Adventures in Napoli/Orvieto (5/14/09)

After a wonderful breakfast at the JW Marriott in Capri, we gathered our bags and somehow managed to make ourselves leave the island. Neither of us ever wanted to leave. We found ourselves running to catch a ferry again, but once on board, it was a peaceful hour-long ride to Napoli. Then craziness started. I haggled the price of our taxi from the port to the train station from 20 Euros down to 15, and then experienced the madness of Naples roads.

Our Taxi driver was young, and very interested in talking to us. We practiced our meager Italian, and he practiced his meager English. Once at the station we attempted to get our tickets to Orvieto (via Roma). Since we were earlier than we had planned, we hoped to catch an earlier train. The train we booked was 30 minutes earlier than the one we originally wanted to take, but that was still 2 hours away. So we left our bags at the baggage deposit and ventured out in to Napoli for some Pizza.

Right outside the train station, I saw a very large sign for “FUSCO” – it was a perfumaria, like a cologne and make-up shop. We went in to see if I looked like anyone, but they were busy. Thankfully it was a nice looking place!

We wandered through some VERY busy streets until we found Antica Pizzeria da Michele, where Pizza was supposedly invented in 1870. A true wood-burning oven, and only two choices, Margarita (Tomato and Mozzarella) or Marinara (no cheese). We had the Margarita with some coke, and it was fantastic. Watching them make it was fun.

When we made it back to the train station and got our bags, our train was delayed 55 minutes, so we hustled to the ticket office and were able to change to the original train we had wanted. We took that train to Roma and switched to our local Orvieto train, which left about 20 minutes late. Upon arrival in Orvieto, we took the funicular up to the main town and got lost in the maze of narrow streets, until we finally found our beautiful hotel (Hotel Palazzo Piccolomini), which was a former Papal Palace, when the popes took refuge in Orvieto. After checking in and getting settled, we hurried to catch the last tour of the underground caves of Orvieto. There are hundreds of caves, many private, beneath homes and restaurants. The ancient Etruscans, and then the Romans and later Orvietans, used them for protection and extra space. The pigeon holes were very interesting. When hiding out from attackers, pigeons were used as a source of food since they reproduced so rapidly. After the caves we walked over to St. Patrick’s Well, a 175 ft deep double helical well that was used as a source of water. The path down was a double helix to ensure a one way flow down and then backup.



After our Orvieto sightseeing was done, we simply walked the small town and enjoyed the sights. We enjoyed a fantastic Umbrian meal with Orvieto Classico (local wine) at a local restaurant where we were the only Non-Italians. It was spectacular, to say the least, and might even surpass our meal in Capri as the best so far. Tomorrow we’re going to see the beautiful Duomo, and then head to Civita di Bagnoregio , and on to Assisi.