Our first Friday in Rome was definitely one to remember. Unfortunately, it had to begin with an early wakeup call, as we had to be on the bus by 7:45 AM. The bus ride to Orvieto was about an hour and a half to two hours long. It provided a good opportunity to get to know more people in the group. I feel like I know over half the people now, and am well acquainted with the rest. It was also a good chance to see the Italian countryside. Orvieto is outside the Lazio region, where Rome is located, and is actually in Umbria. The weather was nice today, probably in the high sixties to low seventies with a pretty consistent cloud cover. It made the tours and the sightseeing much more bearable.

We arrived in Orvieto at the base of a volcanic outcropping. The walls of the outcropping are nearly vertical, which made the city ideal for military defense. In order to get to the city, we had to take a tram/gondola up the steep hillside and actually tunneled through some of the hill. At the top, we met up with a tour guide, who took us to the Duomo, or big Gothic cathedral, which was quite the work of art and history. It is quite unique in the Umbria region for the horizontal stripes displayed on its sides. Also, it was originally designed in the Romanesque style, which featured large rounded arches and less intricate detail. However, 50 years into the construction, some stability problems were encountered and a new architect had to be called in to reinforce the building. He added some flying buttresses, as well as the beautiful facade, which exhibits the Gothic style. It took over three hundred years for the cathedral to be completed, and even longer until the inside mosaics and frescoes were finished.

Inside, we were allowed special access into the second chapel, which features some very well known frescoes by Signorelli depicting Judgment Day. They were pretty amazing, but no pictures were allowed, so unfortunately I cannot share them with you. Another great feature is the giant rosette on the facade, which was said to have been embroidered of marble rather than carved. It was insanely intricate and is easily among the most impressive things I have seen thus far in Italy.

After the tour, we had a two hour break to get lunch and explore the city. We went to a pasta place, and I had some spaghetti ragu, pretty basic and traditional, but very delicious. The service was a little slow, and this ate up almost all of our first hour. We then wandered around the beautiful streets of Orvieto, which were very peaceful and shopper-friendly. There were many cool little trinket shops, but I think the highlight was the medieval shop that had swords, maces and crossbows. I would love to get one, but I'm sure it would be next to impossible to get it back to the States.

We met again in front of the cathedral to take a tour of the underground tunnel system of Orvieto. As I mentioned, the outcropping is made of volcanic rock, which is quite porous. This makes it easy to dig these tunnels, but it also means that the ground does not hold much water. Therefore, the ancient Etruscans had to dig down until they reached the clay layer to get their water. This was sometimes as deep as 100 meters. Later civilizations dug more caves for various other purposes, including a wine cistern, dove hatcheries, a terracotta factory, and even a bomb shelter during WWII. The result is over 1200 caves covering the 100 square mile hill. We only visited two, but they were very impressive.

After this tour we again had free time, which we used to sit at the edge of the cliffs and get some good pictures. The break was only an hour, and then we met by the tram to go home. On the way home, we hit some traffic, so the ride was a little longer, but I got a chance to read a lot of my guidebook to Rome and start to plan the sights we want to see. There is so much that I want to do, I just don't know where to begin!

When we got back, I was pretty tired, so I laid down and watched the first episode of Lost Season 1. I never had really watched this show, but seemingly everyone I know does, so I promised to watch Season 1 this summer. So far the first episode was good, but not life-changing. Dinner was next, and we again went to a quick pasta place. It was good, but turned out to be expensive, which makes me want to begin cooking on my own soon. I think tomorrow we will head to the market to do some shopping. The rest of the night has been used playing some basketball on the mini hoop in our room and watching the Italian national soccer team destroy Belgium in a friendly match. I look forward to what the rest of the weekend has in store!