Visit to Orvieto: from Piazza Duomo to the Etruscan necropolises

Perched on a large tuff cliff, which rises suddenly from the gentle lines of the surrounding countryside, Orvieto reveals its heart in Piazza del Duomo, a suggestive space, surrounded by ancient palaces and dominated by the thirteenth-century silhouette of the Cathedral, whose façade, wonderfully sculpted, shines with mosaics and polychrome marbles.

Inside are preserved pictorial masterpieces, such as “The Stories of the Antichrist“, “The Resurrection of the Flesh“, “The Reprobates and the Elect” and the “Last Judgment” (in the Brizio Chapel) by Luca Signorelli, and the Angels on the sails of the ceiling by Beato Angelico.

The beauty of Orvieto is amplified by the presence of two Etruscan necropolises, located at the base of the cliff (San Martino-Orvieto Scalo area) and by the underground part of the city, expanded during the Middle Ages and used for various purposes, until it became a genuine agglomerate carved into the mountain.

What to see in Orvieto

1 The Cathedral

The Orvieto Cathedral is a true masterpiece of Gothic architecture and is an Italian national monument. The construction of the church is attributed to Pope Nicholas IV. Work began in 1290 with the intention of combining two already existing churches. Inside the Cathedral is preserved the Corporale of the Miracle of Bolsena, from which the feast of the Corpus Christi originated. The facade was completed only at the end of the 16th century, with the construction of the side spires by Ippolito Scalza. The mosaics on the facade are of great importance, but due to numerous restorations, over time they have lost their original shapes and style.

2 St. Patrick’s Well

The St. Patrick’s Well is located in a panoramic position in the center of Orvieto. It was built by order of Pope Clement VII, who took refuge in Orvieto during the sack of Rome in 1527. The project was entrusted to the Florentine Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. Work was completed in 1537. Circular in cross-section, it is sixty-two meters deep and thirteen meters wide. Around the well shaft spiral two spiral staircases designed to run superimposed on each other without communicating. Each staircase has two hundred and forty-eight very comfortable steps, easy to descend even for pack animals. At the bottom of the shaft, a small bridge connects the two staircases. The outer part of the well, consisting of a wide and low cylindrical construction, is decorated with Farnese lilies of Pope Paul III, who succeeded Clement VII. At the entrance, the plaque “quod natura munimento inviderat industria adiecit” (“what nature had denied, industry added”) celebrates the power of human engineering capable of compensating for natural deficiencies such as the lack of water in the city.

Pope Clement VII never saw the project completed, which was finished by Simone Mosca in 1543, when Paul III was seated on the papal throne. The well of the Rocca, this was its original name, only took on the proverbial name of St. Patrick in the nineteenth century, when the fortress had lost its military function. The name of the Well has no connection with local characters but refers to the Irish abyss where St. Patrick used to pray. During the construction of the well, numerous archaeological finds dating back to the Etruscan era were discovered.

3 Cava Well

The complex, with an entrance on Via della Cava, extends beneath the oldest district of Orvieto. Structured into nine underground levels, it is rich in Etruscan, medieval, and Renaissance finds, recently brought to light after nearly four centuries of abandonment.

The deep well, from which the entire site takes its name, was excavated, using a pre-existing Etruscan well, by Pope Clement VII who, having taken refuge in Orvieto in 1527, ordered its construction to be able to draw spring water in case of a siege. Its structure has two attached parts: one circular in section and the other, smaller and dating back to the 5th-6th century BC, rectangular. Next to the well it is possible to continue the tour with a visit to an Etruscan cistern, some fermentation vats, a medieval cellar, and remains of ancient rock-cut tombs. Also interesting are some rooms used in the Middle Ages and Renaissance for pottery production. During the Christmas period, a suggestive nativity scene is created in the cavity of the well, whose setup, different every year, is always remarkable for artistic execution and historical setting.

4 Etruscan Necropolis “Crocifisso del Tufo”

The necropolis extends along the northern slope of the tuff cliff on which Orvieto, the Etruscan Velzna, stands. Discovered in the nineteenth century, it represents an extraordinary document of Etruscan history and culture. Its visit is essentially complemented by that of the National Archaeological Museum and the Claudio Faina Museum of Orvieto, which preserve numerous finds, especially rich ceramic sets. The necropolis was used from the 8th to the 3rd century BC; its peak period (6th-5th century BC) saw the planning of the necropolis in blocks, defined by streets orthogonal to each other and occupied by “dice-type” tombs, following a strict arrangement that reflects an egalitarian social organization. Each burial was reserved for individual families identified by the name inscribed on the architrave, revealing the presence of foreign citizens in Orvieto, an increasingly cosmopolitan city. Forms of ostentation of wealth acquired by a large layer of citizens are finally expressed by luxurious burial objects, purchased on the Greco-Eastern market, many of which are now visible at the National Archaeological Museum and the Claudio Faina Museum of Orvieto.

