The funicular of Orvieto is a funicular cableway, which connects the historic center of the city, with the train station. It is managed by BusItalia.
The plant was built on a project by Alessandro Ferretti, inaugurated on October 7, 1888 and originally called The Bracci funicular, in honor of the Orvieto financier Giuseppe Bracci Testasecca, who financed its construction. It was built with the water counterweight system, a system used at that time also for other Italian funiculars, such as the Genoese of Sant'Anna and, in Lazio, the Valle Oscura - Rocca di Papa. The water tanks that served to weigh down the car upstream were placed in the underbody of the two cars. Once put into operation, it allowed to quickly connect the city of Orvieto with its railway station.
The funicular operated for almost a century and was renovated in 1935. After a suspension during the Second World War it resumed service until March 1, 1970 when, following the sale of the concession to the company Auto servizi Pubblici Orvieto, which already managed bus services on the same route, after a brief suspension and a subsequent resumption of racing, it was definitively closed at the end of the sixties[1].
In June 1990, following a rethinking of transport on the cliff of Orvieto, it was put back into operation completely rebuilt on the original route, no longer water, but electric traction. Much of the merit of this restoration was due to the tenacity of Wladimiro Giulietti, mayor[2] of Orvieto from 1975 to 1980, who saw in the funicular a cornerstone in the perspective of the pedestrianization of the city center. Currently the funicular takes just over two minutes per trip.
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