Orvieto Italy, Umbria, Province of Terni: Gravel Cycling near Orvieto

Orvieto, Italy:
“Orvieto (Italian: [orˈvjɛːto]) is a city and comune in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of the same stone.” – https://wikipedia.org

In the Region of Umbria, Province of Terni, lay the beautiful town of Orvieto. The town itself is a spectacular sight, and features many sights within its walls and nearby. Some of Orvieto’s better known sights include:

The Duomo
Orvieto Città del Corpus Domini and Papal residence
Underground Tunneling System
The Albornoz Fortress

And some spectacular and challenging gravel cycling once outside the walls and surrounds of Orvieto. In this video, JOM of the Gravel Cyclist rides a course his own design that traverses steep climbs, quiet country roads, gravel tracks, paths, and more. Bring your skills, stamina and eyeballs, because you’ll need all of them for the ride, and sights along the way.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to Orvieto
0:31 The Ride Begins
0:53 First Gravel Road
2:54 First Climb of the Day
5:13 U.S. Mail
5:35 The Climb Gets Steep
6:32 Welcome to Bosco di Michele
7:52 Stunning Countryside Views
9:05 Welcome to Prodo, Community of Orvieto
9:46 Cafe Visit
11:22 Spicy Gravel
13:11 Steep Descent
15:50 Tunnel Ahead
16:40 Route Adjustment
18:21 Truck Drafting
18:54 Outskirts of Orvieto
19:01 Wrapping Up & Closing
19:29 General Madness

Links of Interest:
Grinduro Italy – https://grinduro.com

2025 Grinduro Italy!: Crazy Italian Gravel Race Party – https://youtu.be/WmwZD-tDqVo

Officina Battaglin (website for JOM’s review bike) – https://officinabattaglin.com

How to Create Amazing & Fun Gravel Routes! – https://youtu.be/uMG4rYD4O2Y

Pizzeria la Quercia, Ciconia TR, Italy – https://maps.app.goo.gl/JTnYtTGiVPYTD28Z8

North Florida Freeride Gravel Series – https://www.facebook.com/norflafreeridegravelseries

Gravel Cyclist’s Route Library – https://www.gravelcyclist.com/gravel-cycling-routes/

Gravel Bike Tire / Tyre Pressure Guidelines – https://www.gravelcyclist.com/bicycle-tech/gravel-bike-tyre-tire-pressure-guidelines-by-enve-composites/

Amazon Affiliation Link:
No cost to you, but every purchase made helps keep Gravel Cyclist up and running! – https://www.amazon.com/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=gravelcyclist-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=6b862b6af640d29360e2af2a5f17ddc6&camp=1789&creative=9325

