Orvieto

For this day trip during our Roman visit in 2001, we took a train north from Rome to the first city in Umbria: Orvieto. Orvieto is a medieval town, founded on the site of an Etruscan fortress. The town is built on top of an outcropping of tufa, an unusually soft stone that hardens on exposure to air. Hence the gothic cathedral, which dominates the town, is built half of tufa; the facade, finished only in the 19th century, is decorated with (older) allegorical carvings and splendid (newer) mosaics. The town is reached from the train station via inclined railway. Besides the cathedral, Orvieto is noted for its ceramics (painted with arabesques and other folk motifs) and its white wine.