Orvieto and its territory
Food and wine
The food and wine tradition of Orvieto's territory is strictly linked to the excellent quality of its products. The culinary skill in the preparation of ancient recipes has made of Orvieto one of the Italian "Slow Cities". Orvieto's territory products are numerous. Among them, there is the extra-virgin olive oil with a delicate and fruity flavour that is produced in the area of Montecchio with an acidity close to zero.
The fruits of the woods are renowned and celebrated in many festivals of the territory and there are some excellent specimens among them, such as the chestnuts of Melezzole, Camerata and Montecchio that have recently been attributed the AOP label. Mushrooms can be found in the whole territory of Orvieto, above all in the area of Selva di Meana and on Mount Peglia.
They are served with slices of toasts and sauces, and they are particularly excellent with truffles. Among the most peculiar dishes, there is the "drunken hen", so called because its main ingredient is the good wine of Orvieto. Tradition also contemplates the "lumachelle" (a mix of water, flour and cheese rolled in a snail-like shape), the "cicale" (similar to the courgette flower fritters), the "tortucce" (made with fried dough) and the aniseed doughnuts. Moreover, it is necessary to cite the great wine-producing tradition of this territory.
This activity is carried out on the tuffs of Orvieto, in the areas of volcanic origin, where one of the most famous Italian white wines in the world, the Orvieto, is produced. In the past, this glorious wine, that was loved by poets, artists and travellers, was kept in extremely suggestive cellars excavated in tuff. Many of the so-called "meditation wines" are also produced here and they are a result of the grapes hit by the "noble mould". The AOC Corbara, that has been recently created, is the area included in the most ancient AOC of Orvieto overlooking the lake.
A production of excellent red wines is coming from here. The area of Orvieto has been famous for its wine since the age of the Etruscans and, in the ancient times, the wine barters were numerous.
The agreement written by Signorelli is worth being quoted:"...gli si desse di quel vino orvietano quanto ne volesse". Pasquino dedicated a sonnet to Pope Paul V, which read: "Il Miracolo è fatto, o Padre santo, con l'acqua vostra che ci piaceva tanto; ma sarebbe il portento assai più lieto, se l'acqua la cangiaste in vin d'Orvieto".