Day 8-Orvieto and Tivoli

Our last evening in the Tuscan countryside, we laid awake to what we thought were shotguns being fired at the wild boar.  As that didn’t make much sense when it was pitch black, after hearing this increasing in intensity, we looked outside to be greeted by fireworks.  It was so thoughtful for Tuscany to be wishing us off on our last night.  Thanks for three amazing days!

The fireworks display outside our window

Same photo from yesterday, but in black and white.

Morning sunrise outside our window.

Up and on the road this morning, our goal was to stop in Orvieto on our way South today.  Orvieto is a city which sits on top of a volcanic “tuff”.  We went on a tour of Orvieto underground.  The underground consists of tunnels which were built 800 B.C!  Can you believe that?  It was incredible to see how they lived in these caves so long ago.

Water well!  It keeps going...and going....and going...

Can you guess what the holes are for?  Pigeons!
They  captured and killed the pigeons for food.

More cats!  Britt kept clear of the 8 we counted in this small area.

We also snapped some photos of the Duomo in Orvieto.  We passed on the tour this time.

On the road again we continued our journey south to Tivoli.  We found our B&B and made our way into the central part of town to grab lunch/dinner.  As we were enjoying our dinner, we couldn’t help but notice The Golden Girls walk by!

Post lunch/dinner we walked through Villa d’Este.  The Villa d’Este was commissioned by the Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este, grandson of Pope Alexander VI.  Between 1550 and 1572, the magical gardens were created.  Plenty of innovation was required to bring a sufficient supply of water for all of the pools and water fountains. 

Ted started it..

Now for a relaxing evening before heading to Rome in the morning.  We will drop our rental car at the airport and catch a bus into our B&B for the last two days of our Italian adventure.

Until then, it's time for some sleep.  As you can see, some of us are ahead of others!