ARRIVERDERCI ITALIA

Last episode of our Italian odyssey: Lago di Bolsena.  I had forgotten to ention that we are camping since we left the Abbadia in the Marche. In Sienna, the camping site was a huge affaire with at least 1000 campers, many of them coming for several weeks at a time..In Lago di Bolsena, the small campeggio La Pineta was very quaint!Just in front of the wonderful lake, and just a stroll from the medieval town Bolsena.  That evening, we walked to the town in the evening and had a nice meal in one of the numerous patios lining the street.  I had my favorite Calamaris!

Bolsena was a stunning medieval town!

Europe's biggest volcanic lake lies at the borders of Umbria and Tuscany, a few miles north of the town of Viterbo.  Because of its strategic osition near Rome, it has a long historical tradition.  The Romans called it Lacus Volsinii, adapting the Etruscan name Velzna of the last Etruscan city to hold out against Rome. The lake is bordered on one side by updated forms of the Roman consular road Via Cassia (All the roads lead to Rome, remember!).

We could have visited numerous sites around Bolsena and probably extend our trip by...years!!!!!!!!
Arrivederci Italia!

We had breakfast in Pitigliano and strolled through its narrow alleys before the tourists busses arrive...Pitigliano is a stunning medieval town dramatically perched atop a tufa ridge. Tufa??? Tufo??? oh yes, we are in the tufo country. Tufo is a kind of porous rock of volcanic origin. uff's primary economic value is as a building material. In the ancient world, tuff's relative softness meant that it was commonly used for construction where it was available. Tuff is common in Italy, and the Romans used it for many buildings and bridges. Etruscan tombs dot the cliff face and valley and while driving, it is common to see these huge cavern entrances along the road. Pitigliano is also known as Piccola Gerusalemme, or Little Jerusalem because of archeological remains of jewish settlements of the 16th century. The parts of the ancient Jewish Quarter open to visitors includes a small museum, the restored synagogue from 1598, ritural baths, dye works, the Kosher butchering area, and bread ovens.

As for Sorana, it is a one street affair which ends at the Piazza del Pretorio with the Santa Maria Maggiore (12th-13th ) church.

The Church of San Mamiliano, may be the most ancient of the village. In recent years, during archaeological investigations, there has been found a treasure of near 500 golden coins of the 5th century AD.

 

ON MARLEYNE'S BIRTHDAY

On my birthday, we left Sienna and traveled through the Southern Tuscany, visiting pittoresque villages and towns, and enjoyed the day fully. What a wonderful way to age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sienna is also a town where it is possible to just sit and admire the surroundings, to eat a gelato...here the gelateria really "sculpt" the gelati...not so good because it gets to soft ! but it is pretty. There were stunning food stores, leather goods store, all so overwhelmingly enticing!

There was a wonderful atmosphere - despite a large amount of tourists -  in Sienna. It had small alleys, beautiful piazza and the Duomo! A jewel of a cathedral...originally designed and completed between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure.  Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

A most spectacular area of the Duomo was the Piccolomini Library,housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

The visual impact of these very colourful frescoes is stunning. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favourite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. He was the uncle of cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini (then archbishop of Siena and the future pope Pius III), who commissioned this library in 1492 as a repository of the books and the manuscript collection of his uncle. The ceiling is covered with painted panels of mythological subjects. They were executed between 1502 and 1503 by Pinturicchio and his assistants.  It was almost as impressive as the Sistine Chapel...we rented an audio-guide in order to be able to understand and fully enjoy the work of arts of this astonishing site.  The following site shows all the walls paintings.

 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/pinturic/siena/index.html

BELLISSIMA SIENNA

Sienna has many attractions..the large Piazza del Campo where the horse Paleo is run every year is one, and the Duomo is the other.  We honored both: on Piazza del Campo, we drank our most expensive italian cappucino gazing at the crowds and imagining the Palio...12 Euros for 2 cappucinis! During this event, the crowds must be amazing..we were there 10 days before and were surprised to see how full the city was!    As excitement for the Palio builds, it is customary for members of the various contrade to dress in ceremonial garb and parade through the city in the historic centre.

Traditionally, its residents worked as potters;Nicchio's symbol is a crowned scallop shell flanked by two branches of coral. Its colours are blue, with yellow and red trim.  Nicchio is one of only four nobile (noble) contrade; it earned its title for bravery shown during the Battle of Montaperti against Florence in 1260, when its soldiers led the attack. We also went for a stroll and a birra in the contrada of the goose! Oca is situated just to the west of the Piazza del Campo. Traditionally, its residents made dyes. Oca's symbol is a crowned goose wearing around its neck a blue ribbon marked with the cross of Savoy. Its colours are green and white, with red trim.