5 Moro Tower

One experience not to be missed is climbing to the top of the Moro Tower, where the view can freely extend beyond the city roofs to the wonderful countryside. The tower is located in the center of Orvieto, along the main city street.

At the end of the thirteenth century, Orvieto had a new urban layout and placed the Palace of the Seven with the so-called Pope Tower, 47 meters high and almost perfectly aligned with the four cardinal points, in a strategically central position. Its imposing dimensions allowed visual domination of the then vast territory of the Orvieto state. In the sixteenth century, the tower was named after Raffaele di Sante, called il Moro, who also gave his name to the underlying Palazzo Gualtiero, his property, and to the entire district. In 1865, at a height of eighteen meters, the water tank of the new aqueduct was installed in the Moro Tower and, following the restorations of 1866, the mechanical clock and two civic bells were installed. The smaller bell came from the tower of Sant’Andrea and the larger one from the Palazzo del Popolo.

The Palace of the Seven with Moro Tower, recently restored and used as a cultural center, belonged to the ancient Della Terza family, then was property of the Papacy, seat of the Seven, the pontiff, and it seems that Antonio da Sangallo also lived there.

6 Coelli Palace

A stone’s throw from the Cathedral rises, in a strategic and privileged position and easily accessible, the elegant and monumental Coelli Palace, headquarters of the Orvieto Savings Bank Foundation. The building, which belonged over the centuries to illustrious Orvieto families, is the result of the successive aggregation of several volumes that today constitute a refined and multifunctional location where taste and comfort blend inseparably. The ancient noble residence, completely renovated and expanded, is now also a qualified convention center suitable for organizing any type of event: workshops, art exhibitions, meetings, conferences, and events of cultural and corporate interest.

7 Luigi Mancinelli Theatre

The Orvieto theatre, important both historically and artistically, is located in the center of the town, a few steps from the Cathedral and not far from the main square. The visit is recommended both for the beauty of the theatre and the rich theatrical and musical season. Theatrical activity in Orvieto is documented since the sixteenth century with the Academy of the Young, also called the Confused, who met in the upper hall of the town’s Palazzo del Popolo. But dissatisfaction with a not very functional theatre and ambition pushed some to find alternative solutions to the academy’s theatre. In the eighteenth century, the Gualtiero family created a private theatre in the Corniolo villa, in Porano, today Villa Paolina. But for a proper theatre, one had to wait until 1863, the year of its inauguration. Designed by Giuseppe Santini, the Mancinelli Theatre was inaugurated in 1863. In the same year, Annibale Angelini was commissioned to decorate the interiors with grotesques, putti, and festoons, drawn from classical tradition. Giuliano Corsini took care of the stucco decorations, while the Roman Cesare Fracassini painted figurative works, including the curtain, completed in 1886. For the inauguration, the opera “Favorita and Mars” was staged along with the ballets “The Whites and the Blacks” and “Pedrilla”. The hall has the classic form of the Italian theatre, with a horseshoe-shaped plan, four tiers of boxes, and a loggia. In 1921, it was dedicated to the Orvieto musician Luigi Mancinelli (1848-1921). Today it presents itself in its original form with a capacity of five hundred and sixty seats. In the city’s culture, it has always had a central function, confirmed by the versatility of the activities carried out inside: congresses, conferences, exhibitions, lectures and meetings with artists, but also seminars on the dissemination and study of film art.

8 Orvieto Underground

The particular geological nature of the rock on which Orvieto stands has allowed its inhabitants to dig, over about 2500 years, an incredible number of cavities which extend, overlap, and intersect beneath the modern urban fabric. These are a precious reservoir of historical and archaeological information. From the central Piazza Duomo of Orvieto, in front of the Cathedral, at the Tourist Information Office, guided tours for “Orvieto Underground” depart every day at different times. The visit, lasting about an hour, takes place inside one of the city’s most interesting and complex underground complexes. Qualified staff accompany visitors in discovering the traces left by the ancient inhabitants of Orvieto, along an easy and enjoyable route. Here, the play of light and shadow cutting through the millennial darkness of the underground reveals deep and narrow wells used by the Etruscans to chase underground aquifers in search of water, large stone millstones, and long series of tunnels.

