This morning is all peace and quiet in our wonderful villa.  Coffee in the kitchen – too chilly for the patio this morning – and fun taking pictures of the old woman across the piazza tending her flowers. She stands in the window so still that we thought she might be a painting! She is quite alive though, just obviously patient and slow moving.

Then it is out to meet Gaby and Sigis for more coffee before we begin our explorations of Civita Bagnoreggio – the town abandoned after erosion made access to the town too treacherous and some buildings too unstable.

We meet at the Duomo – the best and most central place to meet – then wander through Orvieto looking for a place for coffee.  The one I had selected had no outdoor tables available, so onward we go. There are a million places here for coffee and pastries, so no worries.  We end up at L’Officina Del Gelato on Corso Cavour with a perfect table in the sun for our cappuccino, Green Tea (for Sigis) and cornettos – the best cornetto!  One Pistachio cream and one raspberry for us, plain for Gaby and Sigis. All huge. All excellent.  That’s the way to eat breakfast! 

Coffee and breakfast done, we walk down to the garage, along Via Medici, introducing G&S to the wonders of Orvieto. The views from here up on this side of the town are just stunning. With the Porto Romano right there at eye level, looking out across the hills to and the farm houses, villages and farmland.  It’s a perfect day here in Umbria.

It is only a little more than 30 minutes to Civita, along winding little roads and then through Bagnoregio (the new town where everyone lives now).  When we make it to the parking lot on this visit, I am prepared.  I have tons of coins.  (Remember last time, faithful bleaders, I had no coins for parking and had to beg some random couple for change for a 5 Euro note.)  Well, times they have a changed (I mean it was almost 10 years ago).  We can use credit cards!  Ha!  So no worries. We pay for our 3 hours parking and off we go to the wonderland that is Civita Bagnoregio.

The long walk down – meaning a long walk up – hasn’t changed, nor have the sights. The surrounding landscape is equally gorgeous, all green and lush.  Civita appears magically, just as it always has, rising above everything with the narrow, now manmade, bridge built in 1965 that attached the town to the “mainland” for lack of a better term.  Gaby says it reminds her of the Great Wall of China – and we all have to agree.  It definitely has that feel.

Paying our entrance fee (ok, that’s changed – as has everything – inflation), we begin our trek over the bridge, snapping picture after picture, and making ourselves as small as possible to allow the little civita open sided truck to pass.  That was tight! 

Arriving at the 7^th century gates, we begin our explorations of the “dying city,” so named because the foundation of the city is so unstable it erodes, causing landslides and property loss.  Founded by the Etruscans, the city layout is based on their street system with architecture that is both medieval and Renaissance.  After the Etruscans, the Romans occupied the town, then much later, in the 1200’s, Saint Bonaventure was born in the town. His boyhood home has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff, as have many other dwellings forcing the citizens of Civita to move to the suburbs of Bagnoregio on the 17^th C.  Today, only a handful of people live in Civita and virtually all its business is tourist related. 

It makes the beautiful little town all the more interesting to explore.  And explore we do – wandering down alleys, walking to the far edge of the village, actually visiting the church today (on our last visit it was closed due to earthquake damage) and generally just enjoying the day and the companionship.  It is so fantastic to be together and wander and chat and catch up.  An excellent adventure.

We of course are getting a bit peckish by this point, and we land on a great restaurant called La Cantina di Arianna with a fantastic garden patio in the back.  Commandeering a table in the shade, we sit down to a lovely meal of Strigoli con Asparagi, Guanciale e Tartufo (short pasta with asparagus, bacon and truffle) for G&S, Battuta di Carne Locale Tartufo e Maionese al Pistacchio (beef tartare with truffle and pistachio mayo) for Ed and what turned out to be Eggplant stuffed with sheep cheese sauce for me (I had wanted the Carciofi – artichoke – prepared the same way, but they didn’t have it today, only eggplant, so I figured what the heck? I’m game!).  Lovely meal all around (except the wine, which Sigis and I shared – that was not good wine.  Great pitcher.  Not great wine!). 

Then it was more gorgeous photos as we leave Civita, reversing our course across the bridge and making our way slowly up the long steep hill to our car. 

The drive back is easy, stopping at the Lidl below town for supplies, then back to Orvieto, to the garage and the spectacular views as we walk back into the city.  Returning to our respective apartments to relax and rejuvenate a bit, we hung out on the gorgeous rooftop patio before heading to the Duomo to meet for an afternoon tour of the Orvieto Underground. 

Buying our Orvieto Carta Unica, we now have access to all the main attractions around Orvieto for our explorations tomorrow, including this evening’s underground tour – although the card no longer public transportation on the little shuttle bus or funicular, that was ages ago, as the tourist lady tells us (yeah, we know, that’s how long we’ve been coming here!). While we wait for the tour to begin, we amuse ourselves by playing with the zoom on our phone cameras to take tons of pictures of the Duomo, perfectly lit in the late afternoon sun.

Then we are called for the tour.  Unlike our first tour years ago, when it was just the 2 of us and the guide, this tour has lots of people, and an adorable guide, Jessica, who gives us so much information and is such a joy.  Just an excellent experience, and to be honest, we didn’t remember a thing from the first tour!  We learn all about the tunnels, how the Etruscans first built them, by hand, mostly for water access. They built footholds into the side of well to climb down and then up again with a water bucket. The caves were repurposed over the years as cellars or for pottery or olive oil processing, even as safehouses during the war years. 

Entering into another tunnel/cave, Jessica shows us these holes in the walls and asks for guesses as to what they were used.  We’ve no idea – and we’ve been here before!  They are pigeon farms.  People used to have pigeons here, they could fit 2 in each little hole where they would harvest the eggs, and breed them, to then later eat them. Pigeon – or Piccione – is a specialty here in Orvieto.  There are a lot of holes down here, there must have been a whole heck of a lot of pigeons in the day!

That ends the underground tour.  We spend a few minutes taking pictures of the beautiful scenery surrounding Orvieto, Sigis chats with Jessica for a while as we walk out onto the Piazza Duomo, then we head into town on our way to drinks at the Blue Bar with Anthony.  We’ve not been here in years and are looking forward to connecting with him again.

And Anthony is still Anthony.  He greets us like long lost friends – as he did years ago, when we thought he might have remembered us.  Nope. Just his signature greeting.  We grab a table, order our beer and wine, Anthony pulls up a chair and proceeds to have a huge discussion with Gaby and Sigis in German and French and Italian.  Not a clue what was said, but it was a hoot and everyone had fun. 

Pulling ourselves away from his magnetic personality, we walk around the corner for dinner at Meza Luna. Unfortunately, when I went in to ask for a table, every one had a reserved sign on it.  Pooh.  I asked the guy at the counter anyway and he muttered “4 personas, 4 personas,” and started scratching names off a list he had on the counter, then put 2 tables together for us!  Perfect! And because Mezza Luna is famous for their Carbonara – that’s what we ordered. Well, Gaby, Sigis and I ordered it. Ed stuck with his Tortellini ala Norcina (i.e., cinghiale).  Excellent dinner. An excellent night capping an excellent day. 

Bidding goodnight to G&S, we repaired to our rooftop patio for end of evening drinks and a lovely night’s sleep, prepared for our full day in Orvieto tomorrow.