DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0266
164 ORTE. [chap. ix.
narrow isolated ridge of tufo rock. Beneath the walls of
the town this ridge breaks into naked cliffs, and then sinks
gradually in slopes clad with olives and vines to meet the
Tiber and the plain. Viewed from the north or south its
situation appears very similar to that of Orvieto, though
far from being so elevated and imposing, but from the east
or west it has a less commanding though more picturesque
appearance. At the western end the ridge is particularly
narrow, terminating in a mere long wall of cliff, called La
Rocca, which communicates with the city by a viaduct.
Thus the plan of the whole takes the form of a battledore,
of which the handle is the Rocca and the body the
city. Orte is still a place of some importance; and
though its air in summer-time be in no good repute, it
retains its population throughout the year. The only place
of entertainment for the traveller is the " Antica Trattoria
e Locanda" of the Bell, kept by a buxom, attentive
hostess, Caterina Bipetti; but " it is not enough to
have a clean table-cloth ;" for if you make a tolerable meal
by day, you furnish forth a dainty feast by night to thou-
sands of hungry banqueters, whose nimbleness gets them
off scot-free, though credit is not the order of the house,
as is pompously set forth in the cucina—
" Credenza e morta—
II creditor V ha uccisa— „
Amico, abbi pazienza,
Piacer tifarb, ma non credenza.—"
" Here Credit is dead, it
Is killed by the creditor ;
Here I will make you right jolly and mellow ;
But not one penn'orth on tick, my good fellow!"
Orte preserves no vestiges of its ancient walls, nor is
there a sign of high antiquity in either of its three gates.
Nothing of classic times, in fact, is to be seen within the
narrow isolated ridge of tufo rock. Beneath the walls of
the town this ridge breaks into naked cliffs, and then sinks
gradually in slopes clad with olives and vines to meet the
Tiber and the plain. Viewed from the north or south its
situation appears very similar to that of Orvieto, though
far from being so elevated and imposing, but from the east
or west it has a less commanding though more picturesque
appearance. At the western end the ridge is particularly
narrow, terminating in a mere long wall of cliff, called La
Rocca, which communicates with the city by a viaduct.
Thus the plan of the whole takes the form of a battledore,
of which the handle is the Rocca and the body the
city. Orte is still a place of some importance; and
though its air in summer-time be in no good repute, it
retains its population throughout the year. The only place
of entertainment for the traveller is the " Antica Trattoria
e Locanda" of the Bell, kept by a buxom, attentive
hostess, Caterina Bipetti; but " it is not enough to
have a clean table-cloth ;" for if you make a tolerable meal
by day, you furnish forth a dainty feast by night to thou-
sands of hungry banqueters, whose nimbleness gets them
off scot-free, though credit is not the order of the house,
as is pompously set forth in the cucina—
" Credenza e morta—
II creditor V ha uccisa— „
Amico, abbi pazienza,
Piacer tifarb, ma non credenza.—"
" Here Credit is dead, it
Is killed by the creditor ;
Here I will make you right jolly and mellow ;
But not one penn'orth on tick, my good fellow!"
Orte preserves no vestiges of its ancient walls, nor is
there a sign of high antiquity in either of its three gates.
Nothing of classic times, in fact, is to be seen within the