Day trip to Assisi or Orvieto with teenagers?

I have not been to Assisi but was in Orvieto last year with 2 thirteen year olds. Orvieto is a very small picturesque town. Although the facade of the church is lovely, a visit takes no longer than 20 minutes. The rest of the town includes pedestrian-only cobblestone streets with not too many shops, and relatively none of interest to teens. I loved it for its serenity and quaintness but for teens...? We arrived one morning and left the next morning and I felt we had seen the sights. So I guess it depends on how long you anticipate staying in Orvieto.

I have only seen Assisi via Rick's DVD. It appeared to have more sightseeing than Orvieto.

There may be others on the forum who are more informed than I am and might be able to provide more positive comments about teens in Orvieto.

I've been to both and stayed in both places.
It is hard to pick just one.
But, teenagers might like Orvieto a little better - the town is a bit bigger and so there
may be more for them to do?
If you can get a copy of the Rick Steves guide to Italy - you can compare the two places

I'm sure others will weigh in here - I personally LOVE Assisi and could spend several days there - but I'm a Sr. Citizen LOL

We were just in Assisi and will be in Orvieto in a couple of days. Been to both places several times in the past. Assisi is larger. More spread out. Lots more churches and the fort at the top to see. Orvieto has the well and the underground tunnels. Personally for a day trip I'd pick Assisi. So many pretty little streets to wander and the walk up the hill to the fort and tour of it is fun

Alexandra,

I assume you'll be taking this day trip from Rome? I've also been to both and stayed in both.

My suggestion would be to visit Orvieto as it's a very easy one hour ride from Rome and doesn't involve having to connect with a Bus to ride up the hill. You'll probably have to contend with the attention span of teenage girls, so IMHO Orvieto would be a good fit.

The ride up to town from the rail station on the Funicular is a bit novel, and while in Orvieto you could.....

• Tour St. Patrick's Well - an incredible engineering feat in its day, featuring a double-helix design so that donkeys could be going up and down at the same time.
• Tour the Duomo - you might want to do a bit of research on that ahead of time, especially related to the incredible Signorelli Frescoes on the ceiling of the small chapel inside.
• Tour the Orvieto Underground City - quite an interesting history and this was in use even up to fairly recent times.

The city has many small streets with various types of shops and some good restaurants, so it's an interesting place to explore, and of course as a hill town there are some great views over the surrounding countryside.

I think the teenagers would enjoy the underground to & St Patrick's well. You could also hike the trail around the walls.

Thanks all for the helpful feedback.

@ Ken, we will be spending the day with rental car after 5 nights in an agriturismo near Arezzo (Pergine Valdarno). We will be dropping the car in Orvieto and taking the train to Rome. We need to be in Rome at a reasonable hour to check in at the apartment we will be renting, so I thought we probably would not have time that day to tour Assisi before heading to Orvieto and on to Rome. But maybe we could squeeze both towns in?