when skies are grey : Day #105 in Orvieto

June 7, 2013 - Friday

Today was probably the best day in Orvieto (even though we weren't really in Orvieto for most of the day). Earlier this week, Prof Doll surprised us with a trip to Lake Bolsena and Bagnoregio in addition to our vineyard tour Friday night. So on Friday morning, we all met by the funicular and got on the big bus that they rented for us. We drove to Lake Bolsena and spent the entire morning on the beach. It was so relaxing and the weather was perfect (although possibly a little too hot - I can't believe I'm saying that though). Anyways, it was a great morning to just sit on the beach and swim for a few hours. Then at 1:30, we met back at the bus and drove to Bagnoregio. Here, Prof Doll gave us a mini lesson on the town and I remembered all the facts for a few minutes but thankfully Wikipedia just refreshed my memory: It was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago but has seen its population dwindle to just fifteen residents over the course of the 20th century. Cività was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure. In the 19th century, Civita's location was turning into an island and the pace of the erosion quickened as the layer of clay below the stone was reached in the area where today's bridge is located. Bagnoregio continues as a small but prosperous town, while Civita became known as il paese che muore (in Italian: "the dying town"). Civita has only recently been experiencing a tourist revival.

So that's Bagnoregio according to Wikipedia and Prof Doll. It was so cool and you had to walk up this long skinny road to get to the little town. We spent about two hours exploring and sitting in the shade (because by this point it was overwhelmingly hot). We got some gelato and then took a shuttle back to our big bus. Prof Doll bought us all pizza and then we drove to a vineyard in Orvieto! The vineyard wasn't on the top of Orvieto (where we live) because there isn't room for anything on this hilltop of Orvieto - especially not a vineyard. So we went to this vineyard in lower Orvieto, owned by friends of the Gordon-IN-Orvieto program. They were really generous and gave us a long tour of the vineyard, taking us into the caves. Some of the caves were from 600 BC (WHAT?!). It was awesome. So we spent another few hours at the vineyard before returning up to Orvieto during the sunset, which of course looked beautiful. We had pasta for dinner at Locanda which was unexpected because we only have pasta at lunch. Then we went back to the monastery to watch a movie that Prof Doll has wanted us to see for a while - Tree of Life. It was intense and crazy and confusing but a good movie. Although I did fall asleep during a few parts because I was exhausted from the day! Anyways... best day in Orvieto.