Private Day Trip from Rome to Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio

Perched on top of a hill among the valleys formed by Chiaro and Torbido streams, Civita appears clinged to the edge of a cliff where it dominates the wide desolated valley made up of calanchi. This isolation is the result of a continuous erosion that makes the tufa rock becoming thinner and thinner on an unstable layer of clay and sand altered by wind and rain.

Orvieto rises on a natural tableland at the summit of a 150-metre-high tufa cliff emerging, much like an island, from the surrounding plains. The city's distinctive feature comes from the particular relationship between this sheer cliff and the fabric of the city dominated by its imposing cathedral. Oriveto is of Etruscan origin with the more ancient traces dating back to 9th century BC; the necropolis and other findings indicate however, that the Etruscan settlement reached its peak development only between the 6th and 4th century BC and then declined in Roman times.During the early Middle Ages, the cliff's strategic importance as a natural fortress was once more appreciated; a new settlement developed around the year 1000 and became a free Commune in 1137. At the centre of a vast territory, Orvieto's social, political and economical importance progressed rapidly, inducing important building activities - stately homes, towers and churches.

A guided tour of the underground of Orvieto is an exciting experience to see the remains of an old olive oil mill, Medieval throws, and dovecotes. A plunge into the heart of antiquity and get to know the city from its heart retracing the history and daily life of past ages through a picturesque route. Speleologists discovered this underground world that had been dug, used and forgotten: an obscure maze divided into more than 1,200 caves, tunnels, wells, cisterns, created by man over nearly three millennia of willful and continuous work. Today, the path runs through the heart of these cavities where there are visible traces of Etruscan and medieval antiquities: in particular are of great interest dovecotes and the remains of an entire medieval mill complete with grinders, presses, fireplace, mangers for animals reps millstones.

Orvieto Cathedral is a large 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and situated in the town of Orvieto in Umbria, central Italy. The building was constructed under the orders of Pope Urban IV to commemorate and provide a suitable home for the Corporal of Bolsena, the relic of miracle which is said to have occurred in 1263 in the nearby town of Bolsena, when a traveling priest who had doubts about the truth of transubstantiation found that his Host was bleeding so much that it stained the altar cloth. The cloth is now stored in the Chapel of the Corporal inside the cathedral.