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The environs of Orvieto sprawl around Mount Peglia, and are divided between Orvieto and its 12 bordering Comuni. The area is characterized by its great variety of countryside: from sweet hills to alluvial plains, argillaceous gullys, Appennine mountain reliefs and landscapes of volcanic origin with basaltic and tufacee formations. There are, moreover, extended wood areas and wide fields cultivated with grapes, the same that are used to produced the renowned wine of Orvieto. The important naturalistic value of this part of Umbria is due to the extraordinary botanical variety of its territory: forests of holm-oaks and Mediterranean strawberry-trees,oak woods of durmasts and junipers, groves of Turkey oaks mixed with hornbeams, maple trees and finally the black pine tree of Monte Peglia. These areas are also home to many animals: the wild boar, the roe, the deer, the red deer, the wolf, the wild cat and the marten; the population of birds of prey is represented by the buzzard, the albanella, the falco pellegrino, the nibbio reale. A wide agriculture area expands around the city of Orvieto, organized around the valley that corresponds to the river basin of the Paglia River, a tributary of the Tevere. The cultivated area looks like an enclave encircled by the forest. From the mountaintop down an altitude of 500 meters there are exclusively pastures and grass, often bordered or alternated with belts of bushes. Under this altitude the land is almost entirely devoted to traditional cultivation: olive trees, grapes and vegetables, all favourites of the Mediterranean climate, where winters are rainy and mild, and summers warm.

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Bottega Michelangeli © 2006