Orvieto and goodbye to Italy

Oct 10
Packed up and left our agriturismo for our return to Rome. Our car, a Lancia, decided to make all kinds of weird noises and was doing some serious skipping/jumping of the engine that gave us pause. We soldiered on and eventually the trouble seemed to subside but we still were a bit uncertain about whether we would make it to Rome. Our original plan was to visit Orvieto with a couple of stops on the way at Bagno Regio and Civita’, sites that were recommended by our agriturismo hostess. It was a beautiful drive through some mountainous countryside along a big canyon. Once close to Bagno Regio, we somehow managed to take a wrong turn, gave up on Bagno Regio and went directly to Orvieto. Orvieto is a really pretty hill town built onto a tufa bluff. The cathedral at Orvieto may be the most beautiful cathedral I’ve ever seen. It’s a gothic style with a dramatic façade with twisted columns covered with mosaic designs, beautiful sculptured areas, colored marble, frescoes, and gorgeous doors. The sides of the cathedral are alternating black and white marble. My photos don’t come close to showing how incredible it was. The inside was rather plain and fairly unimpressive after that beautiful façade. After some sightseeing in Orvieto we drove to Rome, returned the car and said goodbye to Italy VERY early the next morning.