“Upon This Rock” upon Blue Bar Orvieto! Behind that door across from Anthony’s always bustling café is where it all started

“Upon This Rock” upon Blue Bar Orvieto! Behind that door across from Anthony’s always bustling café is where it all started.

In winter 2014, Alfredo and I came to Orvieto, Italy sight unseen following two challenging years full of sorrow after the loss of our “logical family” as Armistead Maupin coined the phrase: Tom Dross, Otis & Felipe, and Anthony not to mention the notorious and debilitating case of Lynne Spaulding’s senseless and criminally careless death at SF General Hospital.

We were exhausted.

Enter a serendipitous email from our friends Tony & Kip:

“Do you know anyone who would like to do a house swap for three months? We have a little place in a small town in Italy.”

“Us.”

“Don’t you want to know where?”

“Three months. Small town. Italy. We’re in.”

When we searched the address on Google Street View the first thing we saw was the azul neon of “Blue Bar” across from our friends’ front door. 68 steps up behind that portal began my fictional tale of Orvieto, itself inspired by true events: Etruscans, Romans, Medici, Mussolini, Popes, partisans, World War II and immigrants fleeing war torn toos. And, of ourse, the tragic suicide of the beloved local deacon, Luca Siedita, to whom “Rock” is dedicated, figures most prominently.

Thank you Orvieto and the Orvietani: muses all.
— David Eugene Perry