Orvieto

On Sunday, we departed Montepulciano and headed farther south, over the border of Tuscany into the region of Campania to the town, Orvieto. On this trip, we got to drive on the Italian Autostrada. I don't think it is the equivalent of the Autobahn, but I wasn't interested in finding out either, especially since I understand being an American in prison anywhere wouldn't be fun.

Orvieto is a classic & grand hill town just about a 1 hr drive north and east of Rome. It sits 1000 feet up off the valley floor on a big chunk of tufa, the local Italian stone. Scholars think it was one of the major Etruscan cities in existence centuries before Jesus walked the planet.

First, we headed into town for lunch and some sight-seeing. No worries, we even made it to church, we'll show you the pics.

Afterwards, we headed out to our agriturismo or farm stay or bed n' breakfast in the country in the middle of a working farm. Little did we know that we'd booked ourselves right into the middle of a local Italian party that night.

The b'n b owners were throwing a grand opening party 3 years into their business (yes, Italians are generally late with most things, remember the lugagge fiasco?). Regardless, we were delighted to be included in a local celebration. It was awesome and one of the highlights of our trip to really experience the local culture at its best - the food, the wine, the music (ok, so the music was polka-ish, and not that great), but we did make some new great friends from The Netherlands. They were the only other people that spoke English, unlucky for them. It was a grand time!

Remember to place your mouse over the pics to see the captions for each one. Enjoy!