Orvieto
Orvieto Cathedral, Begun In 1290, With The Chapel Of San Brizio; The Historic Centre Stands On A Tufa Plateau Honeycombed With Etruscan And Medieval Excavations · Orvieto, Umbria
Orvieto stands on a flat-topped plug of volcanic tufa that rises straight out of the Umbrian plain, which is why the Etruscans settled it, why popes fled to it, and why it looks like a town built on a plinth. The cathedral is the reason to climb up: a facade of gold mosaic, carved marble and a rose window that is less a wall than a screen, and inside it the chapel where Signorelli painted a Last Judgement that Michelangelo is said to have studied before starting his own. The town has as much below it as above. The soft rock is honeycombed with something like twelve hundred caves, Etruscan wells, medieval pigeon lofts and olive presses, and separately there is a sixteenth-century well sunk into the cliff with two spiral staircases that pass each other without ever meeting. The same rock makes the wine. It is just over an hour from Rome by train, and most visitors give it three hours, which is about half of what it is worth.
Piazza del Duomo, Orvieto, Umbria, 05018, Italy
ALL TIMES UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW. Broadly: the cathedral and the Chapel of San Brizio open daily with a midday interval and shorter winter hours, with the chapel closed during services. The Pozzo di San Patrizio opens daily with longer summer hours. Orvieto Underground runs guided tours at fixed times through the day and only with a guide. The Torre del Moro opens daily, shorter in winter. The funicular runs frequently from early morning to evening. The necropolis keeps state-museum hours with a weekly closing day. Confirm each of these, and book the underground tour on arrival.