Day 18, Saturday 4th May 2024.
San Gimignano, Tuscany to Orvieto, Umbria.
We were up bright and early this morning, so I took Meg out for a walk whilst most of the other campers were still asleep. It was a lovely morning, warm, but the breeze still had a nip in it.
When I got back we had an asparagus omelette for our breakfast, yum yum.
It was €11 to stay in this camper car park. There aren’t any facilities but just around the corner, next to a campsite there is an emptying and filling station, FOC. There is a clear notice asking people not to empty their chemical toilets there, instead to go to the campsite reception. Sadly, there was evidence that this instruction had been ignored, which is one of the reasons why campers aren’t welcomed in some places 
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Driving back past San Gimignano, we commented on how flipping lovely the view was, drinking it in and realising how lucky we were to see it.
Our drive today was a couple of hours south east, from Tuscany into Umbria. Parts of the road were ropey, causing my driver to cuss on several occasions 
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Talking about the cypress trees we spotted every now and again, I read that they were first used around burial sites as they represent long life, and have a great aroma that masks nasty smells 
. Could use a few of them in the van then 
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On one occasion I saw a winding driveway up to a property, the driveway was lined by cypress trees, and I said to Gareth that it immediately bought to mind the film Gladiator, when he was going home 
. I didn’t realise Gareth had seen it too (supposed to be watching the highway ) and he said the same thing occured to him 
. Though you see these trees in other regions they will always symbolise the rolling hills of Tuscany.
There were many other towns and villages perched on top of hills that we drove by. We caught a view of the tower in Siena and spotted Montepulciano on our right. You could spend forever just visiting these beautiful little places, so close to each other .
Wanting to go somewhere new, we picked Orvieto. A small city perched on a rock face. In certain light it’s hard to distinguish the walls from the rock.
The camper parking area called Area Sosta Camper – Battistelli Renzo is at the foot of the rock face, sandwiched in between 2 railway lines – one is high-speed – and a motorway! Apparently they don’t run all night so we’ll just have to trust them on that.
The parking spot is also right next to the Furnicular railway up to the city , that’s handy.
Meg didn’t like it but settled down once she knew she didn’t have a choice and was very happy to alight the carriage a few minutes later as it was a very quick trip.
The Duomo here is stunning, not only is it massive, it has amazing carvings and beautiful frescos on its facade. We hadn’t really looked into Orvieto so weren’t prepared for this treat.
While we were sat in front of it taking pictures, a cavalcade of 10 Ferraris drove into the square and parked beside the Duomo . We took some pics for Andrew, a huge fan and then went to have a look. The drivers were letting children have their pics taken in the driver’s seats, how sweet is that . We think they may have been promoting Ferrari fun days or similar and left them to it.
There are a lot of underground caves in Orvieto and you can visit most of them. There is also an amazing well – called St Patricks Well – I’m not sure why it’s named after St Patrick, but a pope commissioned it in the 1600’s to secure the town’s water supply.
It’s very deep and has two separate staircases (double helix) running around it, apparently there are 249 steps down and 248 up 
or vice versa. Back in the day mules were used to ferry the water up in bags. Only tiny dogs in handbags are allowed in so Meg was spared that treat .
The main buildings here are big, big windows, huge doors and great architrave around them, a bit like Bologna on a smaller scale. Grand buildings that were the school and the concert hall.
There’s a palace square too, though the palace building is small in comparison to some of its neighbours.
We stopped in a lovely little restaurant off the tourist track for a late lunch where everything was homemade.
We both had pasta, mine with artichoke and asparagus, Gareth’s with porcini mushrooms, very nice indeed.
We then shared a pudding of cheesecake with strawberry couli 
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Back at the parking area we sat in the sun before making use of the great shower facilities provided, I got in quick to make sure I had hot water .
A cycling couple turned up and pitched a tent by us. We could hear they were English, so Gareth went and offered them a cup of tea, for which they were really grateful and accepted immediately 
bless him.
It’s €20 a night here, provides all services plus, showers, toilets and dishwashing area. Not bad providing the trains don’t keep us awake 
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We really liked Orvieto. It’s another unassuming but remarkable town to add to your travel wish-list.
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