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Today we went to the ancient hill town of Orvieto, about an hour fifteen train ride from Rome. Populated since at least the time of the Etruscans, the town’s claim to fame is a deep well dug when a Pope fled to Orvieto in 1527 to escape the sacking of Rome. It took ten years to dig the 175 foot deep and 45 foot wide well. You can pay €5 to climb down 248 steps to the bottom, but then you’d have to climb the same number of steps back up. I don’t think so.

This is the top of the well looking out beyond the edge of the  town.  The picture is slightly deceptive, there is a human sized doorway in the bricks.

We are taking the rest of the afternoon off. It’s raining and we are trying to get over sickness.

After the Pantheon we went to the Capitoline Museum. The museum contains a bunch of old Roman statutes. 

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From inside the museum there was a decent view of the Forum.

We went inside the Pantheon this morning. The building basically is a huge dome with a hole in the top. The rain was coming in and draining through the holes in the marble floor.

On our way to the Pantheon, we passed by the Trevi Fountain again, this time much less crowded.