Orvieto was an important Etruscan city, it is in this era that this civilization began to develop social models and shape the cliff by creating wells and cisterns for water supply. But it was in the 12th century that the city strengthened its political influence and reached the peak of its splendor, taking on the urban appearance that we still see today. In that period of time, at the will of the people, that wonderful treasure chest of valuable works of art that is the Duomo was built.

During the Middle Ages, they once again had the problem of water supply. For reasons of public and private hygiene it was codified in the statutes of the common medieval prohibition to throw garbage on the streets. At the famous “throw”, underground rooms of the cubic form almost always dug the corners of the rooms at the perimeter walls of the same.

The underground rooms were used as garbage dumps where there was thrown all sorts of household waste: animal bones, pottery and broken glass, tiles, tuff, debris, etc… Some small Etruscan wells and cisterns were then adapted as “throws”. The succession of earthquakes and the plague of 1348, led to the end of wells and cisterns: the decay of the water was the definitive cause of the transformation of water into containers throw.