Orvieto is a charming city in southwestern Umbria. It is spectacularly situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tufa with amazing views of the surrounding countryside. The site of the city is among the most dramatic in Europe, rising above the almost-vertical faces of tufa cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone. A funicular, escalator and lift are available to reach the town. Visiting this town means journeying through history, for traces of each and every period of the almost three thousand years of its existence crop up everywhere.The tufa butte on which Orvieto...