Day 12 - Orvieto

Earlier in the holiday some people had gone to Orvieto, a town about 90 minutes away, and came back with very attractive reports, so much so that some wanted to return and those of us who didn’t go wanted to see it for ourselves.

Apart from being known for its own wine, Orvieto features an ornate cathedral and a thriving arts and crafts scene, and with Zoë and I yet to buy souvenirs, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity, so we joined Alice, Liam, Sally and Pete for today’s trip.

It is a beautiful place, seemingly more developed and bustling than the closer Palombara Sabina and Cretone, and for this reason it has a more obviously tourist feel to it. The cathedral seems to creep up on you, as the streets are quite closely packed, and you suddenly emerge in a square dominated by a quirky piece of architecture: The façade of the cathedral is covered in colourful religious paintings, yet the building itself is constructed from alternating layers of dark and white stone, creating a striped pattern that makes the cathedral look like a holy humbug! To be honest the outside is more engaging than its interior. While the striped stone is reproduced inside and the ceiling is high and vaulted, it is quite a sparse, functional place of worship, much more picturesque from the square than from within.

We arrived shortly before most of the shops closed for the siesta, but a considerable area of the town seemed to buck this trend, I imagine to satisfy the tourist trade. A tiny street, more of an alley in fact, is filled with small shops and workshops, most of which are devoted to a specific craft, be it ceramics, jewellery, leatherwork or paintings. One particular shop had a very bizarre mixture of medieval weaponry, including crossbows, swords and a suit of armour, and a more new age, even druidic selection of ceramics decorated with pressed leaves. It also advertised its own range of Lord of the Rings artefacts such as figurines, jewellery etc, so clearly the proprietor was canny enough to recognize how to appeal to tourists who don’t place authenticity high on their list of travel priorities.

Some of these shops had small workshops at the rear where the craftspeople were working, whereas others simply advertised that all the goods were handmade. There were some lovely items on offer, particularly the ceramics and an artist whose work was a very intriguing mixture of commedia clowns, surrealist painting, and caricatured people. The originals were too expensive to buy, but I did manage to find a print that attracted me. We also managed to pick up some really nice ceramics for others, and ourselves, leaving us with a minor worry about how to get them home intact.

Zoë and I met up with Alice and Liam for lunch, and to our shame (but not much of it) we were distinctly unadventurous in our choice of meal. The food we had eaten so far had been delicious, varied and plentiful, but for some reason we found ourselves craving good old-fashioned junk food, so we ordered hot dogs and hamburgers from a restaurant that catered for international tastes. To our credit, Zoë did opt for Italian with a pizza, and we did order our food in Italian. This felt like something of a guilty pleasure and was our only concession to the stereotype of the English abroad in the whole two weeks.

We had another wander around the artists’ section after lunch, but it was a bit too bustling for our tastes and to be truthful some of the shops were a bit suspicious. Liam mentioned that on his previous visit he had noticed a moped pull up outside one of the “handmade crafts” shops with a box of stock on the back clearly labeled “Made in China” and this obviously didn’t allay our doubts. As it was a hot day and we were laden with shopping, we left at around 3.30.

This was to be our last outing, as I am looking forward to a final couple of days of slobbery before I have to spend Saturday worrying about the flight home. Our last meal out is booked for tomorrow, when I will finally have a proper Italian pizza.

This holiday lark is turning out to be quite stressful. So many decisions to make: How long do I spend in the pool? Do I have a nap or read a book? What colour wine will I drink? How many courses will I order for dinner? It’s just non-stop pressure!