Orvieto to Petritoli

A couple of weeks ago we were in Kansas, and stopped to visit my favorite teacher, Dr. Nixon. My high school trip to Italy was with his history seminar class, and I think he still goes almost every year. He knows his stuff. We mentioned we had an open afternoon between Rome and Petritoli, and he suggested we stop in a small town called Orvieto on our drive from Rome.

Orvieto was just really really nice. Very clean, far less crowded than Rome (which I am learning is everyone’s gripe with that city, there are just so so many tourists. To the point the Dr. Nixon’s trips just don’t even include Rome despite the obvious rich history there.) Orvieto’s shops seemed less generic, too. On the way up the hill we got a couple of post cards, then the gigantic cathedral started to pop into view.

I thought it was weird that such an extravagant cathedral was in such a tiny town, but apparently it was built to honor a miracle that happened near by. Hm! Also see: crazy detailed tile type stuff: 

We looked up a spot for lunch on Trip Advisor. It was slightly tucked away and seemed more like a deli, some people were buying dried meats and cheese to go. We got a couple of sandwiches and wine. Corbett loved the pork and truffle sandwich. A little too “porky” for me, so I made sure to round out the meal with another gelato 🙂 We met a couple from the Netherlands and got them to take a photo, which the chef jumped into. It looks like he’s sitting on my lap but he’s not.

Corbett took a lot of photos and it was time for us to head to Petritoli, where we needed to arrive before an 8 pm welcome dinner.

It was dark by the time we got there, I was so relieved to be out of the car, Corbett did so awesome with the crazy signage and poor pick up in our little diesel VW Golf, mad props to my boy scout like hubs.

We got our bags up to our room with the help of the bride, Vanessa.  The Palazzo Mannocchi started as a monastery, was a school, and a bunch of other stuff before it became its current stack of living areas. We are alllll the way on the top, with a great view of the town and valley. Work the hike up all the stairs! Still second guessing which turns to take on the way up. After getting settled in our room, AKA THE EAGLES NEST, we headed down to dinner.

Lots of pizza and wine was passed around the four long tables at the welcome dinner. We met some of Vanessa and Kevin’s friends from Austin, as well as older friends from Cincinnati and New York. It was getting pretty late and loud, and we headed up the street for a night cap to a tiny bar. This place probably never has more than a handful of customers. We didn’t get a photo! Maybe well head back tonight.

I was pretty tired and it was in the 11s, so I convinced Corbett to get one more amaro, and then head back to the eagles nest.

We slept like logs and awoke to some crazy meowing from the house’s white cat. Well, not sure where the cat lives, since we saw him down the hill later that day.

Next up, a trip to a winery, and rehearsal dinner Friday night !

CIAO!