Absorbed by Orvieto, Italy

There is something about Italy that gets into your system, your psyche, your soul. Giovanna, at our B&B says, “The tufa absorbs you,” tufa being the porous volcanic rock on which Orvieto sits. I agree. Slowly, imperceptibly, gently, deliciously one becomes a part of the place. There are few people who escape, who are not touched by the magic of Orvieto.

Living life on the streets

It is hard to explain, hard to convey the feeling. But I will try. We are just back, and as always, I am changed. The bottom line feeling of being absorbed by the tufa is that all is right with the world. Why? I think because Italy impels you to live life, to live it fully with passion and joy and gusto. It does this by engaging all your senses:

• The place is an absolute feast for the eyes in landscape and architecture and detail and most things man made.
• The food and wine are exquisitely simple and satisfying.
• The smells of jasmine and mock orange and tea olive and magnolia are sensual.
• The touch of linen on the table, cobblestones under your feet, soft air all subtly reach your mind
• The bells peeling and multitude of other sounds in the absence of cars – footsteps, conversations, restaurant china clanking, children laughing

These all work on you because they are all a part of life so often obscured at home.

Simple food - immense pleasure

In fact, the difference I think, is that our senses are assaulted at home rather than being caressed and engaged. We have to defend ourselves here in the U.S.  by switching off the blaring TV, getting away from the din of the automobile and the ugliness of our car-dominated cities, altering the speed at which we live. But, it takes a conscious effort, and it is easy to be submerged by the din of it all.

Being in Italy, in Orvieto, is a reminder of what it is to be alive. Kristi and I always return home determined to capture it better. In truth, we do a pretty good job. And there is much to love about our home, our town, our chosen way of life – all influenced by having been absorbed by the tufa. Sure, Italy has its share of “bruta”. The difference is that there is still a priority to attending to the things that truly give us humans a sense of what it is to be alive. Where we tend here in the U.S. to assault with bright and loud and in-your-face, Italy nurtures. Perhaps it is her ancient cities, the layers of time that they have chosen to preserve and honor, where we have always pushed forward rarely looking toward the past.

Whatever it is, it touches you deep down. We hear it over and over from those who travel with us. And Kristi and I feel it every time. It is beautiful.

Visual delights

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