ORVIETO: ETRUSCAN CAPITAL

Orvieto is a unique city, perched and rolled up like a cat on a high cliff, detached from the rest of the world, enchanting and fairytale. A city where every stone, every square breathes in history, a true open-air museum that offers visitors a breathtaking landscape.
The earliest archaeological evidence of the city of Orvieto dates back to the Etruscan period and identifies it in the city of Velzna, among the twelve Etruscan city-states. The ancient Romans gave it the name "Volsinii", the city stood near an important Etruscan sanctuary, where the inhabitants of Etruria joined to celebrate religious rites, parties and various ceremonies. 
The city reached its maximum expansion between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, becoming a splendid commercial and artistic center.

In the following centuries Orvieto became dominion of the Goths, it was then conquered by the Byzantines to become finally Longobard.   

Allied then of Florence, in the XIII and XIV centuries it reached the period of the real climax that, with a population of about thirty thousand inhabitants (more than Rome !) , saw in its urban territory important buildings and monuments. 
In 1450 it became part of the Papal States, becoming an alternative to Rome for many popes, bishops and cardinals who came to stay there.