Encore: Lunch in Arezzo

Monday, November 4
Thought I was done with this blog, but couldn't resist a short one to describe our day. We made our way from Pesaro to Siena, to drop the rental car and take the bus to Florence (whew). We depart Tuesday for our long flight home. The only part I hate about traveling is the traveling part!!

On the way across the peninsula today, we stopped off for lunch in Arezzo-an unplanned bit of serendipity. I knew of an art treasure there, and was delighted that it worked out to visit. We were equally delighted to discover yet another lovely medieval centro storico. Fabulous Piazza Grande.

Piazza Grande

Interesting Duomo.

Arezzo's Duomo

The artistic high-light, though, was to see the fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca, "Legends of the True Cross" (1447). Typically you need a reservation to get into to see this chapel, and only small groups are permitted in for a short period of time. We were quite fortunate due to the off season: we had the place to ourselves. Couldn't do much in the way of photos, but we enjoyed seeing first hand this masterpiece.

Piero Della Francesca: scenes from "Legends of the True Cross"

Arezzo has many more interesting sites, but we couldn't get to them today. One of my personal rules of travel is to leave something undone, a reason to return. I'm sure we will.
Ciao!

Medieval Coats of Arms embedded in wall of municipal building

Couldn't resist adding in this last photo: we're back in our old familiar neighborhood in Firenze, and went back (si', 4 volte) to Tratoria Lucia around the corner. These are our buddies (2 on the left with Dad, the cook, on the right).

Our best friends (cari amici) at Santa Lucia

San Marino

Sunday, Nov 3
For one of our last days before we have to leave Italy, we decided to leave Italy! We spent the day in San Marino, the tiny republic within Italy that has been sovereign since gaining independence from the Roman Empire in 301AD.  Apparently when Garibaldi ran around unifying Italy, he gave San Marino a favor and allowed the city-state to remain independent. Talk about your campaign debts! The only difference to the traveler is a lower VAT (tax on goods), so a lot of folks go there to shop. They speak Italian, have an open border (no passport check), use Euro, and the entire county is only 24 square miles. Their claim to fame: the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world. Evidently, they have a seat at the UN, interesting.
The best part of visiting San Marino city are the castles.

City of San Marino in the country of San Marino

Perched on the very pinnacle of the mountaintop, the city has 3 medieval castles and a path that connects them. Built in the 1200's, they have been beautifully restored. Great photo op's all around. Only negative was that the wind was blowing so hard, we felt we could have been blown off the mountain.

Last great tourist pose

We stated our hike going up to Castle #3, the smallest of the 3.  Bit of a climb, but hey, we have hamstrings of steal!

Climb to the top

Castle #3

From there we went onto #2.  We went into the tower to see an awesome exhibit of medieval armor-Jordan would have loved this one!

Armor inside castle #2

Great display

Hiked over to #1, the largest of the three, and up into that tower. Great 360 degree view.

Guaita, castle #1

View looking back to castle #2

Climbing the towers 

Great views 

Then we made our way down to the main piazza for a great lunch and I thought since we'd be leaving for home soon, I'd have a last Italian pizza. A word about eating pizza in Italy:

NOT like this....

...like this!!

Pesaro, Il Pignocco, and Olives

Saturday Nov. 2
Yup, cranking out the blogs now! Trying to catch up so I can have them all done before we begin our long trek home. Blogging has been a great tool to keep all of our memories straight. When we can't remember what we saw where, we refer to the blog. It's a labor of love-mostly due to slow wifi-but the Perugina chocolate really helps!
Great decision to spend the weekend on the Adriatic coast. We found a great place to stay at Il Pignocco, in the hills overlooking Pesaro and the sea. Il Pignocco (the pine) is an old estate-turned hotel. They have rooms in the main house, and another building with a few apartments. We have a lovely ground floor apartment.

Il Pignocco estate

View from our kitchen

Table outside our apartment

Che bella!

