When the stress and smog of city life get to be too much for your blood pressure and the streets of Milan seem to resemble more and more the streets of Manchester, when you look back at that first holiday in Italy - the one which convinced you to throw in your job, throw out the current love-interest, say a teary good-bye to your family and friends and make it a permanent stay abroad, the one which you recall as a heady cocktail of blue skies, green seas, glasses of Chianti, and picturesque little alley-ways, not to mention a mild flirtation with a dark-eyed admirer - and start to wonder if it all was not just a figment of your imagination, then perhaps it is time to head south for a reviving weekend break!

The drive through the gently swelling hills and delicate greenery of the countryside surrounding Orvieto will contribute to re-establishing your inner peace even before you catch sight of this truly delightful Umbrian hill town. Seeing it sitting prettily on its rock, glowing softly in the sunlight, in the very heart of "the garden of Italy" will surely be a very effective first step towards re-awakening your love affair with il bel paese.

Later, when you find yourself standing in front of the Duomo in the main square, it may just cross your mind that pale gold is the chromatic leit-motif of this enchanting little town. The facade of the Gothic-Romanesque masterpiece, a symphony of marble, mosaics and gold leaf, has been entrancing even the most architecturally illiterate visitors since its completion in 1320, and indeed, to sit contemplating this gilt and pastel wedding-cake of a building with a glass of liquid gold Orvieto Classico in your hand - preferably at twilight when the sun illuminates the tufo stone - is an experience of a simple yet sublimely poetic quality. For more expert fine-art lovers the interior of the cathedral reserves a further treat in the form of frescoes carried out by Luca Signorelli. Other sights not to be missed include the Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick's Well) - a double helix stairway which criss-crosses over itself down to depth of 200 feet underground, the Papal Palace and the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo in the town centre, not forgetting the Etruscan cemetery just outside the town and the rather suggestive network of catacombs of "Orvieto Underground".

A wander through the cobbled streets of the medieval old town will soon reveal that picturesque little alley-ways are plentiful in this part of the world and that these particular ones are home to a variety of craftsmen's work-shops - artistic ceramics, leather-crafts, wood-sculpture, lace-making - a feast of colours, textures and perfumes to seduce the senses and transport you back to an age in which technology did not come between Man and the materials he worked with. If awakening your senses also means awakening your appetite, have no fear, for Orvieto has a multitude of good restaurants which offer a range of Umbrian fare from the most traditional though to more up-dated, alternative versions. Particularly delicious are lombrichelle - a type of chunky spaghetti made of bread dough, and also black truffles, roast pork, not to mention a wide variety of sausages, salame and game.

If you chance to visit Orvieto during the period which goes from the 27th December to the 1st January you are in for a special treat, for right in the heart of the Christmas and New Year celebrations "Umbria Jazz" will be tempting residents and visitors alike with its winter programme. This year it includes Ahmad Jamal, Jazz at the Philarmonic, Sphere, the Coolbone Brass Band of New Orleans, the Renato Sellani Trio, the Jacques Morelenbaum - Luiz Brasil Duo and other musical delights, which against the backdrop of the streets of Orvieto done up in its sparkly festive best is bound to get you feeling starry-eyed and passionate about Italy again.

 

For more information about Orvietto:
http://www.orvieto.it/Engl/index_E.asp

Find a Hotel in Orvietto- click here

For more information aout the Umbria Jazz Festival:
http://www.umbriajazz.com