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Orvieto Orvieto, famous for its ceramics and wine production, rises on a high, brown tufaceous crag and played a leading role in the Etruscan confederation from the sixth up to to the middle of the third century B.C. This town, called Fanum Voltumnae, was a sacred place for Etruria. The most famous sight of Orvieto is its unique Duomo, commissioned in 1290 by Pope Nicholas IV to Lorenzo Maitani. It has a splendid Gothic facade and internal chapels (frescoes by Signorelli, Beato Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli). The first architect was Arnolfo di Cambio, then helped by Frà Bevignate di Perugia; Lorenzo Maitani projected the transept and the coloured façade. One of the most important pieces of art which can be admired in the Duomo, is the Reliquary for the Holy Linen of Bolsena in the Cappella del Corporale, frescoed by Ugolino di Prete Ilario. In the ancient town we also find the Pozzo di S.Patrizio - St.Patrick’s well, built in 1527 based on a plan of Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane and which can be visited. Don't miss the Palazzo dei Sette from 1300, the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (12th Century) inside which took place the meetings of the People's Council; the churches of S.Andrea, S.Domenico and S.Giovenale (11th century). Palazzo Soliano (1262) houses two museums: the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and the Museum of Modern Art. Moreover we remember the Mancinelli Theatre (1866), the Faina Archaelogical Museum, the suggestive Underground City (grottos, caves and underground passages) and the Necropoli del Crocifisso del Tufo, dating back to the Etruscan period. |
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