The village of Orridumio lies lonely
in the center of a narrow valley, seldom
reached by the sunbeams. Its gothic buildings
of grey stone are perpetually wrapped in the mist, and this gives
the village a peculiar fascination, even if it would be too much
to define it as delightful.
The peculiar atmosphere since centuries drives to Orridùmio
many illustrious visitors from the farther countries.
The first one was the count Vlad Tepes,
who visited Orridumio in 1463, but stood there few days, then
ran away frightened.
Edgar Allan Poe was there in 1829, when
he was still an author of nursery-rhymes, and the visit mde him
to change his literary kind.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft passed a
night there in 1928, but he could not sleep.
In more recent times Dario Argento
thought to shoot in Orridùmio his next film, but as he
found all his troupe beheaded, thought it convenient to
choose another location.
As a pro for the Orridumiese tourism we can however remark that
noone of the tourists who visited the village in the last years
ever came back to complain.
Visiting tips
In the night hours it's advisable to adopt some precautions for
the visit, as to go around only if accompanied by an exorcist,
to supply oneself with a Crucified and a gun with silver bullets,
even if it's preferable to barricade oneself home after sunset
and not to move until the cock crows.
Handicraft
The typical products of the local handicraft are the wreaths
and the pillows of flowers, the inventive
coffin-shaped keychains and pendants and the skull-shaped gear
lever knobs.
Every Friday 17th a market takes places and on the stalls
are on sale the picturesque strings of garlic and the characteristic
multipurpose ash-wood stakes, that is preferable to have on for
any eventuality.
What to see
The avenues of the village are bordered by cypresses'
rows, which have the particularity not to throw a shadow,
like however the greatest part of the inhabitants of the village,
and under which it is pleasant to take a walk, except in the nights
of full moon, new moon or crescent moon.
The parochial church is dedicated to the defuncts and is famous
for being entirely decorated with human bones. Under the high
altar lies the mummified body of the late bishop Esequio, which
anyway it's not always possible to see, since he loves to take
a walk around the village.
The picturesque zombie district is the more joyful and animated
of Orridùmio, mainly in the zone of the cemetary, although
it is not at all advisable to venture to go there, if you are
not a zombie.
Popular festivities
and traditions
The most solemn festivity of the village is November 2nd,
when a solemn high mass of requiem for the defuncts is celebrated
and chanted by the choir of the same defuncts; during the celebration
the bells knell uninterruptedly, although the church doesn't have
a bell tower, and neither bells. The festivity sees the procession
passing by, with the inhabitants of the village in their traditional
costumes, entirely black.
For Christmas it's probable the arrival of somebody through the
chimney, even if it's not always Santa Claus.
Gastronomy
The best restaurant of the village is "Hannibal's",
specialized in meat courses.
The main course of Orridumiese cooking is meat grilled on dead
fire, with dead nettle as a side dish.
Between the cakes we mention the Halloween sweets.
The local olive trees produce a very good olive oil, so valuable
to be defined "Holy oil".
The best hotel in Orridùmio
is the "Eternal Sleep" (four stars and three cemetary
candles), placed in the village center, with sight on the cemetary.
Other hotels are "Requiem aeterna", "Last resting-place"
and "R.I.P.".
Less advisable are the "Bates Motel"
managed by an old lady and her son
Norman and the "Overlook Hotel"
managed by Jack Torrance and his family,
in which it is in particular advised to avoid room 237.
Wildlife
The Orridùmio fauna, thanks to the peculiar conformation
of the surroundings, is unique in the world and counts many endemic
species.
Between them we count many Mammalians, like the European
werewolf (Lycanthropus europaeus), once endangered
of extinction and today considered a protect species, the autophagous ferret (Mustela autophaga),
so voracious to devour himself, and therefore not dangerous for
the man; in the caverns in the outskirtses of the village grows
a plentiful fauna of hematophagous Chiroptera, like the Orridumiese
vampire (Desmodus orridumiensis), the Blood-sucker
horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sanguivorus) and the vein-cutter noctule (Nyctalus venasecans).
Between the birds we remember the anthropophagous quail anthropophagous
quail (Coturnix hominivorax), that feeds only living
human beings, which attacks by pecks, and the cuddlesome
sparrow (Passer blandulus) which uses his particularly
graceful and charming aspect to attract the humans: once they
offer him birdseed on their hand, the sparrow begins to peck it,
starting then to eat the hand and then the whole body of the incautious
zoophile.
One of the typical reptiles of the
zone is the depressive viper (Vipera
deprimens), which injects a strongly depressive poison, that
inexorably pushes to the suicide within few minutes the persons
which are bitten.
Between the amphibians we can mention the deceptive
toad (Bufo dolosus) that, once kissed, instead of turning
into a prince, turns into Freddy Kruger
and splits into pieces with a chainsaw the one who dared to annoy
him; the hoodoo salamander (Salamandra
fascinatrix) on the other hand does not attack the man, but
instead stares intensely at him, and takes him within few days
to a violent death, generally for a road accident.
How to get there
The "Last voyage" bus company ensures the line service
with Orridùmio, with coaches easily recognizable by their
characteristic black color bordered in gold.
The passengers are given bunches of chrysanthemum as a floral
present.
Contacts
To contact the person in charge of Orridùmio tourist office
it's advisable to use a three-legged table.
page
created:
March 24th 2007 and last updated: May 24th 2009