Day 12 Italy 2008

Today is Sunday and we awoke to new neighbors with kids. Lots of noise. They have already been in the pool. It doesn’t seem quite warm enough for us. We have been trying to update our blogs, but the internet keeps coming in and out.

Franco told us about two festivals going on celebrating the "Corpo di Christ" (Body of Christ), so we jumped in the car and first went to Montegabbione where they had a religious festival and created beautiful images with flowers all along the streets.



This one was made from roses from the rose garden of Casa Rondini!


Next, we went to Citta della Pieve to see the festivities there. This was our third visit to this charming town.

We then went to Monteleone and had a great pizza at La Tana del Gufo, before heading home.

Day 11 Italy 2008

We went to Deruta today. On the way, we saw a herd of sheep (or maybe angora goats???) being directed by a dog. We tried to take pictures, but the dog keep coming up to the car and barking. It was on a severe curve in the road, and I worried that a car would come around the curve and hit some of them. The Italians drive very fast!!


Deruta is known for its beautiful ceramics. We strolled the many shops and found them to be pretty expensive. There seemed to be some preparation for a festival with balloons, foods, etc. When we asked what the celebration was, they said their soccer team had won a big tournament. We took some pictures of the boys before the festivities began and waited for a time, but decided to leave as we were not sure when the festivities were to begin.

Day 10 Italy 2008

Today we drove to Perugia, which is the capital of Umbria. The weather was beautiful when we left Casa Rondini, but became overcast when we arrived. We parked at the bottom on the hill between two trees (and weren’t really sure it was a parking spot, but others were parked there, so we felt ok). We climbed up to an area that had a beautiful Roman arch which was the entrance to the old city. As with other towns, it was all uphill. When we got to the top, we stopped for tea and cappuccino under the umbrellas. Luckily we were covered when it started to rain (and of course we left the umbrellas in the car). Piazza Quattro Novembre marks the center of Perugia. There we found the Fontana Maggiore which was designed by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in the second half of the 13th century. The upper basin has a bronze bowl with a sculpture of three nymphs. Two lower basins have sculptures that were carved by Nicola and Giovanni with the months of the year, signs of the zodiac, the liberal arts, and biblical scenes.

We also visited the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. They were doing some restoration, but the ceiling was magnificent. There was a service being conducted and the acoustics were wonderful. On a pedestal at the side of the Cathedral is a bronze statue of Julius III by Vincenzo Danti.

The National Gallery of Umbria houses the most important and most complete collection of Umbrian painting in Italy from the 13th to the 16th century.




I had forgotten that Perugia is known for its chocolate until my daughter Angela reminded me in our IM chat that evening. So, I guess we’ll have to revisit Perugia!!!

Day 9 Italy 2008

Today we went to Siena. What an amazing city of seep medieval alleys susrrounding the Piazza del Campo. The major building of he city was between 1260 and 1348, with wealthy citizens contributing to building projects.

I was surprised how large the old part of the city was. In Italy, you will find they keep the old cities protected from the new developments. Since it was the middle of the week, I had not expected such large crowds. We were very lucky to find a free parking lot and a gentleman motioned to us that he was leaving…or we would have driven around for hours looking for one.

Our first stop was the Cathedral di Santa Catarina, Sienna’s patron saint, Catherine Benincasa. She was the daughter of a tradesman who took the veil at the age of eight and experienced several visions of God including the stigmata. She was the one who influenced Pope Gregory XI to return the papal seat to Rome in 1376. We were not able to take pictures in the church.

We made our way through the narrow steep streets with lots of shops along the way. We stopped at a leather shop where Cheryl bought a nice red bag for her camera equipment. When we got to the Piazza del Campo where the Palazzo Pubblico is we found a nice place for lunch, looking out on the piazza. We took some pictures which show how crowded it was with people. They also had some entertainment for children with an inflated trampoline which was fun to watch.

As we left the piazza, we looked in shops and I decided to look again in the leather shop we had visited earlier. There was a purse I liked, but I really wanted it in yellow. There was a young lady there who said they probably had it in yellow at one of their other stores…and they did! It only took about 10 minutes, and I got my yellow purse!!!

We took a different way home, which was so picturesque. Cheryl took her GPS, which came in very handy, because the road signs are not as great as they should be over here.

Day 8 Italy 2008

Today we went to Todi. It sits high on a hill and is a beautiful city. However, when we got there, it began to rain and the only free parking place we could find was at the bottom of the hill. Walking up to the cathedral was very steep. I must say that my calves were sore by the end of the day. I’m sure it would have been much more exciting if the sun had come out. Here are a couple of photos. I didn’t use my Canon 40D, because I didn’t want the lens to get wet.

Day 7 Italy 2008

Today it has rained very hard. Still no internet. I called Nick from Cheryl’s phone to tell him we’re ok. He didn’t answer, so I left a message.

We relaxed today and did some laundry.

Tonight was pasta night in the kitchen of Casa Rondini! We were provided flour, salt and eggs and made our dough. Then, we pressed it through the pasta machine. After cutting round circes the size of biscuits, we put the pasta in little ravioli presses that Franco says his mother sent him.

Franco then cooked them and served them with various sauces. The first sauce was a tomato sauce, the second was a cream sauces with sage, and the third was olive oil with basil and rosemary. We had a great chocolate tarte for dessert.

We had a good visit with the others staying here. The first couple from Wales, Andrew and Wendy, arrived the same day as we did but were only staying one week. They will be leaving tomorrow.

Day 6 Italy 2008

Still no interenet!
It rained some today, but we went again to Citta della Pieve to see the cathedral that contained the Peruginos. We ran into a nice Italian couple who explained how to turn on the lights over each painting in this very dark church.


Then we went across the street to get an espresso.

We then drove to to Montepulciano in Tuscany. It was another lovely town on a steep hill with an interesting Romanesque cathedral. The alter had a triptych by Taddeo di Bartolo.



We drove home, had a light dinner, and watched “Across the Universe” on my laptop.