Day three... whoa.

Today was really long, and really overwhelming in several ways. My bag has still not been found, and I wasn't able to get to the shops to buy clothes yesterday, tried to do my laundry in the sink last night and hang dry it, but it was still wet this morning, so I traveled in borrowed clothes. Also, I'm plagued with persistent insomnia that may drive me crazy, I've been able to sleep for only about two hours- since I've been here! But, I am determined not to let these things impede my experience, so I'm being as much of a trooper about it as I can manage.


We walked for miles today, and I never knew there were this many stairs in existence...


First we went to the market, very early in the morning.


Heirloom tomatoes and zucchini with the blossoms still attached. The quality of the food here is... remarkable.
A pile of oranges, and the most beautiful artichokes in the universe.

I took a ton of pictures of the cathedral, and none come close to showing an iota of its true beauty. This church took over 200 years to build, and is truly one of the most remarkable structures in the world. I took many pictures- I'll give you guys a slide show when I get back, because this requires far more in-depth discussion than I can muster in this format. It's very hard to tell from this image, but anything on the facade with a tinge of yellow, is REAL gold.

I've never seen so much detail put into a building. Or anything, for that matter.

A closer image of one of the decorative pillars, showing the gold inlay. As I mentioned, I have around 100 pictures of this church, and I- I feel tiny now. I never, ever even knew that humankind could produce something this spectacular, this telling of devotion, display such attention to detail. Here's another close up of a pillar, showing the gold inlays., and these are the LEAST beautiful part of it. It's the most humbling display of the power of art I've ever experienced, and the feeling you get witnessing it is indescribable.

We then made our way to the underground part of Orvieto. A little background first; Orvieto is a completely fortified city, situated on two gigantic shelves of porous volcanic rock, the exact geologic composition of the upper layer is found nowhere else in the world. Under the volcanic rock is clay, so water flows through the layers and only stops thousands of feet down when it hits the clay. Underneath the city, 400 caves are accessible, two are open for tourism, the rest are connected to private residences and are still in use. BUT, over 1,200 of these caves are known under the city, ALL carved by hand with pickaxes, and they believe there are more that have never been discovered.

The Etruscans were the makers, around 3,000 years ago. They used the caves for everything, and there are even pipes cut into it to carry water into the caves, read: the Etruscans had indoor plumbing. 3,000 years ago. To store potable water, they carved 500 meters down from the center of the cave, to gather as much water as possible, since it would rapidly seep through the rock and be gone. It's still not understood how this was done, but it's quite remarkable. The next inhabitants filled these wells with trash, so only about 200 meters are still open.

During the Medieval times, the caves were re-purposed. They were used to process olive oil, because they maintain a consistent temperature all year round, as olives must be harvested in the winter. The inhabitants of this time added fireplaces and olive presses.

Above is one of the Medieval olive presses, which would have been driven by a donkey, another stone wheel would be placed on top and used to crush the olives. The top layer of volcanic rock was used to make concrete during these times, and is still used in the construction of the houses in Orvieto today. Throughout the centuries, the caves have been used for homes, protection, storage, pigeon raising, mining, cattle, food storage, bomb shelters, and who knows what else. They are still in use today.

While we were in the caves, chef Pollegri gathered wild fennel fronds and rosemary (both of these and mint grow wild absolutely everywhere here) to use in the restaurant.

After the caves we went to the tower, which is... way up there. Here's the cathedral as viewed from the top of the tower.

Interestingly, Orvieto is one of the oldest, and most intact cities in the whole of Europe, because of its extreme height, it was IMPOSSIBLE to siege. During WWII, the allies even made a special deal with the residents, and never bombed Orvieto proper because of its historical significance, though they did take out the radio stations in the countryside surrounding the plateau.

This is the well, as viewed from the top looking down. The stairs were made for donkeys to travel on, so are very long and flat. Also, they spiral around the center in a double helix formation, like DNA, so they never had to turn around to return to the top.

Aaaand the well from the very bottom, looking up.

And then a very special plate of cured salumi, onion preserves, and pecorino cheese serve to us by a local vinter...

Who just so happens to use his Etruscan cave to store his wine. He even opened up a 47 year old bottle for us- Chef Pellegrini is a much loved figure in Orvieto, so he gets us some pretty special treatment. The bottle was a bit... musty, but it's the thought that counts. The cellar and the older bottles in it are kept mostly for historical significance, and the methodology used to make wine has changed drastically in the last two decades anyway, so the bottle was more a symbolic sampling than one meant to taste amenable.

I am exceedingly tired, so now I'm off to bed. I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be awesome.

Buena notte, ragazzi!