17/50.- Umbria, Skyscape

Orvieto is built atop a rocky needle which commands a view over the Umbrian plain and hills. Besides its historical and artistic resources, Umbria offers beautiful natural scenery. It does not sport the softly rolling hills for which Tuscany is so famous -- the hills here are higher and often more rocky -- but the colourful palette of yellow, gold and green contrasting with reddish brown (named after the city of Siena) and the slight haze (the sfumato so characteristic of some Italian painters) are quite similar. Leaving Orvieto, we can now venture into its close, and then somewhat more distant, surroundings.

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