Orvieto

Funicular to Piazza Cahen, then Signorelli and the Torre del Moro

One day in Orvieto starts with the funicular to Piazza Cahen and the Pozzo di San Patrizio, then bus A to the cathedral for Signorelli's Last Judgment in the Cappella di San Brizio. After an Orvieto Underground tour and lunch, climb the Torre del Moro and walk the medieval quarter around San Giovenale.

Take a morning train and ride the funicular up to Piazza Cahen. Before heading into town, walk down into the Pozzo di San Patrizio, the 16th-century well beside the square, and look at the ruins of the Etruscan Belvedere Temple nearby.

Catch bus A to Piazza del Duomo and see the cathedral before the tour groups arrive, giving the Cappella di San Brizio and Signorelli's Last Judgment your full attention. Join an Orvieto Underground tour from the square, then have lunch on umbrichelli or wild boar.

In the afternoon climb the Torre del Moro on Corso Cavour, continue to Piazza del Popolo and its crenellated Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, then wander west into the medieval quarter around San Giovenale, where the lanes end at the cliff edge. Come back to the cathedral square at dusk, when the facade glows, before taking the funicular down.

Umbrichelli, wild boar and a glass of Orvieto Classico

Orvieto's kitchen draws on the surrounding woods and hills, so menus feature wild boar, truffles and umbrichelli, a thick hand-rolled pasta. The local wine is Orvieto Classico, a white made dry or in the softer amabile style. Restaurants facing the cathedral charge for the view; menus improve towards Piazza del Popolo.

Orvieto's kitchen draws on the woods and hills around it. Menus feature wild boar and truffles, along with umbrichelli, a thick hand-rolled pasta. L'Asino d'Oro, in a lane off Piazza del Popolo, cooks a short menu that changes every day around boar, truffles and seasonal produce.

For something simpler, pizzerias along Corso Cavour pair a pizza with local wine. The gelaterie on Piazza del Duomo and at the corner of Corso Cavour and Via Duomo stay open late in season.

The local wine is Orvieto Classico, a white made dry or in the softer, slightly sweet amabile style. A small deli with yellow awnings on Via Duomo sells cured meats, cheeses and a good range of Orvieto bottles, and the owners are happy to help you choose.

Tables facing the cathedral front are paying for the view. Walk a couple of streets towards Piazza del Popolo and the menus get shorter, more seasonal and more Umbrian.

Tuff caves, Etruscan wells and Lake Bolsena

Orvieto stands on soft tuff, and Orvieto Underground tours leave the tourist office on Piazza Duomo to visit the wells, cisterns and cellars carved beneath the town. The Pozzo della Cava can be visited alone. Buses from Piazza Cahen reach Lake Bolsena, Viterbo and Todi, and Civita di Bagnoregio is a short drive.

The tuff under Orvieto is soft enough to dig by hand, and for more than two thousand years residents have carved wells, cisterns, cellars and dovecotes into it. Orvieto Underground tours leave from the tourist office on Piazza Duomo at set times through the day, daily for most of the year but only at weekends in February. They visit a network of chambers below the cliff edge.

The Pozzo della Cava on Via della Cava, an Etruscan well, can be visited on your own. The Pozzo di San Patrizio was dug in the 16th century with two spiral ramps, so mules carrying water up never met those going down.

Beyond the walls, buses from Piazza Cahen reach Bolsena on its volcanic lake, Viterbo and Todi. Civita di Bagnoregio, the hill village reached by a long footbridge, is a short drive away.