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Good day transitterers. Today I’m coming to you from Ovietto which is in Italy in the province of Umbria. I’ve got a route of my own design happening. It’s just under 70 km but it has a lot of climbing. It’s going to challenge my legs which are feeling the pinch from Brian Italy a couple of days ago and my gearing. Really wishing I had a 38 to ring at the moment, but we’ll do the best we can. Let’s get cracking. It’s going to be pretty warm again today. Temperatures about 32° C. That’s about 90 fah. So, not baking, but Well, there’s the highspeed train. Hopefully, there’s some tree cover. We’ll soon find out. By my best estimation, this route is a mix of 50/50 gravel and pavement. We’re off to a good start already, but the route is going to tilt upwards pretty quickly. One thing about Italy, there are roundabouts everywhere, and I love them. It keeps the traffic flowing. So, if you’re driving as an Americana, you need to get used to that. Don’t forget, give way to your left. There is the town of Oviet. This view from my perspective is spectacular. not so spectacular from your perspective in this GoPro footage. So hopefully I can visit later on, perhaps shoot a video by itself and we can roll around town recovery style. Oh yeah, it’s already hot as mate and it’s only 9:30. I should have left earlier, right? If you’re wondering how I assemble these routes, I have a video all about it linked below. It tells you my technique. It takes impatience, but it’s very rewarding, especially when you navigate tracks like this and everything goes to plan. I understand another good mapping resource in Europe is Kimoot. Haven’t actually tried that. Looks like I’m going through some B’s backyard here. I probably am. No walking fries, mate. We’re departing the small township of Chiconia. I had an amazing pizza in town last night. Unbelieingable. All right, the first climb starts. I’ll have to link that pizza shop. If you’re in town, you got to go there. Bloody mental. 8 km to the top. Averaging about 7 to 8%. so far. Pardon the breathing. Check out the course profile coming up. Yeah, this road I’m currently traversing might be private. We’ll soon find out. I’ve only got birds for company. Chooks by the sound of things. [Applause] Definitely not a private road. I have to be careful. Can’t be riding one-handed during some of these uh descent corners, etc. Oh, man. Is this nice in such a nice respite from the heat. There we go. Just took a wrong turn. Ended up in some B’s front yard. No worries. We have some mapping issues here for certain. So, I think the course is that away. But, uh, it’s not going quite to plan. So, we might have to hoof it up this ridge. Definitely need to modify this course. Thankfully, nobody’s home. Oh, here we go. Back on track. What a stunning location and beautiful road. Barring my wrong turn, of course. things you spot in Italy. US mailbox. I wonder if there’s an expat or just some bloke who likes the American mail system. This is a steep piece of road. Oh my gosh. [Music] nice tennis court. LGC would appreciate that being a former competitive tennis player. This has to be a spicy little track during a heavy rainstorm. It’s almost like a creek bed. Olive trees. Welcome to Bos Deck. That was a lovely detour off the paved road with I said this paved road I rode earlier. This is a continuation and it’s been pretty quiet so far. Welcome to Coloneta delto that direction. For the Americanos watching this video or videos, these small towns are not like America. There’s no Dollar General or convenience store. So, you have to come prepared. But many of the small towns have a drinking fountain, that sort of thing, local spring water. So, look around for that if you need to replenish. And of course, with that said, some of these small towns do have a shop once in a while, but there aren’t a lot of options on this route if I recall. However, look at that. There’s a bar just ahead of me. So, I could certainly hang out at the bar, etc. But we’re going to focus on a ride today. I love these Italian road signs. Snow and rain. It’s slippery as in the car. It’s gotten a bit cloudy, which is fantastic. The heat has dropped. Definitely not as hot as it was during the day that I rode Grandurro, Italia. That was bloody mental, mate. But no wakaris. Look at this countryside, will you? Oh yes. Taking a left turn towards the town of Toi which is 29 km away. We will not be passing through that town today. Hello. This fine building is under restoration. A bugger. There’s a bloody gravel road to that town. Osa. Should have gone there. But well, I’m trying to link this route together. Basically, it’s a big loop and it crosses the river at some point which is the hindrance and uh runs parallel to the river for a while then back into Otto. So, you kind of get so creative with these routes and some of these roads are dead ends. Welcome to Pro. Okay, I must have screwed up my routing. That dirt road back there would have been a more creative route or way to get here. Oops. I’ll have to adjust the route. Ah, the cafe is open. Nice. We might get a drink while we’re here. What’s going on? There is my beautiful review bike, the Officina Batalin Materra review appearing maybe after this video or before this video. It is a steel gravel bike and it has been fantastic. All right, let’s go inside Choo Deto Bar. Before when I mentioned no Dollar Generals, etc. for the Americana audience, I forgot about all the small cafes. So, plenty of hydration options. Just make sure you run your route through towns and definitely bring euros. Not every cafe accepts credit cards. So visit the ATM uh before you leave the airport or if you’re with Bank of America in the United States, they do a currency conversion. So bring some euros with you. Very handy to have the cash. I don’t give a what anybody says. Cold Coke is absolutely amazing during a ride, especially when you’re feeling the pinch. Wakes you the hell up. This is interesting. Lemon energy. So, probably something like Gatorade and it has minerals apparently. But we’re going to give that a shot. Throw some of that into our water bottle. I’ve already burned uh through about half a bottle. I’ve got two on board today. I use Scratch, which is made in Boulda, Colorado. Doesn’t sit my stomach. Really good stuff. A small detail I’ve noticed with twist tops here in Italy at least. You break the seal and the twist top is still attached. So you don’t lose the blade thing. Then you simply screw it back on. Bob’s your uncle. Very simple but neat little innovation. This is so awesome riding through these beautiful old towns. I mean this is a castle. Where do you see that? Not in bloody Kansas, that’s for sure. the next gravel road. Now, before I start descending this section, check out this view. Sorry about the telephone pole being in the way there. That’s the town I just left. Lovely. Definitely taking it easy on these back roads here. My first time riding them. Need to exhibit some caution, etc. If Grindurro, Italy desires a new course, I think I might have found it. Beautiful olive trees either side of the road. Return to pavement. I’m headed towards Kasamasque. I probably mispronounced that. Apologies if I did. It appears I’ve got some descending, a decent amount, actually. This descent isn’t too crazy. It’s heavily shaded. Now, there is a really steep section coming up. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Back on the pavement for some more descending. I hope you enjoyed that drone perspective. I’ve got a new drone and I have a prototype drone I’ve been playing with and uh it’s been getting some pretty killer footage. All right, enough banging on. Let’s keep going down the mountain. The temperature lower down has definitely risen. The feeling of the heat here being dry with not a lot of humidity. Very similar to my home town of Adelaide, South Australia. Ahead in the distance is Ovietto. I’m riding parallel to a river of some kind. Or Vietto, right 25ks away. tunnel ahead. Oh, she’s a decent length, too. But thankfully the sides are open because I don’t have a headlight with me at the moment. But you can see no worries at all. And I’m riding with my trusty Gin Varia radar tail light. Hoping the motorists will see me. This is a lovely respite from the blazing sun. Making a slight adjustment in the route. It was originally going to head this direction inland a bit away from the river back over this ridge, but it’s obviously really rocky. I’ve already ridden a bunch of that crap today. And uh I’m thinking now I’m going to cut it a little bit shorter and ride a bit easier. This paved road behind me is actually quite nice, relatively quiet. Always have a plan B. Approximately 15 km left to ride. Less than 10 miles. Pretty much a straight shot along this paved road here. I don’t believe there’s any gravel remaining for today. Very happy with today’s ride and there’s more to come in the next ride video or tomorrow in my case. The one thing about Italian motorists I found is they’re pretty aware of cyclists and typically give you plenty of room obviously if it’s available. A bit of thrill seeking here. That’s more than likely a disused railway station. Just about back to the start of today’s ride. I’ll have to visit Ovietto in my next video. Transetters. So, I cut the route short by about 7ks with a lot less climbing towards the end for certain. As always, thank you for watching. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to the Gravel Cycles YouTube channel for interesting content such as this, me rambling about the Italian countryside. No bull gravel bike reviews, other product reviews, and of course, general madness. You want dinner? Is that what you’re asking for? Do you want dinner? Dinner time. Bloody dogs all over me. What the am I doing with my life? Actually, it’s pretty bloody awesome, I have to say. I’ll see you in the next video. [Music]