Orvieto

Orvieto is situated on the flat summit of a large volcanic butte of almost vertical tufa stone. (The stone is noteworthy because it is easily carved and becomes harder when exposed to air.) The city’s stunningly dramatic location allowing its spectacular cathedral to be seen from a great distance.

Orvieto was certainly a major center of Etruscan civilization as the archaeological museum houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate vicinity. Orvieto was annexed by Rome in the 3rd century BC. After the collapse of the Roman Empire its easily defensible site gained new importance and the Bishop’s seat was transferred from Bolsena. Sitting on its impregnable rock controlling the road between Florence and Rome, Orvieto became an extremely important town during the Middle Ages.

From the 11th century onward, the popes maintained an active political presence in what was to become known as the Papal States. The Pope and his court moved about Italy and several cities had Papal Palaces, Orvieto being one (along with Viterbo and eventually Avignon). Pope Adrian IV (1154–59) was the first pope to spend significant time in Orvieto. Pope Nicholas IV (1288–92) chose Orvieto as the meeting place of the Curia and laid the cornerstone for Santa Maria Assunta (the duomo) on November 15, 1290, a feast for which the city had a long history of special devotion. During the sack of Rome in 1527, Pope Clement VII took refuge at Orvieto. Fearing a siege, he commissioned an ingenious well (the Pozzo di S. Patrizio) to be built. Designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger it is comprised of two ramps in a double helix so that the mules carrying the water jars might pass up and down unobstructed. An inscription on the well boasts “what nature stinted for provision, application has supplied.”