Planning a trip to Orvieto
Visitor Information
The tourist office is opposite the Duomo at Piazza Duomo 24 (www.comune.orvieto.tr.it; tel. 0763-341-772). It’s open Monday to Friday 8am to 2pm and 4 to 7pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 1pm and 3:30 to 6pm.
Festivals & Markets
Florentines are wimps -- they use a little fake bird to set off the cart of fireworks in front of their cathedral at Easter. The Orvietani use the real thing in La Palombella. On Pentecost Sunday, an unlucky white dove is tied to a frame encircled with flares, which slides down a steel cable and, amid much cheering and doubtless a few animal-rights protests, ignites the fireworks and sparklers strapped to a giant Gothic canopy placed outside the Duomo. Assuming the poor thing doesn't have a heart attack, the dove is then given to the couple last married in the Duomo to be cared for until its natural death.
Umbria Jazz moves from Perugia to Orvieto for the winter, celebrating the last 5 days of the year with wine tastings and jazz artists from around the world. Visit www.umbriajazz.com for info. There are weekly morning markets on Thursday and Saturday in Piazza del Popolo.
Getting There
Fourteen trains on the main Rome-Florence line stop at Orvieto daily (1 hr., 45 min. from Florence; 1 hr., 20 min. from Rome). From Perugia, take the train to Terontola (16 trains daily) for this line heading south toward Rome (1 1/4 hr. total train time). Orvieto makes a convenient stopover on a train trip between Rome and Florence; you can store bags at the Welcome Center (www.orvietoviva.com; tel. 0763/300480) behind the train station in the Piazza della Pace (3€ per large bag for 4 hours, 15€ for 24 hours, open 9am to 6pm).
Orvieto’s station is in Orvieto Scalo in the valley. To reach the city, cross the street and take the funicular (www.atcterni.it; every 10 min. from 7:20am–8:30pm).
Orvieto is easy to reach by car, especially from southern Tuscany: It’s right by the A1. The main link to the rest of Umbria is the SS448 to Todi (40 min.). There’s a large free parking lot behind the train station off Piazza della Pace, so you can drop off your car and take the funicular up to town; if you want to get a bit closer, there’s a garage at Campo della Fiera, just outside the Porta Romana, which is connected by an elevator/escalator system up to Piazza San Giovanni or Piazza Ranieri. Parking lots on the perimeter of the upper town charge about 1.50€ an hour.