This one does not classify as agriturismo, but it is family run and they have about 90 olive trees. When we asked about the age of the trees, they said they didn't know, but likely over 100 years. Lucky for us, it is harvest time, and we were happy to help. First they spread nets under a few trees, and then rake the olives off the branches. We helped with the hand rakes, and they also have a power-raker that can really shake the branches. Then we roll the nets to form a pile of olives and pick out the branches. They use a leaf blower to blow out more of the leaves. It is an extremely labor intensive process, but a fun experience for us!

Raking the trees

Sorting

It's a family affair

The Adriatic Sea

That afternoon we drove down to the beach. Lovely beach, but sadly, the cement-box architecture of the Pesaro beach front hotels is depressing and uninviting. Still, I'm sure they pack 'em in during the summer months.

Lovely beach vacant in the off-season

Ugly hotel row of Pesaro

We also drove south to checkout the seaside town of Senigallia (I read about this town in one of my Italian lessons and just had to peek). The hotel row there was a bit more appealing, but we were happy to return to our estate in the hills and our view.

Gubbio:Funivia and Tartufi

Friday, Nov 1
Wow, we've been gone a month. Only a few days left in this glorious country. We'll be happy to get home-but still have a bit of fun to go before we return.
We left our apartment in Foligno on Friday. I thought we should spend our last weekend in Italy in a peaceful location, so we headed to the Adriatic Coast to Pesaro. Along the way, we spent the day in Gubbio in the northeastern region of Umbria. It was a beautiful drive through the hills and valleys of that area.
Gubbio is a lovely place-as evidenced by throngs of Italians heading into town that day. What could be going on, we wondered? We concluded it was a holiday, All Saint's Day, but couldn't figure out where everyone was going. We saw signs for a festival in town: Tartufi Bianci (white truffles), maybe that was it.
We found another gem in Gubbio and headed there first: the funivia. This is like a ski-lift in that it takes you top of the mountain. You ride standing in a basket/cage sort of thing, with enough room, tightly, for two people. The fun part is that it doesn't stop to let you on/off. You stand ready, an attendant opens the door to the cage, and you jump in/out quickly!

Funivia lift to the top of the mountain

Jumping on

Very steep ascent to the top of the hill. I'm not quite sure what would happen if you couldn't get off in time--I suppose you'd ride the loop and try again! At the top there are a few restaurants and a church-of course! We had lunch admiring the view and enjoying the sunshine on this unseasonably warm day. We could see the ruins of the Roman amphitheater from up there.

Ancient Roman amphitheater 

We elected to check out the church and found there the remains of Saint Ubaldo, the town's patron Saint. We also saw the "cero" pillars--each weighing about 200 pounds. For centuries, they celebrate the "Corso dei Ceri" festival to celebrate St. Ubaldo, and men from different neighborhoods in town compete and carry these pillars (ceri) through the streets and up to the church on the hill.

Gary checks out a cero pillar

After our funivia ride back down the mountain, we checked out the truffle festival at the Piazza Grande. There were some folks milling about, tasting and buying truffles, but not the crowds we expected. We tasted some samples and also checked out the impressive Palazzo dei Consoli, previous seat of government and now a museum.

Tartufi (truffles)

Display showing model truffle hog

Palazzo dei Consoli

Piazza Grande

We walked around the town a bit more and finally realized that Gubbio is a favorite spot for Italians on their holiday. Families were scattered here and there throughout town, picnicking and filling restaurants, visiting churches and the Ducal Palace, but mostly hanging out and enjoying a lovely day.

Gubbio

Before continuing our drive to the coast, we found the "Fontana del Pazzi". Legend has it that if you run around this fountain 3 times, you will go crazy. Don't worry, I only went around twice!

More Umbrian towns, towns, towns!

October 31, Thursday
Halloween in Italy. Yes, we did see school kids dressed in costume, with many witches in the crowd and a few trick or treaters in the evening, but in these sleepy hill-towns, Halloween was pretty quiet. For our last day in this region, we thought we'd tackle 3 nearby towns; one each for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Breakfast in Spello: a very steep hill-town. Got in a major hamstring work out before breakfast. You'd think our hamstrings would be made of steel by now!

