More Umbrian travels

Orvieto and surrounding countryside

Years ago when I toured Italy on a motorbike (see HERE) I had visited Orvieto and it left a lasting impression on me; Marilena wanted to see it also, so we set off from Bolsena for the day to see it together. The Umbrian countryside through which we motored was fascinating - and so very different from back home. It was more open of course because Italy's fields are not enclosed with hedges like ours. What they did have were trees, configured in shapes and ways that are novel to English eyes. Plantings along roadsides made for spectacular avenues of green through which we skimmed in our Bongo; and the landscape skylines appeared to receive special attention judging by the numerous lines of cedars and umbrella pines silhouetted against the clear blue. 

The fields here are relatively small but the wide variety of crops in them turns the countryside into a multi-textured patchwork quilt, with coarse stretches of overripe, drooping sunflowers, military drills of vines sloping at wildly different angles, olive groves of bluish-green bobs and blocks of strong green eucalyptus trees. It's a visual delight!

Orvieto cathedral's utterly magnificent facade.

Orvieto is another ancient hilltop Umbrian city lived in since Etruscan times. Again, the city authorities have protected the medieval centre from modern developments; you have the impression is walking back in time as you stroll around the town. Remarkable. We were both taken with the quite magnificent cathedral; although it had a more restrained interior, its exterior couldn't have been more extrovert. Real medieval bling!