05/02/2025: If you’re reading this in the height of summer then this review is not for you. The best time to visit the classic towns of Tuscany is not in the scorching summer heat. It’s now in that warm spring time of blue skies, empty streets, and joyful birdsong. Orvieto echoes with car-free silence, carefree simplicity, and church bells chiming the quarters. Its heart for a millennium has been the square in which sits the duomo. You can pay 8€ each to go inside, offer your prayers amidst the inevitable school group on tour, and marvel at its austerity from within in a relatively short time.
However perhaps instead you might prefer to see it in its setting, with an espresso and (large) plate of local sheep cheeses, for which the surrounding countryside is renowned. From the sunlit table outside the Bar Hescanas the duomo rises to the occasion. Its horizontally striped facades, a challenge for any artist, take time to absorb. Life at this leisurely pace is why you’re here. The cost of the culture, food and coffee is cheap at the price even if they weren’t outstanding. There is no price on enjoying a moment of peace in a world of hustle. The whole experience is made even more valuable by having excellent loos and Roberto, the manager who runs it with such grace.
02/11/2024: I wanted to put a review, for my own reasons...then I started reading all the reviews....many negatives and many criticisms, I understand them a little, the prices are expensive...sometimes they make you wait for long.....but we don't care......on 9/24/2023 our mother like a bolt from the blue died literally in front of the main entrance of the cathedral......we have returned many times at the cathedral...and every time we have breakfast at the Hescanas bar....we sit there outside.....we feel close to our mother....we feel the serenity in our soul, we also passed yesterday November 1st.....if I can give one piece of advice to everyone, don't let it ruin your day, because something is not to your liking.....our mother 5 minutes earlier, standing in the corner near the tables, still took photos of the cathedral.....5 minutes later she fell to the ground in front of the main door..... .it can happen to all of you, who read this review, enjoy it day, don't ruin it by getting nervous....for something you don't like.....
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