Orvieto day 2

This morning in the breakfast room I chatted with a couple from California. They raved about a pizza place, not far from the convent, where they’d eaten the night before. They said the pizza was the best they’d had in Italy, which is saying a lot! When I looked for the place later, I was sad to discover it was closed that day. Too bad!

 The little chapel at Instituto SS Salvatore in Orvieto

Each convent I stayed at had a chapel, but I never attended Mass or prayers at any of them. Everything would have been in Italian, and I wouldn’t understand anyway. I often heard the nuns singing, and that was lovely.

Today my plan was to visit the National Archaeological Museum of Orvieto. It’s a small museum but houses a multitude of Etruscan treasures, many from the necropolis at the base of Orvieto. The necropolis dates to the 6th through the 3rd centuries BC. There’s really nothing to see there except the empty tombs, but the museum was fascinating. Delicate gold jewelry and lots of ceramics and pottery, in addition to bronze armor were nicely displayed in the 5-room museum.

A display of jewelry and beads

Hammered gold jewelry

The piece that looks like alligator skin is a bronze grater.

The porcelain and pottery were mostly found in pieces and were reconstructed.

This was a rather large piece and must have taken lots of time to put back together!

Bronze shield and armor. Notice the “six-pack” on the breastplate.

Everything was labeled in Italian and English. For most of my visit, I was the only person in the museum. 

Eventually there were 2 other English-speaking gentlemen looking at the exhibits, and we all agreed that this museum was a treasure. The two guys had a house outside of Florence and were looking for some nice pottery in Orvieto, famous for its pottery and ceramics.

After my visit, I stopped for lunch. The food was just OK.

A selection of cichetti for the first course.

I finished my day looking for a souvenir Christmas ornament and saw lots of beautiful and colorful pottery in many shops around town. 

There were so many pottery shops like this one!

I headed back to the convent for my last night. On the way I heard a rumbling of thunder, or was it a handcart being wheeled along the cobblestones? From now on when I hear rumbling thunder at home it will bring back the memory of those handcarts!

Tomorrow, I head to Rome. Did I see every notable sight in Orvieto? No!