This town I love.
The city hall reconstruction project was abandoned within eight years and has never been revisited.
The suburban water source was channelled into town, maintained for about 80 years then fell into disuse. Years later, it was repaired but flowed only as far as the fairgrounds.
Everywhere you look, plaster is crumbling, bricks are mismatched, stone is gouged and left as is.
Gas meters, electric cable, antennas, pipes and vents are patched in without regard to sightliness.
Shutters sag, window panes are broken, cornices are gashed, wood is cracked and warped, paint is peeling.
Walls bulge into their adjoining streets.
The streets themselves follow no rational pattern. Their grades are random, they will narrow and widen unpredictably. Some are so tightly packed that turning from one to the other is impossible. Others narrow so precipitously as to render themselves completely useless to automotive traffic.
Architectural styles are patched one on top of the other without regard for consistency or overall design.
Parking is regulated, but only to a degree. Cars are often stowed in what seem like random spaces without order or a commonly agreed upon scheme.
Tiles go broken for lifetimes without being replaced.
Gates are without doors, doors are without knobs, knobs are without functionality.
Dozens of towers have been reduced to awkwardly-terminated two or three story hovels.
The understructure of the city is riddled with cavities.
The surrounding rock is shored up with patched-in masonry. Holes and rusting grates are exposed.
Large buildings have been completely abandoned. Smaller abandoned buildings are, for all practical purposes, shells.
And yet, everyone who walks into the city of Orvieto instantly remarks at how beautiful it is. How does this happen?
I’ll let you puzzle this one out. The photos are clickable. They may help.
(Hint: it may have something to do with demeanor or equilibrium.)
If you come up with something, please share. I’ll be puzzling this one, quite contentedly, for the rest of my life.