Umbria rocks

This Saturday we went to amazing Orvieto, about an hour away by train, an Umbrian town built on a hill - one hell of a hill! Sheer rocky cliffs surround the whole town and you have to ride a funicular up (always a good start to the day).



The town is famous for its cathedral, which looks like it might blow over in a high wind, but its really an ensemble performance. If you ask us, the wild boar that Umbria is famous for is the real star of the show.


We had to fight our way past this grizzly beast at the gateway... But once we did there was plenty of time for posing:




And for exploring the many crazy underground attractions. The rock on which the town is built has been gradually carved out by the inhabitants from the Etruscans onwards. These caverns and tunnels are put to all manner of uses, but lots contain dovecots, the main source of food when the city was besieged (this one also contains a potter's workshop):


The most spectacular of these underground sites, however, has to be the well of San Patrizio, a 53m deep shaft skirted by two ramps arranged as a double helix so that the donkeys carrying water up didn't have to pass those going down for more.