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Orvieto Aeons ago,
magnificent powers of eruption and erosion shaped the
landscape of central Italy. Thus, Umbria and Tuscany are
now studded with characteristic tufa hills, high
strategic blocks, which, for as long as humans have
thought about such things, have been regarded as "easily
defensible," good places to build forts, castles and
walled towns. Indeed, Orvieto, north of Rome, shortly
after you cross into Umbria from Lazio, and just off the
main A1 autostrada, is one of the best examples in Italy
of the so-called "Medieval fortress town". Yet, Orvieto
has been holding the high ground for quite a while
longer than the mere the Middle Ages. It is an excellent
place to review almost three-thousand years of Italian
history. The Well of St.
Patrick
Under the Romans, Orvieto was not particularly important, although in the late days of the Empire (around 300 A.D.), it once again became a focus of agricultural and commercial activities, due to the existence of the large Roman river port of Pagliano at the nearby confluence of the Tiber and Paglia rivers. When Huns and Goths from the north swept over the Roman empire, Orvieto again became a good place to be —or at least hole up. It was high and easily fortifiable. It became a relatively stable center of Longobard power until the turn of the millennium, at which point the Medieval town, as we know it, started to take shape. The appearance of the present-day town of Orvieto owes much to building which went on during the Middle Ages. Many of the streets are fortunately too narrow for modern traffic —although there are those who insist on giving it a try, anyway. Among all the towers and churches from another age, surely the most spectacular structure is the Cathedral. It was started in 1290 and crafted into final form by the middle of the 1500s. Yet, great masters have continued to add here and adorn there over the centuries, such that, considering the constant restoration going on, perhaps it will never truly be "finished". The facade is the most striking feature, ornamented, as it is, with an incredible welter of bas-reliefs, bronze and marble statues, and mosaic. Historically, in the Middle Ages, Orvieto, like most of central Italy was a bone of contention between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, supporters, respectively, of Papal authority and aristocratic Imperial power. The Church won out and Orvieto was under the dominion of the Papal State for centuries. In spite of the remarkable artistic and architectural activity during the Renaissance in Orvieto, perhaps the most singular work is the so-called "Well of St. Patrick" (photo, above). When Pope Clement VII took refuge in Orvieto after the sack of Rome in 1527, he had a deep well built in order to protect the towns water supply in case of a siege. It can still be visited toady. It is 61 meters deep and almost 13 meters in diameter. Entrance and exit are by the ingenious device of two parallel and non-communicating spiral staircases, which is to say that you go down one way and come up another, looking out one of the many windows lining the shaft and seeing people right across from you who are on another stairway! Today, the district of Orvieto comprises not only the town, itself, but a dozen smaller nearby communities such as Baschi, Castelgiorgio, Fabro and Montecchio. They all sport castles and towers. some of them in ruins, but others in amazingly good restored condition. Taken together, Orvieto and its tiny neighbours provide almost year-round folk and handicraft festivals, and any single one of them can be a glimpse beyond the quaint, back to one of the most fragmented, violent and fascinating periods in our history. to main index to supplemental articles |
As an
important center of population, Orvieto was founded by
the Etruscans in the 7th century, B.C. The
Etruscans are an enigma to us even today. They are among
the best-known pre-Roman peoples in Italy, but the
inscriptions on the considerable archaeological
remains that they left behind still stubbornly resist
decoding, and, thus, we know relatively little about
them. They were a formidable power, a federation more
than a unified kingdom, which carried on commerce —and
war— with Carthage and Greece. They eventually lost
their last bid for historical permanence at the battle
of