Strada (street) in Spello

We were in search of a little breakfast bar, but came upon the town's main church-can I say that when there is a church on nearly every corner? Santa Maria Maggiore is quite a gem for this tiny town. A man guards the small Baglioni Chapel and charges 1 euro per person for admission and to turn on the lights. Why all the fuss? The preservation of the frescoes by Benardino di Betto, known as Pinturicchio. Of what? You guessed it: Life of the Virgin! But really, this doesn't get old at all--these are fabulous! Now I'm having fun finding my favorite part of each fresco. I can't decide if the young man to the right of the horse is gazing to the Heavens with reverence or just thinking, "alright already-I'm so bored"!

Pinturicchio's "Nativity/Gifts of the Magi"

Then thinking we would surely get breakfast now, we stumbled upon the next church with another Pinturicchio treasure and couldn't resist filming this one. What are those flying baby-faced things around Mary? The strangest angels I've ever seen!

Pinturicchio's "Madonna..."

Flying angels?

Ahh...finally a breakfast bar for cappuccino, tea and cornetti (croissants).  One thing that has been fun on this trip is finding the hidden unexpected gems--in Spoletto, it was walking across the gorge. Today it was ducking inside a simple appearing breakfast bar to find this giardino outback with a gorgeous view!

Breakfast with a view

Feeling fortified we tackled more of the town's hilly streets, to the top of town for more great views. The pietra rossa stone used for the streets and buildings gives everything a warm, pinky-beige glow.

We walked up...

...and up!

Pietra rossa stone

Lunch in Bevagna. This town is in the valley so, great joy, it is flat! Its claim to fame: it was literally built on top of Roman ruins. We strolled around and then, you guessed it, had lunch in the piazza.

Roman columns embedded in this medieval wall

Piazza in Bevagna

We have to confess being a bit under-whelmed by Bevagna. Maybe it was because the lunch was only fair. Maybe because some of the things I wanted to see were closed-who knows why: off-season, renovation or ? We were disappointed to find the (supposed) actual rock that St. Francis stood upon to deliver his sermon to the birds, was imbedded in this wall and impregnated with iron bars. Quite strange.

Famous rock?

But saving the day and still making us bend over for a complete belly-laugh, was the "tour" we got at the Roman bath ruins. We walked in and were greeted a woman manning a desk-we figured for payment. But no, she was there to offer a tour (there was only one room). We said sure and she started. It took a moment to appreciate she was speaking in English, and though Italians speak fast in Italian, we hadn't heard one speak English this fast. I don't think she drew a breath! It went something like this: here are the mosaics-rectangle sea creature-circle-dolphins-triton,king of the sea-see the flower-look at the wall-water heated here-steam there-men/women separate or together-sauna-body or face-bye. And we were out, stunned and then looked at each other and started the kind of laughing that gives your ab's a work-out. Might be talking/laughing about that one for awhile!

Roman baths in Bevagna

Dinner in Montefalco. Another hill-top town with character. Lovely Piazza with a well-known restaurant, L'Alchimista. We were able to make a dinner reservation and booked the last table-thanks to off-season lack of crowds-or would have been out of luck for this popular spot. Grazie, Enrica per il tuo buon consiglio!

Piazza in Montefalco

Buon ristorante 

We walked around town to the various "punto panoramico"; Montefalco is known as the "balcony over Umbria".  Amazing views in all directions.

Valley view

Then onto the artistic highlight of the day-the Chiesa San Francesco and the amazing fresco cycle of the life of St. Francis by Benozzo Gozzoli. Ok, so we were just in "the" Chiesa (Basilica) San Francesco in Assisi, and saw "the" fresco cycle of the life of the Saint by Giotto....but I really like Gozzoli's style. His colors and dimension are profound. I love the details-especially of the buildings in the background.

Gozzoli's "St. Francis preaches to the birds"

"Francis Renounces his Father's Possessions"

We also found this interesting painting. I guess Mary was not beating the child, but the demon that was trying to take over! At first glance, it looks a bit scary. 

Long day of touring three towns. Fortunately we had a great appetite for a fabulous dinner!

La cena buonissima!