not assisi.

the wrong way: approach strange Orvietian cats. It hisses them off.
the Wright way: go explore around Italy on weekends off. If you miss your train, there will always be another one leaving the station going SOMEWHERE.

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Today was our day-trip to Assisi. After waking up at the "ass-crack of dawn," Lisa, Emily, Corin, Andrew, and I got to Roma Termini at about 7:36. We ran with backpacks (and if you've ever seen anyone try to run with a full jansport backpack on, I welcome you to visualize.), Assisi tickets in hand, down the FURTHEST set of tracks from the station.

The train sadistically crawled away from the platform as the ugly teal thing was in full view at last. We missed it.

We decided to trade the tickets in, not for a later train, but for a train leaving in about 20 minutes for a city called "Ovieto." An hour long ride got us to the bottom of a series of tall cliffs, where we followed the advice of a professor from California and his art students, and hopped on a tram that led up the face to the city.


The first thing I saw was the view. For a few minutes, the freezing volcanic air completely drew out my breath. I've never seen an actual snow-capped mountain before, but they were abundant in the distance, the fog blending the heights into the overcast sky.

Ovieto is a bit north of Rome, on the same train line you'd take to reach Florence. It's very high up (surprised I didn't get a nosebleed; those have been happening recently) so the wind finds it's way to your bones. The architecture there is amazing; residences weave into and out of each other and the landscape, flowing into vast fields of green. Every edge holds a breathtaking view, helping you maintain a perspective on where you actually are with help from the mist.

This place is built on volcanic rock, and some sections of it have weight limits for cars. The community has a thing for pork and boars, and is extremely well-known for their white wine and ceramic artisans. We sat down to lunch at a small restaurant and shared a liter of their house-wine. It was magnificent, cool, and refreshing.



Padding around the city took around three hours, but I could've stayed a lot longer. It's definitely one of the quieter, older cities, telling from the friendliness of the residents and the crazy amount of ruins, secret underground portions of the city, and beautiful history surrounding the landscape. The Pozzo di S Patrizio is located there (they charge admission to that, so we didn't bite), as well as the Orvieto Cathedral, The Duomo. It has stripes of white travertine and black basalt that is reflected in some of the portals in the towns around the piazza. The bands are narrow, so the vision is extremely striking. It bears a little resemblance to the Siena Cathedral. We first approached from the left elevation, but as we rounded to the front (after being shooed out because of the mass going on), an entirely different and magnificent facade stood poised in front of us. The scale of the massing was huge, and the attention to detail was similar to only what I've seen in Italy so far. The facade was supposedly designed by Lorenzo Maitani, who was also a sculptor, which I absolutely believe. He improved upon the original masonry of a monk named Fra Bevignate. Inside the church, besides the indescribable columns, frescoes, and various sculptures, are the Corporal of Bolsena, and Luca Signorelli's "Last Judgement."

And I found a cat, too ["i'll call you... little blackie."]



All in all, I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I can't wait for the underground portion of the city to open up in February, though. I think this city is worth a revisit. I didn't get much crossed off on my "list of things to do" today, but that just means I'll have to maintain my adventurous composure and soldier on.

We'll make it to Assisi.