Orvieto

On Tuesday morning we caught a train to Orvieto - roughly half way between Rome and Florence. Orvieto is famous for three things: its Duomo, its white wine, and its ceramics. The train dropped us off at the foot of the mountain atop which the city is perched. A funicular and a bus carried us to the piazza in front of Il Duomo. The picture of it below was taken in the evening just before we headed back to Rome. The facade is covered in mosaics. This church was built to hold the corporal which was (and still is) stained with Christ's Precious Blood in nearby Bolsena in 1263. A priest there was offering the holy Mass and at the fractio panis the host spilled drops of blood onto the corporal laying on the altar. The corporal was immediately taken to the Pope who was in Orvieto at the time, and in response he instituted the feast of Corpus Christi to be celebrated in the universal Church beginning in 1264 (and St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the propers of the Mass for the new feast). We were able to see the blood-stained cloth in a side chapel of the church.

The views from this elevated city of the Umbrian Italian countryside were wonderful. Rome is nice, but it's a big city - this is Italy! We sat here for a little while after lunch drinking in the view together with a bottle of Orvieto white wine.

The discovery of old castle walls and towers on the edge of the city - built right into and on top of the cliffs - was a delightful surprise. We were even able to explore it at no cost. The heights were sometimes dizzying, but certainly thrilling. See if you can find Lisa and Maria in the picture below.