Orvieto

Orvieto is a city and comune in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone, called tufa.

The ancient city , populated since Etruscan times, has usually been associated with Etruscan Velzna, but some modern scholars differ. Orvieto was certainly a major centre of Etruscan civilization; the archaeological museum houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate area. A tomb in the Orvieto Cannicella necropolis bears the inscription mi aviles katacinas, "I am of Avile Katacina"; the tomb's occupant thus bore an Etruscan-Latin first name, Aulus, and a family name that is believed to be of Celtic origin. This interesting artifact might show the complexity of ethnic relations in ancient Italy, and how such relations could be peaceful.

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