Day #63 in Orvieto

April 26, 2013 – Friday

Today was an average (but wonderful) day to start the weekend. We had a brief chapter meeting in the morning, ate breakfast together downstairs, and then I ambitiously decided to go for a run after breakfast. It looked pretty cloudy out but I didn’t think it would rain during my run… it did. About ten minutes in, it started to rain – more than a sprinkling rain but not exactly pouring rain. So I had a few minutes of indecision before I decided to just return to the monastery to get ready for lunch. After lunch, Jenna and I went on a walk around town (there are still a lot of tourists in the streets and we’re wondering if this is what the next few months are going to be like!). We walked by the duomo, went into a few leather shops, mostly because I had a dream that I bought a whole leather shop last night. After walking around, we met everyone else at the tourist center because everyone wanted to do this Orvieto Underground tour that we’ve been planning to go on since our first week here. So our appointment was at four and we followed our tour guide down into two of the caves. Apparently there are 1200 caves under the hilltop town of Orvieto but most of those are still wine cellars and basements for private residences. So we only went in two of the caves but the tour still lasted for about 45 minutes. I took a few pictures but it was pretty dark down there. In the first cave we went into (cave #563), our tour guide told us how it used to be an Etruscan temple, but was then made into an olive oil press room, then a wine cellar, and then turned into a well in the middle ages.

In the next cave, cave #6, there were multiple rooms where pigeons lived. There were little pigeonholes in the walls, a window so they could go outside, and then a “watering hole” so they could drink. The Etruscans needed these because when they were under attack for two years, they didn’t leave the cliff during this time and they needed food and water – food from the pigeons and water from these wells.

Anyways, the caves were really cool! The day ended with pizza for dinner and then a “sleepover in the sala” at the monastery. Pretty much this sleepover included the movie, What about Bob?, a double batch of brownies (I KNOW. EXCITING), and everyone retreating back to their rooms at 1am to conclude the sleepover. Pretty much I felt like I was home because we were eating brownies and watching a movie that is set on Lake Winnipesaukee (but not filmed there, apparently…).

View of lower Orvieto from inside the cave!

What used to be the Etruscan temple 

Pigeonholes