tour available which I didn't have time to take advantage of.

When I was talking with Pucci last night, while she was giving me ideas of places to visit, she said I could stay 2 months and still not see all there is to see right in this region -- let alone all of Italy. I certainly believe her. When my 2 weeks is finished, I will go home with tons of pictures, untold memories, and the knowledge that I've barely seen a small portion of what there is here.

After my day in Orvieto, I got home, walked to the butcher and ordered a chicken breast, which he sliced very thinly for me. I dipped it in an egg/milk mixture and coated it with some bread crumbs (which I made, thank you very much) combined with shredded fontini cheese, salt and pepper. I cooked it in olive oil and served it with spaghetti that I tossed in equal parts olive oil and melted butter seasoned with garlic and pepper. Stupendous!

I plan to read for a little bit, then head off to bed because I plan to get an early start tomorrow. Thanks for visiting with me again.