We're returning to Orvieto again in August and would appreciate your recommendations - Also, anyone know of any scheduled Festivals scheduled near Orvieto mid-August?

Of course, I must reply. I Sette Consoli is my favorite restaurant in all of Italy. She had a Michelin star, but, for some reason, lost it. No matter!

I've also been to the Sette Consoli and had a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting

Another vote for http://www.isetteconsoli.it/

I appreciated VINOSUS wine bar.
www.vinosus.it .
The location, with its terrace looking at the cripta of Duomo, is gorgeous.
I appraciate their honest and clever research for excellent salumi; their provider is Antica Corte Pallavicina.
The price is good enough, not more than 30 € per persone including one good bottle of wine.
Last time that I had dinner at VINOSUS was the last May and I enjoyed it.

Vincenzo

We had a lovely lunch at Trattoria dell Orso in March. Their fettucine with muchrooms and truffles was so good that my husband and friend ordered a third order to share (they had already had one each!). The two guys who run the place are lovely to talk to as well. We spent about 80 euro for lunch for 4.
You can read more about it on my website:
http://www.wired2theworld.com/ROME2008Day4.html

These comments all applied as of last week:

The closest I've ever come to bad food in Italy in over 40 years was at the Trattoria Etrusca in Via Maitani. Food a suburban English pizza joint would be ashamed of and slovenly service verging on the obnoxious.

Less than stellar food, but spectacular value with an all-inclusive €20/head price (inc limitless surprisingly good wine) for an endless and cripplingly copious Sunday lunch at the Agriturismo Casanova on the road to Civitella del Lago. Maybe not the best food ever - but one of the most enjoyable Sunday lunches I can remember. The almost next door Agriturismo Barberani looked lovely, though we only bought their wine (they supply both The Wine Society and Majestic).

Unable to organise getting into Vissani on Lago di Corbara, but their Tuesday and Friday €30 lunch deal has to be one of Europe's most amazing bargains.

And PLEASE visit Trippini in Civitella del Lago. Seriously outstanding food (one of the three great meals in a four-week meander through Italy and France): about €110 for a five course blowout for two with a sublime view at dinner of sunset and swallows (or were they swifts?) over the lake.

Unclear what nationality you are. If you're driving home, just about the best value wines anywhere in western Europe are the Orvieto reds and whites sold out of petrol pumps into plastic containers at the place marked Vini!! in the strip centre a few hundred yards on the Orvieto side of the motorway toll plaza. Fill your boots.

The porchetta van in the market does the best fillings (well filling: it's his porchetta or nothing) for a lunchtime picnic anywhere in Italy.

The Bar Blu doesn't set itself up as a serious eaterie. But it's quite relaxed about your hanging round using your laptop on their Wifi for hours, and even offers freebie, and surprisingly good, nibbly-noos. Just beware the guilty feeling that makes you buy more beers than you really need. Best free office space in continental Europe

Incidentally, the (seriously excellent) Museo Dicesano must get the award for the most bizarre attribution anywhere. A lovely little 15c madonna was painted apparently by the "Maestro della Madonna di Liverpool"

Bet you didn't know Liverpool had painting quattrocento Italian masterpieces among its many achievements.

Here's what we had on our trip to I sette consoli

I Sette Consoli - Piazza Sant’ Angelo (€ 121 for lunch)
- Selection of breads
- 2001 Sagrantino
- Filetti di pesce persico, dorati e croccanti, insalatina di campo all’ aceto di lamponi e salsa di senape (ocean perch with balsamic salad and raspberry mustard vinegarette)
- Terrina di fegatini di pollo, salsa al Vino Dolce di Orvieto, pan brioche caldo e cipolle rosse caramellate (liver pate with sweet Orvieto wine sauce and caramelized onions)
- Risotto Carnaroli ai carciofi agnello e cavolo nero (lamb, artichokes and cabbage)
- Tortelli di anatra al profumo di arancia, salsa di sedano rapa e pecorino Umbro (duck filled pasta perfumed with blood oranges and local pecorino cheese)
- Suprema di pollo farcita ai porcini arrostita in forno, profumata al marsala e tortino di broccoletti “ripassati” (chicken with porcini mushrooms in light marsala sauce and a broccoli tort).

The local website (www.orvietoonline.com) is pretty good on festivals in southern Umbia.

In fact its "news" section (http://www.orvietoonline.com/orvieto_news_orvieto.html) is far more about flag-waving competitions, sagre degli gnocchi and the like than the house fires and squabbles about council budgets most town websites regard as news.

We arrived in Orvieto on August 14, the eve of the Catholic feast day of the Assumption. After checking into the hotel we wandered into the Piazza d Repubblica where a procession was carrying an immense statue of the Virgin Mary on the backs of the older men. It was a very evocative moment. Later that evening back in the same piazza we stopped at a small restaurant for wine and salume. Religious music was being piped through the area and tables were being setup well into the piazza for a neighborhood gathering. By the time we left, it seemed as though people were preparing to party the night away. For us it was a very special day on our first trip to Italy.

I second Trattoria dell' Orso which is a SlowFood pick in Orvieto. Just good local fare with no pretentions. Reasonable prices, too.

It was a few years ago, but we really had a wonderful meal at LaBadia just across the valley, and within sight of Orvieto. We had lamb cooked to perfection. The restaurant is in a beautiful old abby which was made into an inn.

A couple of years ago, we had a terrific meal at Le Grotte del Funaro, an underground tufa cave. As I remember, the cingale (boar) was delicious as was the whole sea bass.