Oca is one of only four nobile (noble) contrade; it earned its title for its people's bravery during many battles fought by the former Sienese Republic.

The most recent palio win for Oca was in the July 2, 2007 race on Fedora Saura.

As time has gone by, however, the contrade have lost their administrative and military functions and have instead become simply areas of localised patriotism, held together by the emotions and sense of civic pride of the residents. Their roles have broadened so that every important event – baptisms, deaths, marriages, church holidays, victories at the Palio, even wine or food festivals – is celebrated only within one's own contrada.
Every contrada has its own museum, fountain and baptismal font, motto, allied contrada (only Oca has no allies) and adversary contrada, typically a neighbor (only four, Bruco, Drago, Giraffa and Selva, have no declared adversaries). Often the adversary contrade share borders.

When talking to Werner and Ursula about Tuscany, we made a new itinerary...a 7 days itinerary! What ashock to look at our calendar and realize that we had only 4 days left before our trip back to Canada! Time flies when you're having a good time...no need to say, we planned something a little shorter: 2 days in Sienna and 1 1/2 in Lago di Bolsena...112 km north of Rome Fiumicino.

Sienna fascinated us!

Eventhough we knew that all the sites near the adritac sea would be totally overoaded with tourists, we felt that it would be a shame NOT to go to the Adriatic sea for a short visit. Last time we were on the Adriatic coast was 30 years ago...Only problem with Fano is that it closes down completely between 12h30 and 17h30! One has to get used to the "inactivity" period...For this reason, I missed many opportunities to do some shopping...so sad!

Well, Fano is a pretty town..we got there before it closes down...had a quick seafood lunch and checked out the beaches!

Ah! la spiaggia! There is a certain charm to a italian beach in the blazing hot summer sun! Look at those shots.............like this romantic italian workout!

Or this one that evokes a cooking show on Grilling...

The beach chairs are ready for the August influx of Italians...No need to say that we did not stick around and went a bit further down the road for a bit of tranquility...and wyes, we were alone.  The water was a nice 26C and it felt good to be able to swim in the sea!

That night, we came back to Abbadia to host our last evening supper with the remaining guests of Uwe.  Although we had not undertaken any excursion with them, we had had a wonderful time with Werner and Ursula, talking about photography, art, and life............. It was sad to leave but nice to have made such good encounters! Hopefully, we can stay in touch!

 Another excursion in the Marche brings us to Urbino, one of the Italian Renaissance's most celebrated town.
One of its jewels is the imposing Palzzo Ducale built by Federico da Montefelco and his wife Battista Forza. Its construction began in 1465 and was not finished when Battista died at the age of 26 in 1472.  

Another point of interest is the native house of the painter Rafael (born in 1483). This amazing artist has lost his mother at birth and his father when he was 11.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and an architect of the High Renaissance,celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da  Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. No wonder a statue was erected in its memory on a piazza de Urbino. It is an honour for a town to have one of the greatest artist of the Renaissance born within its walls.

 We stayed 7 days at Abbadia di Lastreto. It just was a wonderful place to be, and very inspiring to take photographs.  It is sad to see that the structure of the Abbaye is deteriorating ...Petra has put in an application to buy it from the catholic church but bureaucrats are not very speedy processing her request...hopefully, it will take place soon so that some of this wonderful church can be saved!

It was founded by the Benedictine monks and there are records of its presence around the 11th century. It was rebuilt after an earthquake. 

http://www.lavalledelmetauro.org/standard.php?lingua=it&id_sezione=8&id_sottosezione=10&id_sottosottosezione=&record=8574

EXCURSIONS AROUND L'ABBADIA DE LASTRETO

From our "residence" in the Marche, we explored several towns from this region. The Marche is not yet as touristy as the Toscana and yet, it has treasurable places. With our friends Heinrich and Ulla, we decided to explore Gubbio. At the edge of the Appenine mountains, Gubbio has retained its medieval feel and is some sort of mecca for ceramics.  Heinrich and I have made a first exploration in the shops while Ulla and Heiner were pionneering the medieval alleys!

http://www.thatsarte.com/region/Gubbio

It was great fun to explore with you Ulla and Heinrich! We have not bought ceramics, but still very good memories of Gubbio!

This was quite a feast...Bravo Petra and Uwe! Great teamwork! Deliciozo! The celebration continued until 3 in the morning (no mosquitoes!)....We chatted, we danced, al in all a wonderful birthday celebration!