Roma to Orvieto

Up early to catch the 9am train from Rome to Orvieto. There were a lot of tunnels - this part of Italy is quite lumpy and the Italians seem to like to go through rather than over. The funicular up the cliff was exciting,

and we hopped on the mini-bus to go to the far end of Orvieto where Ripa Medici is located. Sabrina met us in Piazza della Repubblica and we walked from there. Our apartment is on the first floor with windows overlooking a magnificent view of Umbria. The living room (which has a sofa bed made up for Caelli) has a small table and chairs and a couple of cabinets. The bedroom has a large canopy bed, a small table and chairs and some small dressers. The bathroom is small but very clean (the window overlooks the tiny street) and there is a small kitchen with cooking facilities, fridge etc. The whole apartment is beautifully decorated, and the views are to die for.

We went for a walk, starting out along the cliff but eventually heading inland. The streets are really skinny - hardly wide enough for a small car - and there are shutters and window boxes everywhere. We found our way to Plaza del Duomo and the beautiful cathedral.

We grabbed some lunch and some gelato, and it started spitting, so we visited the Etruscan Museum (opposite the Duomo - it has great views of the Duomo from its upper storeys).

Then we went inside the Duomo. It's huge inside, but very bare and sparsely decorated, especially compared to the churches in Rome. There's a lovely chapel off to one side which is filled with frescoes painted by Luca Signorelli around 1500, and are considered notable (he was one of Michaelangelo's inspirations). Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos inside the Duomo. We then started wandering. There are a lot of ceramics shops (one of Orvieto's specialities) which were bright and colourful. The rain sent us inside for coffee (and gelato - guess who had gelato!) We made our way back to Ripa Medici to dry off. The views are now quite misty!

Later that night, Phil and I went to a free concert of classical music and operatic arias. There was a brass quintet, a soprano and a tenor. The concert was really good, of a very high standard, and it was lovely to have just a 5 minute walk to get home!