Orvieto tuff graves
The tufa graves of Orvieto are dry cavities created by human intervention and are located below the town of Orvieto in southwest Umbria in the province of Terni in Italy .
geology
Tufa ( Italian tufo , from the Latin tofus ) describes a rock that consists of more than 75% pyroclasts of all grain sizes. It is volcanic igneous rock after solidification. Due to the volcanic gas inclusions , tuff is often very porous and easy to work with ( soft rock ).
Origin and access
The tufa layer under the city was created around 300,000 years ago by eruptions in the Volsiner Mountains . The more than 1200 tufa graves themselves were created by the excavation activities of the residents over about 3000 years across the entire city. The excavations were only stopped at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The caves have been largely unused since around the 1950s and have only been scientifically processed since the 1970s. Previously, the grottoes and tunnels were used to store food, wine and the production of goods as well as the city's water supply.
During the public tours lasting about one to one and a half hours, only a very small part of the grottoes and tunnels can be visited. B. an olive oil mill located in a grotto from the Middle Ages with millstones, the oil press, fireplace, the feed manger for the animals, the water pipes and cisterns.
Trivia
In the "Grotto of the old oil mill" it has been possible since 2002 to get civil weddings.
literature
- Stephan Steingräber and Giuseppe M. Della Fina (eds.): Orvieto. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-8053-4072-4 .
Web links
Coordinates: 42 ° 43 ′ 1.2 ″ N , 12 ° 6 ′ 36 ″ E