Gastronomy and wine tour
TOUR AROUND ORVIETOBulwarks of the regions a stone’s throw from Tuscany are Monteleone of Orvieto and Montegabbione, Ficulle - the city of potsherds, Allerona with the Nature Reserve of Villalba and the Laboratory of the Environment, and San Venanzo with its volcanic park and the Monte Peglia Park. Fabro, the fortress of Sangallo, is renowned for the abundance and exquisite quality of its white truffle. A national trade-fair is dedicated to it every November.
Castel Viscardo, Porano, Prodo and Titignano were originally built as defence posts, not forgetting Baschi with Lake Corbara and the Tiber Nature Reserve.
Orvieto was built on top of dramatic, high crags. The city has many tourist attractions, the most important of which bear witness to the long relationship between this City and the famous wine “Orvieto Classico”. Amongst them are palaces, towers, churches, the Duomo with its amazing frescoes by Signorelli and the unforgettable tricuspid façade by Lorenzo Maitani. San Patrick’s Well and the archeological dig areas with excavations that have revealed Etruscan and Roman ruins and artefacts complete the picture.
Orvieto has recently acquired the status of Slow City and from the end of September until October the city celebrates “Orvieto con Gusto” (roughly translated as "Tasteful Orvieto"). This festival, devised to ensure the survival of local cuisine and traditional flavours, puts Orvieto firmly on any gastronomic and/or wine map. We should not forget, however, that it was the local farming community that provided many of the impulses and influences found in Orvieto cuisine: think of potato and truffle dumplings, "pancotto", chickpea and chestnut soup, "ventresca" with sage and vinegar, "curato" steak, "drunk" chicken, San Giuseppe fritters, "ciambellone" with wine.