Museums of Orvieto

9 National Archaeological Museum of Orvieto

It is set up on the ground floor of the medieval Martino IV palace, one of the three papal palaces behind the Orvieto Cathedral. It collects materials from the oldest and most recent discoveries and constitutes, together with the museum of the Faina Foundation – located on the opposite side of the Cathedral square – a synthesis of archaeological knowledge about Orvieto. Being linked to the research and study activity of the Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Umbria and the scientific and cultural institutions operating in the area, the national museum shows the results of archaeological research and is therefore continuously evolving. Inaugurated in 1982, the museum displays materials found in the territory up to the 19th century that were previously kept in the archaeological section of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. To this collection, composed of a few thousand objects, have been added the wall paintings of the Golini tombs in Porano, until then preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Florence, as well as a substantial collection of the oldest finds in the city (urban necropolises of Crocifisso del Tufo and Cannicella, temples of Belvedere and Via San Leonardo) and the surrounding territory (necropolises of Porano, Castellonchio and nearby locations) reorganized topographically according to modern museographic criteria. The finds recovered thanks to recent or ongoing excavations are displayed according to a rotation plan that allows appreciation of the continuous results of research.

10 Museum of Medieval and Renaissance Orvietan Maiolica

The museum is created in the premises of an ancient kiln. The permanent collection mainly consists of waste from two kilns active in Via della Cava from the second half of the 14th century until the mid-16th century; it is enriched with maiolica acquired in later periods and linked to the same kilns.

The collection counts many pieces and owes its extraordinariness to the continuous production by Orvietan ceramists. Until the mid-14th century, the city of Orvieto was considered a center for importing maiolica and therefore thought to be of import origin.

Many Renaissance maiolica displayed, however, in Italian museums and those of other nations with attributions to production centers such as Deruta, Faenza, Montelupo, Gubbio, to name the most important, actually feature iconographic references typical of the Orvietan area such as noble or guild coats of arms. Only this should have been enough to prove their origin from Orvietan workshops, but some cultural stereotypes, oriented or dictated by the antiques market, prevented a serene attribution of origin. Today it is commonly accepted that multiple production realities in the same period offered the same product, emphasizing mainly the excellences; if it is undisputed that the Orvietan production reached its highest levels in the 14th century, it is often stated that it was then surpassed in the 15th and 16th centuries by Faenza and Deruta. However, if one carefully examines the maiolica of this collection, especially kiln wastes, it is evident that the quality remained very high.

In the museum it is possible to visit as many as ten rooms, starting from the Conference Room which in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was used for painting and firing ceramics. In the Cistern Room you can still see the cistern from which water for ceramic processing was drawn. Through a channel carved into the rock and a probable piping, the water reached the turning points. In the Kiln Room it is possible to visit a nearly intact real kiln. This kiln is the only 15th-century one still existing in the world. In the 14th Century Room the ceramics exhibited here, mostly kiln waste, are those traditionally considered Orvietan production. In the Symbols Room the most important pieces of the collection are displayed. In the Truffette Room it begins to be seen how some types of maiolica were produced in a repetitive, almost serial manner, making it clear that more than a craft workshop, the kiln was a true factory. Besides mugs, there are globular containers called truffette. In the Zaffere Room there are testimonies of all possible types of zaffere: from classic, to diluted, ending with the so-called damascene and porcelain imitations of oriental artifacts. In the Bowls Room, besides numerous bowls, particular maiolica are preserved. In the Renaissance Room, the kiln’s artifacts found in great numbers in Orvietan wells but attributed to craft workshops of other cities are more present. Viterbo or upper Lazio types, Deruta, Faenza, Tuscan or other unlikely origins such as glazed graffiti on engobes of Ferrara or Venice type are visible. In the Cup Room, with its over four hundred cups, is the most evident testimony of industrial production character of the Via della Cava kiln.

11 Museum of the Opera del Duomo (MODO)

Not just one museum but a true System, that of the Opera del Duomo of Orvieto, has as its center one of the most precious assets of humanity’s artistic heritage: the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which houses within it the Cappella Nova or of San Brizio, a pictorial masterpiece by Luca Signorelli. From the Cathedral’s core, the visit through the MODO’s venues unfolds following the guiding thread of the history of the city and its Duomo, tracked through the precious artistic collections that the Fabbriceria has preserved for more than eight centuries. The most ample collection is in the Papal palaces, adjacent to the cathedral, where works by Coppo di Marcovaldo, Arnolfo di Cambio, Simone Martini, Luca Signorelli, Niccolò Circignani are displayed. On the first floor (Soliano palace) the collection of Emilio Greco (1913-1995), composed of plastic and graphic works created between 1947 and 1991, is hosted.

