What Lies Beneath

Orvieto is not just beautiful and interesting at street level.  Its underworld is a labyrinth of more than 1200 caves, passageways, tunnels, wells, stairs, cellars, niches and unexpected twists and turns, dug over several centuries out of the soft volcanic rock called tufa on which the ancient town of Orvieto sits.  Almost every building visible on the street, has a cave underneath it – these were used as a means of escape when the ancient city was under siege but were also workrooms where olive oil was pressed, cloth was created on looms, wool was softened in a complex process, waterways were re-directed to channel rainwater down from rooftops to provide a water supply if the people were under siege, ceramic pottery (majolica) was made and glazed in massive underground kilns and pigeons were cultivated for food.

To stand in these caves and try to visualise the Etruscans tunnelling underground several centuries B.C. to create these very precisely cut rectangular wells (with foot-and-handholds each side for climbing) and peaked ceilinged caverns is quite staggering.  Clearly they possessed exceptional engineering skill and considerable vision.

We visited two of the caves which are open to the public and were absolutely fascinated by their story.  Apparently many of the residents currently living here make use of their own “personal” caves under their homes for the storage of their wine, as the temperature is consistent, throughout the year.

The walls of several sections of the cave we stood in yesterday are pocked with a perfectly arranged grid of hundreds of square holes where pigeons were raised – a small window-space opening allowed these homing pigeons to fly out for food and return to their nests as required.  The baby pigeons were a valuable source of food for the residents at that time and still today in Orvieto restaurants, baked or roasted pigeon features on menus.

The final section of the tour took us to a large empty room, around which a low stone bench hugged the walls.  This area was apparently used as a bomb shelter during WWll, and the research I did after arriving back at the apartment evidences that although Orvieto itself was relatively safe from attack at that time, the valley below was often the target of both the Allies and the retreating Germans because of its network of roadways and train lines.  It must have been so frightening to sit in that underground cave, hearing the sounds of explosions outside and perhaps watching stones and rocks falling from the walls and ceilings.

The Pozzo della Cava (Cave Well) which we saw today was re-discovered very recently, in 1984, despite having been dug in the mid 16^th century.   In 1996 this 36-metre deep well was emptied of all the debris which had accumulated over the centuries, including a vast array of pottery, tools, primitive machinery and human skeletal remains, all of which were finds of considerable archaeological significance. 

We then walked on to explore another area below the cliff face which is the site of an orderly arrangement of Etruscan tombs. 

We think Orvieto is a stunningly beautiful town from every angle.  The cave visits over the past couple of days have shown that it is even beautiful inside-out.

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