The Hooks' Adventure Continues!: How we were stuffed before Thanksgiving

On Sunday, we all went for an outing to Orvieto. Since there were 9 of us, we took my (sweet!) car and my parents' rental station wagon. My car left a wee bit earlier than the other, since it goes a bit more slowly.

Detail of the exterior mosaic work

First stop: Mass at the Duomo. After ascertaining that there would be a Mass shortly, I asked the verger whether he was in need of an altar server (pointing to my friend Jeremy)...he responded with the equivalent of "C'mon!", took the kid by the elbow, and disappeared. Jeremy

Larger shot

reappeared later wearing an alb and a smirk, while carrying the incense. Somehow he always gets incense duty. My mom didn't even recognize him until the recessional, when he walked right by her swinging the thurible. My dad was congratulating himself for seeing Jeremy early on, but then confessed: he'd leant over to ask Michael where J was, and Michael pointed him out!

One of the columns; very reminiscent of St. Mark's in Venice...

Quick note on the Duomo: according to my mother's research, there was a priest in Bolsena during the mid-1200s who was struggling with the concept of transubstantiation (the idea that the bread actually turns into Christ's body). One day during the consecration, the bread started oozing blood and was clearly changed; he and his fellow priests did the obvious thing: they wrapped it up and took it (on horseback? Can't you picture them galloping along in their robes? Or maybe shuffling on the dirt road in their sandals) to the bishop...who happened to be in Orvieto at the time.

The bishop, quick to understand the miracle and anxious to celebrate, declared that a church must be built right on the spot...where he happened to be (as opposed to the spot where the miracle occurred; go figure). So, they built this beautiful cathedral which is dedicated to...Mary (?). I must confess that "Corpus Christi" struck me as a more appropriate name for this one, but they didn't ask me... They did house the blessed Sacrament in a gorgeous reliquary until 1980, but the interpretive sign didn't tell us what happened to it after that. One wonders, yes?

And the whole thing!

The sweet men in my life

After Mass (and a quick coffee break!), my parents ambled off to see the above-ground sights, and we
went to tour Orvieto's underground. We had intended to see the wells (available at any time) but somehow were inveigled into doing the paid tour that had to be done at a particular time...5 minutes from when we showed up in the (incorrect) ticket office. Since the tour was immediately available (and I'd purchased the tickets before realizing our mistake), off we went!

Drinking ciocolatta calda (yes, they make the word feminine for the drink)

It was fascinating. Below Orvieto are over 1400 man-made caves. They were dug out of the pozzolana and the tufo. Pozzolana is a friable material that reacts well with lime and water to make a marvelous cement. The tufo ("tuff") is a crumbly rock that (I think) hardens with air exposure (maybe water?) and was used extensively in Roman architecture because of its ease of working.

In the background is a 13th-century monastery

View of monastery sans view of cat.

Grinding stone for olives

Modern rush mat like one that
would have filtered the oil.
You can just see the funnel-
like indentation in the rock,
front center-ish.

Our tour guide in the oil
pressing alcove. There
would have been a
wooden press + screw
above the mat, and then
the olive mush would have
been mashed to express the oil.

Apart from the use of the raw material, the caves were rather useful locations: nowadays, they're used to store wine and cheese, because the consistent temperature in the caves is ideal. However, in bygone eras, they were used for dovecotes (actually pigeoncotes, but I don't think that's a word) -- a great way to provide meat for the family. Pigeons reproduce rapidly and need little more than space.

Overview of the underground oil facility

In World War II, one of the caves (below the hospital) was used to hide/protect hospital patients. A large cave housed an olive oil production facility used during Medieval times: since olives are harvested during cooler weather, and olive oil requires warmer temperatures to ooze properly, the caves were a nice protected spot. Prior to that, there is some evidence that this particular cave was an Etruscan temple or safe house.

The gable roof implies Etruria
The Romans didn't do gables.

An area for stabling animals

Some of the mine shafts.
The pozzolana would have come out
as dust, and would have been
carried in buckets.

Wells also punctuate the caverns, going down hundreds of feet. Many of them are very, very old (2000 BC old, based on debris found at the bottom). One can still see the hand- and footholds that were used in their construction. I have to say that I would not like to be one of the guys going up and down to dig to water: the hole is about 65 cm wide by 120 cm long. Seriously claustrophobia-inducing.

Looking up the shaft towards
the surface, you can see
the footholds.
Let's see: climbing down
hundreds of meters using
footholds carved in
crumbly rock...not
my idea of a good time.

The shaft looking down.

I have pictures of the dovecotes below, because my photos are taking up more room than my text...

Time for lunch. And, boy, what a lunch it was! We went to Zeppelin (no, not Led) and met Lorenzo. My parents' friends had had a meal here and had strongly recommended the place; by coincidence, Lorenzo was offering a cooking class in Atlanta shortly before my parents came to Italy -- so my mother learned how to make pasta by hand before she set foot on Italian soil! But the rest of us hadn't yet met this gastronomic paragon.

Sadly, James wasn't feeling well at lunch...

He brought dish after dish after dish after dish after dish (get the picture?). After we'd eaten a full meal, the waitress broke the news to us that we'd finished the antipasto (appetizer course). Um, really? Can I just take a doggy bag now?

With the great Lorenzo.

We had local cheeses and meats; the newly pressed olive oil (as in, pressed on Saturday -- the day before we were there); fresh bread; local pork with olives, tomatoes, and onions; artichokes; chicken roulade on a bed of artichoke something; oh -- pasta with truffles and turnips (the prince and the peasant of the earth, according to Lorenzo, and yes I'm getting out of order with the courses); and about 16 desserts. My favorite (if one can have a favorite while feeling bloated) was the apple-filled crepe with candied nuts on top. That was incredible.

After a wonderful lunch!

Having waddled out of Zeppelin (is there an explosion analogy to be drawn? One hopes not...), we went back to the Duomo (which I will call Corpus Christi in my head -- sorry about that) and enjoyed the special chapel to the right of the aisle. Jeremy had had some wine at lunch and was rather inclined to giggle. In his defense, among the sublime imagery there was also a wee bit of the ridiculous. It was mostly sublime, though. Lots and lots of gold and fresco and some stone inlay work (which always makes me drool). Beautiful. We stood looking until our necks hurt (we concurred that it might be looked at askance if we lay on the floor to look straight up), and then decided to leave Orvieto so we could get home before dark (the sun sets around 4:30 these days).

Too late.

Got home after dark, lay around like ancient Romans on our sofas, and then had a few nibbles to top us off before bed.

Love,

Alexandra