In the 13th-century church of the convent of Sant’Agostino, the second venue, the sculptural group of the Annunciation by Francesco Mochi, placed at the center of the apse, is currently exhibited, as well as the series of Apostles and Saints made following models by various artists, including Giambologna and Ippolito Scalza, and removed from the cathedral at the end of the 19th century.
The chapel of San Brizio inside the same Duomo completes the visit path. Built by the mid-15th century, it is among the highest testimonies of Italian painting for the cycle of frescoes with the Last Judgment, which entirely decorates it, partly by Beato Angelico (1447-49) and partly by Luca Signorelli (1499-1504).

12 Emilio Greco Museum

Located on the Piazza del Duomo of Orvieto, to the right of the Cathedral and in its immediate vicinity, Palazzo Soliano is the largest and most imposing of the Orvietan papal residences. It was built at the behest of Pope Boniface VIII Caetani (1294-1303).
Already the historical venue of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, since September 2008 it has returned as the central point of MODO’s exhibition route, representing the starting point, to host on the ground floor the
Emilio Greco collection (1913-1995), donated by the artist to the city of Orvieto, with which he was artistically and personally linked. Since 1970, indeed, the majestic medieval portals of the cathedral welcome the large bronze doors made by Greco between 1962 and 1964. With this extraordinary testimony of the renewal of sacred art of the second half of the twentieth century, the path towards the most famous icons of the Opera del Duomo collection in the Papal Palaces begins.
The works exhibited in the evocative rooms of Palazzo Soliano span from 1947 to 1990 and mark the most significant stages of the Sicilian artist’s career: from the Wrestler, exhibited in London during the 1948 Olympics, to the famous plaster cast of the Monument to Pope John XXIII made between 1965 and 1967.

13 “Claudio Faina” Museum and Civic Museum

The Claudio Faina Museum and the archaeological civic museum are located in Palazzo Faina, situated in Orvieto’s Piazza Duomo.
Built in the mid-19th century, the palace was constructed by reusing the structures of the Monaldeschi house, one of the most important families of Orvieto since the 13th century. In the palace, purchased in the mid-19th century by Count Claudio Faina senior, the family collection was moved which was initially hosted in the residence in Perugia. The building has been a museum venue since 1954, when the last heir Claudio junior bequeathed all properties to the Orvieto Municipality to finance the “Foundation for the Claudio Faina Museum”.

The exhibition path aims to illustrate the stages of the collection’s formation, from the original core constituted starting from 1864 by Count Mauro according to the collecting directions of the time to the collection increased by the heir Eugenio who limited acquisitions to artifacts from the Orvietan area and promoted the formation of a civic museum instead of enriching the family collection.

From the gallery located on the second floor of the palace a particular perspective of the Cathedral can be admired. From the entrance in Piazza Duomo one accesses the archaeological Civic Museum, set on the ground floor of the palace, entirely dedicated to finds from the excavations of the city and the Orvieto territory, which testify to the exceptional flourishing of Volsinii, the Etruscan Orvieto. Of the productions of very high artistic quality made during the 5th century BCE by Volsinian workshops, architectural terracotta from the Belvedere temple are exhibited. Directly inspired by classical Greek art, they constituted the decorative apparatus and cladding of sacred buildings. From the sacred area of Cannicella, a sanctuary complex inside the necropolis located south of the city, comes the famous statuette of Venus, and from the Crocifisso del Tufo necropolis some stone boundary markers of tombs, usually bearing the name of the deceased, are exhibited. Materials collected during the 19th century from the Orvietan territory are illustrated, including the sarcophagus of Torre San Severo, with sculpted scenes depicting episodes mediated by Greek mythology, funerary inspired.

The Faina collection is arranged on the main floor and on the second floor of the palace in an arrangement renewed in 1996. On the main floor, which preserves the 19th-century decoration, the finds recovered or purchased by the Faina family are arranged, paying particular attention to Mauro’s collecting activity, especially regarding the numismatic collection of coins, mostly Roman from the Republican and Imperial periods, exhibited in strict chronological sequence.

On the second floor, the finds are ordered according to typological and chronological criteria: from pre-protostoric materials to Attic pottery, while some rooms are entirely dedicated to Etruscan ceramics.

Other places of interest in Orvieto

14 Abbey of San Severo and Martyrdom

Interesting building originated in the early Middle Ages and later rebuilt in the 12th century by the Benedictines. The French order of the Premonstratensians, who succeeded the Benedictines in 1220, expanded the Abbey towards the north, in a transitional Romanesque-Gothic style.

15 Complex of the Papal Palaces

Papal residences built by Popes Urban IV and Martin IV. The first (1264) in Romanesque style transitioning to Gothic and the second (1284) inspired by French Gothic.

16 Former Church of Sant’Agostino in Orvieto

Former Church of St. Augustine with a richly decorated Gothic portal from 1300. Eighteenth-century interior with side altars.