a beautiful scene i would love to see one day with my own eyes

beautiful scenery!

What a lovely place,I visited Orvieto many many years ago and stayed at the Monestary which had been converted inti a hotel.And the wines of Orvieto!! mama mia.

Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing this.

gorgeous! that is quite a view!!

What a breathtaking shot! I love the contrast between the huge clouds and the small elements of the city. Makes the city seem like it's in a snow globe or even a miniature model. Did you get to stay here or were you just passing by?

Beautiful shot! Excellent composition too. That sky is incredible!

beautiful shot...

Hi Sam.
I've followed your blog for a while, and I'm very inspired by your photos from Italy. I'm going there with some friends for a week in april with Rome as a starting point. Can you help me with some plans? Please send me an e-mail if you got time.

Thank you!
Haakon from Stockholm.

Dramatic cloud. It may be my monitor but I find this image a bit too dark for good viewing. I'm puzzled by the large area on the left with the lines of something growing? Odd.

Nice to be wealthy enough to fly about the world. Never been in my reach by normal means.

I loved this shot and the fact that the city is located on a volcanic rock.Any chance of future volcano eruption?

This is gorgeous. It looks like something right out of a fairytale.

Terrific expansive sky. How can you go wrong really with the Italian countryside. Hard to capture a landscape that simulates the feel of being there and I think you did it nicely. To be picky, I would have liked a bit more contrast, especially in the foreground.

Totally agree, it is a beautiful looking city. Love the sky yet again Sam tis always an interesting day for you isn't it with regards to the sky formation?

great photo.

Nice picture of Umbria with great tone and contrast. Maybe it could be a little bit more sharp.

I love the clouds!

have you photos of cathedral in orvieto?

that's beautiful!!!!

A beautiful photograph! I love the way the clouds mirror the landscape. I've been to Orvieto, and it is a fascinating and lovely place.

That is BEAUTIFUL.

What a great photo!! The sky is as interesting as the beautiful city! Lovely.

OMG!! that is unbelievably gorgeous. amazing!

This may sound strange, but that has a scary resemblance to the setting of my dream last night. I was even taking photos of it in my dream!

wonderful shot. such a great place. i hope you walked around Orvieto itself as well.

Beautiful shot, Sam; the clouds heighten the drama. Hugh, the lines on the left look like a vineyard, or maybe an olive grove.

I would like to go to Italy once again...

Very good composition. Nice colors :)

I'm more interested in the comments by Hugh Petrie than I am by anything else. Do you ever have anything nice to say? Seriously, if you have nothing nice to say, why say anything at all? You make comments on here every day and they're never positive. Maybe one small aspect of your comment is masked to be positive, but overall your tone is negative.

It's Italy, so what do you think the "lines of things growing" are? It could be grapes! I'm not sure why that's so confusing. They are known for wine and grape are grown in a line like that. Good one Hugh.

Sam I think this photo is unbelievable. It's not too dark, if someone says that their monitor isn't calibrated properly or they have an old monitor that needs replaced. Great shot! At first I thought this was an island close to the sea due to the blueish nature of the ground behind this place. I looked it up later though and discovered otherwise. Really awesome shot. I'm going to Italy in September (by normal means) and will have to check this place out and visit the cathedral as others here have suggested.

In Spain there is an other village placed in a basaltic columnata. It is called "San Joan Les Fonts" in the once volcanic area in Spain near to Olot village. This area is called "Zona volcanica de la Garrotxa"

beautiful scenery! I like the Clody!

More research brings me back to this page and Chad's comments.

Somehow, Chad seems overreactive.

What exactly is wrong with pondring what precisely the odd rows are?

I don't think he's read all the comments I've made for I don't recall that I'm that negative and say positve things often. I'm not a sycophant ooing and awing at ever pretty picture. I don't give a damn if other viewers or Sam don't like me. I'll say what I say and Sam has the right to blow me off the page - if he's that shallow - which I don't believe he is. OK?

The darkness of this image is clearly the result of it's being after sunset and that's the way things look. I might better have said I'd like to see it in the sunlight.

Good grief - people are so totally weird.

Gorgeous view and great cloud for it. Sunshine might be better but not necessarily. Every time I see a field like the one on the left that looks like a large stairway I'm amazed. I assume it's grape vines.
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I wrote the above, pondering if it was an imae I'd seen before, and witout having read any of the posts first. Then I find that it is indeed the one I'd seen before and that it is a re-posting. As well I found, of course, the comments of Chad at February 1, 2007 and my subsequent response to that.
The laptop I use now does give a better brightness level overall - so that's out of the way as hassle - except for the likes of Chad I suppose.
To each his own.

It is a good one, Sam, and re-posting it has given me another moment of pleasure and a couple of laughs at human nature.

I'm lucky, thanks to medical magic, to be able to see anything at this point in life, as I've been being treated for macular blindness for over two years now.

Onward. But don't post this unless you think it has some value.

I suppose it's possible that you've gone here to celebrate Nowruz in a unique place. Or have gone home to Iran for the same purpose. I was just watching a BBC bit on Kurdish celebration of the same. Quite beautiful seeing the torches coming down the mountain.
Happy Nowruz.