Last Passagiata in Orvieto

This is our last night in Orvieto.  The town is overrun with tourists (darned tourists) between about 10:00 and 18:00.  They all come in via bus or park in the lower city and take the funicular up. We were down in the lower city this morning exploring (Fran found a house she wants to buy) and by 10:00 there were 20 bus loads.  The two weeks surrounding Easter is a school holiday in most of Europe.  We see tons of  German, English and French tourists.  A lot are pre arranged group tours with kids.  We’ve learned to do our living here before 10 and after 6 (makes for a nice nap). 

Anyway the point of this post is passagiata Orvieto style.  They day tourists miss this most enjoyable part of the day.  Fran took this picture last night.  The town has so few residents that it’s not the zoo Sorrento was – this picture was taken at the height of passagiata.  The walk is slower, more gentile, and laced with civilized conversation.  Still fun.  Shops are only open until about 9:00 pm when residents either go home or go out to dinner.  We’ve noticed the 9 pm dinner rush each night as we adapted our eating habits to local custom.  We started eating about 7:30 and are now part of the 9 pm rush. 

We have an 11:50 train to Bologna tomorrow.  I may or may not get a chance to blog again in Orvieto but a few parting thoughts in case I don’t.  1) We would come back to this town (for a third time).  The pace is relaxed but not anemic, the people friendly, and the Italian they speak is the Italian I learned (sorry Mom I don’t understand it well elsewhere).   Our friend Alvin says the Tuscan’s and Umbrian’s speak perfect Italian without accent.  2) Next time we come back we’ll probably rent a villa and stay a few weeks.  There’s just too much to see.  We’re both getting a bit tired of the “power” tourism (if it’s Tuesday it must be Rome kind of thing).  Our pace each trip is slower and slower and we enjoy it more and more.

Lastly (I promise) for those of you wondering, here’s the house Fran wants to buy.  Hard to see from this picture but it’s about 2000 SF (huge by local standards) and boasts both an orchard and a vineyard.

Hope there’s wireless in Bologna – I’ve enjoyed sharing with you all and really appreciate the comments (Chris – thanks).