The outskirts of Rome fell behind us as our bus merged onto a busy highway north of the city. I leaned forward to peer out of the window, eager to see what the Italian countryside looked like. For the last seven days, my daughter Tammie and I had been exploring the city of Rome. Today we were leaving ‘The City of Seven Hills’ in the Lazio region, to visit Orvieto and Assisi in the Umbria region and to stop for lunch in the Tuscany region.
Rows of pale green olive trees marching alongside the road flashed by. Vineyards with vines pruned to increase production, dusty tobacco fields, hay fields and harvested grain fields dotted the countryside. Clumps of extremely tall pampas grass, and an Italian high speed train shooting through the countryside fascinated Tammie and me. Driveways to farmhouses that were lined with Italian balloon pine trees or palms made us want to stop to investigate. Mountainous ridges formed our horizon to the left and right. The highway appeared to be on a flat plain between them.
The medieval town of Orvieto was our first stop. Our bus drove uphill as far as the road went. Getting off the bus, we entered a vehicle called a funicular, which is a cable railway system used on steep slopes. Funicular systems have two counterbalanced carriages called cars or trains. They are permanently attached to both ends of a haulage cable, which results in the two cars moving in opposite directions at the same time. As one goes down, the other goes up. The unusual name, funicular, is from the Latin word for rope (cable).
Getting off the funicular, we hadn’t reached the city of Orvieto, yet. There were still two flights of stairs to climb. I wished the funicular had continued up this slope. As I ascended, I counted each step, and the grand total was 48. Our guide explained that medieval towns were built on hilltops because enemies were unable to launch surprise attacks on them and the towns were more easily able to defend themselves.
Life Lines 