(Orvieto, Italy)

For our second full day in Orvieto, the intention was to visit Pozzo di San Patrizio (St. Patrick’s Well).  This famous underground water tower is more than 50 meters deep and is notable for the double helix of circular paths leading all the way down to the bottom.  This way, donkeys could travel down one path and up the other.   It was constructed in 1527 at the request of a pope, who was concerned about access to water while he was in Orvieto (and possibly under siege).

We knew that the well was closed for renovations in February.  However, the contractors were still working on the structure on March 1, so we were unable to visit.  As a last-minute back-up activity, we decided to hike on la Rupe, a path that runs at the base of the steepest cliffs all the way around the old town.  After one lengthy false start (Italy is an amazing place but signage is not a particular strength), we got back on the right track and enjoyed a quiet, shady walk with great views.

We passed right by an Etruscan necropolis. I will talk more about the Etruscans in a later post…but once again we found ourselves well past the turnoff before realizing it.  Hunger was setting in, however, so we decided to keep going.  We eventually found ourselves at a massive parking lot and took a series of about 10 escalators back to the heart of the elevated old town.

As we had a good breakfast at the hotel and planned to have a substantial dinner, we decided to forego a sit-down lunch.  We took the edge off our hunger with gelato at the Gelateria Pasqualetti.  This is reputed to be one of the best gelato makers in Italy:  I have no reason to disagree.  I chose scoops of dark chocolate and crème brûlée (complete with caramelized sugar!) and they were incredibly smooth and decadent.

For dinner, we decided to try a restaurant that specialized in local cuisine and catered to a local crowd. My research uncovered Hosteria Posterula, located some distance east of the main tourist sights but still only about 10 minutes from our hotel. The menu was in Italian only…a good sign.

We split an appetizer of baked pecorino cheese, prosciutto and shaved black truffles. This was a real treat: all are local specialties, but truffles are particularly rare (and expensive) and neither one of us had ever tried them before. It was like the best fondue or raclette you’ve ever had: even though the truffles were finely shaved, we could still pick up on the strong woody mushroom flavour.

We both chose the same pasta for our main course (see photo at the top of this post): large meat-filled pouches of pasta with a sauce of roasted tomatoes and a very sharp grated reggiano parmigiano cheese. Again: very simple local ingredients, but the taste was divine. I did my best to make the meal last as long as possible. Together with a glass of very warming Orvieto Classico white wine (which seemed almost as “fortified” as vin santo, and thus able to stand up to the flavours of the appetizer and the main course), this was unquestionably the best meal we’ve had in Italy so far.

Stay tuned – there’s more to come on Orvieto!

(Orvieto, Italy)

Our first full day in Orvieto was dominated by caves and pizza.  We started our “Underground Orvieto” tour by learning that there were more than a thousand caves under the old hill town of Orvieto. However, there is a geological reason for both the hill and the caves: due to the combination of ancient volcanic activity and high water levels, Orvieto’s hill consists of a soft volcanic rock called tufo (“tuff”, in English).

People settled on top of the hill for defensive reasons, but they eventually ran out of room. However,the soft tuff gave them a way out: they could move their businesses underground and convert more of the above-ground space to housing. With this information, the reasons for Orvieto’s extensive system of caves became much more clear.

As the underground temperature is constant year-round, it was ideal for the production and storage of wine and olive oil.  Caves near the edge of the hill were used to house dovecotes (dove or pigeon houses):  as a result, pigeon is a fairly common delicacy in the region.  Other underground activities included quarrying, well digging and pottery making.

We saw all of this on our tour.  It was surprisingly comfortable and spacious underground, although there are only a few parts where the caves are actually connected.  People would dig down under their houses but there wasn’t much need to connect the caves.

Later in the day, we visited a privately-run series of caves called the Pozzo della Cava (Well of the Caves).  While these caves were nowhere near as large as the municipally-owned caves we saw earlier, it was interesting to see how a commercial twist (in the form of a well-placed gift shop) could be added.   Also:  a 38-meter deep well looks very scary when you look down into it.

We didn’t need much of a lunch, so we just grabbed a couple of paninis from a butcher shop.  For dinner, however, we decided to seek out pizza.  True Neapolitan (from Naples, or Napoli in Italian) pizza is considered the purest form.  As there appeared to be only one source in Orvieto, we soon found ourselves at Antica Arte Napoletana.

I wanted a pizza based on tomato sauce (“rossa”), so I ended up selecting a pizza capricciosa (see photo at the top of this post).  However, a full half of the pizzas on offer were “bianche” and had either no sauce or a sauce based on something other than tomatoes.  My wife was daring and elected to have the pizza positano…the toppings were not too unusual, but the sauce was cream of pumpkin!  As a relatively mild sauce, the cream of pumpkin put a greater focus on the taste of the toppings.

We both enjoyed having real mozzarella cheese on our pizzas: rather than slices or shreds of ersatz mozzarella, we saw the pizza makers toss large chunks of fresh mozzarella on our pizzas.    We could also see how quickly the pizzas were ready:  the dough was quickly stretched and shaped, with the topped pizza in the oven for only a few minutes.

There is more to Orvieto than caves and pizza – stay tuned!