Rick Steves’ Travel Blog

My Orvieto guide was excited to surprise me with a visit to a very special and obscure site: the underground, fresco-covered, Etruscan tomb of the Hescanas family, which dates back to the fifth century B.C. It happened to be a tomb I knew very well, as for many years (back in the 1980s and 1990s), I would bring my tour groups here. We’d knock on the farmer’s door, and the old man would bring us through the fields, where we’d climb underground into this amazing tomb carved from the tufa rock in the middle of nowhere. We also filmed here in 2000. Today the farmer is gone, his house is abandoned and overgrown, and a local group of archaeologists has the key to the Hescanas tomb. And with the help of my guide, Manuela, I enjoyed a wonderful bit of tour guide nostalgia.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

I was doing my best to stay in my hotel room and finish some writing. But there was a Pentecost festival going on outside, and the energy was building. I could hear it out my window. I couldn’t resist, and joined the multitude that had gathered on the square in front of the cathedral, as the citizens of Orvieto had for generations as part of their Pentecost celebrations. The tension built and built…and then, suddenly, it happened: A dove in a little plastic tube rocketed down a zipline and into a nest of fireworks at the front of the church, setting it all ablaze.

This ritual was almost comical. After the fireworks blew off, a fireman climbed up the little tower to see if the dove was OK. He was. And that was great news, as it brings good luck to the town and fertility to the last couple married in Orvieto.

When you travel, you can’t help but bump into festivals. I have to admit, I don’t plan for them. But they seem to come to me.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

Orvieto is one of the most striking, memorable, and enjoyable hill towns in central Italy. And part of the charm is arriving by train or car (parking in the big, free lot just beyond the train station) and joining the locals to climb the town’s natural fortress hill on a slick funicular. As you step out of the funicular station up top, like clockwork, the hardworking little bus A meets you and zips you deep into town (covered by the same ticket), depositing you right in front of my favorite Gothic cathedral in Italy. From there, you are in a delightful, perfectly preserved, and virtually traffic-free world — within steps of great hotels, restaurants, and museums… not to mention a chapel slathered with dramatic Signorelli frescoes.

All day long, this bus shuttles loads of visitors enthusiastic about eating, sleeping, shopping, and sightseeing in Orvieto. There are lots of other great hill towns in Umbria and Tuscany, but none of them provides such a thoughtful welcome to the tourists who stoke the local economy.

But now, sadly, in a misguided attempt to cut costs, the town council of Orvieto is about to drop the handy shuttle bus from the funicular to Piazza del Duomo. By cancelling Bus A, they’re condemning those arriving in Orvieto to either take a long walk through town with luggage, or take their chances with expensive taxis.

I’ve never done this before, but I’d like to ask anyone who has enjoyed Orvieto’s “Bus A Welcome” to email any or all of the city officials here and briefly explain why you appreciate Bus A, and why canceling it would be a sad move for Orvieto. Thanks.

Orvieto Mayor: sindaco@comune.orvieto.tr.it
Orvieto Councilor of Transportation: g.luciani@comune.orvieto.tr.it
Orvieto Councilor of Culture: m.marino@comune.orvieto.tr.it

A favorite research chore for me in Orvieto is checking my restaurants…and then trying to find even better ones. (Actually, I guess that’s a favorite research chore almost anywhere I go. Hey, it’s a job.) I appreciate what I call “personality-driven restaurants,” where the owner is forever enthusiastic about sharing his love of good cooking. Here at Ristorante La Palomba, when Gianpiero learned my favorite dessert was good cheese with red wine, he made sure I understood what he was serving and that I left with a lifelong memory.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.