Ovieto - Afternoon of 06/28

On Saturday afternoon, June 28th we went to a town called Orvieto. Besides the Duomo Cathedral, the main attraction was the Etruscan caves tour. This town was build on top of a hill, as were many Etruscan cities. In order to get water, they dug down into the hill. This particular hill was made of a softer, more porous rock that was used as a base for cement. Beside the wells, they dug a series of tunnels under the city in which they kept animals, stored food and pressed their olive oil. They did not live in the caves because while it was cool, it was also a very humid environment because of the porous rock and not suitable for human inhabitation. Here is a picture of a storage room and one part of an olive press. The caves were also used as catacombs and to raise pigeons that were sold for food. There was an elaborate system of pigeon holes and water cisterns used to the raise pigeons. Here’s a picture of the pigeon of one such room. Apparently, they also “harvested” the excrement and used it as fertilizer. Now wouldn’t that be a wonderful job to have; cleaning up after the pigeon! One can only image the stench. At some point, predators (owls, eagles, weasels) began eating the pigeons, so it was no longer an viable business.

It was fascinating to see how the wells were dug. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of it however of it to show you, but I’ll try to describe it for you. The wells were dug in a square shape rather then round. On opposite walls, they dug out little spaces that were used as foot holds. Apparently, there was no rope at the time, so in order to get the water, the wells were dug square and just wide enough for a small Etruscan person to wedge himself in. They climbed up and down using the holes in the opposite walls as “steps” or footholds for their feet. I don’t know if you understand my description, but they climbed up and down into these wells to get water using these “steps”.

After the tour, we were free to shop or walk around the town. This was a much smaller town then Isisi and much more of an authentic Italian-like town. There was the Duomo Cathedral that had very elaborate decorations on the outside but not much art of interest on the inside. Here’s a picture of the art on the Duomo. The artwork was made with mosaic tiles.