Orvieto
Orvieto is a town in southwestern Umbria, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tufa. Populated in Etruscan times, it is suspected of having been Velzna, but scholarly opinions differ. In 264 BC, Velzna was conquered by the Romans, who called it Volsinii.
Orvieto is noted for its Romanesque-Gothic cathedral, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, with construction beginning in 1290. The façade is particularly striking and includes some remarkable sculpture by Lorenzo Maitani (early 13th century). Inside the cathedral is Luca Signorelli's masterpiece, his fresco of the Last Judgment (1499).
Orvieto is home to Etruscan ruins and the remnants of a wall that enclosed the old city more than 2000 years ago. At the foot of the butte, surrounded by peach and apple trees and a vineyard, the Etruscan necropolis of Crocefisso di Tufo counts a hundred or so chmaber tombs laid along a rectangular street grid.
The white wine of the Orvieto district, to the northeast of the city, is highly prized; red wines are also grown.
