TDudette

Continued WOWs.

whitehall

Thanks again. It helps that my wife and I take lots of IPhone photos (to help with memory), and the Fodors software makes it easy to share them.

kleeblatt

indeed.
I might use this as a reading assignment for my ESL adult students.

whitehall

kleeblatt Thank you for that. I hope that doesn't mean that I have to write in full sentences. One of my many careers included doing some TV news, and I learned to write conversationally, and that often finds its way into things I do now.

whitehall

We started the morning in Spello directly across from our apartment at this little “bar", largely a coffee shop with light lunches. (And it started after the trash was collected)




It is easy to miss the fact that this in-town place has a “secret garden” out back, perfect for those preferring outdoor seating during Covid. A spectacular and unusual addition to this little coffee shop.



Trevi



Twenty-one years ago, when we made our first trip to Italy, our train from Florence to Spoleto passed very close to Trevi, the perfect looking hill town from the window. We took videos, and, although we didn’t get there, I often dreamed of Trevi, perusing many real estate ads over the years. As a symbol of my quick fascination with hill towns, I briefly owned the web domain: italyhilltowns.com. Having 10 or 12 careers in my life, why not do the ultimate coffee table book on these towns or perhaps create a travel company focused on these places. Little did I realize at the time, it would take a lifetime to cover even some of the hundreds of such places (maybe more since they say there are 2400 ghost towns in Italy). One of our sons heard me talk so much about Trevi, he stopped there four years ago, and reported back that “there isn’t much there.”

Perhaps to prove him wrong and keep my dream alive, we looked at staying in Trevi instead of Spello but couldn’t find the right place.



View from Trevi



Spello is located midway between Assisi (to the north) and Trevi (to the south). We saw an online listing of weekly markets, and it said that today was the day for Trevi, and we needed to stock up our apartment with fruits and veggies. A perfect day to prove my son wrong.

First, upon arrival, things looked very quiet, a bit different from the tourist crowds in Spello. Then, we were told market day was the next day. A few people were having coffee in the main square. We walked nearly every beautiful street, hoping to find something magical. Anything. But, no, my son was right. There simply wasn’t much here.


Main square in Trevi



Typical street in Trevi



I felt disappointed that I even felt this way as we walked this beautifully restored medieval village.

In fairness to fans of Trevi, there are events during the year including a Palio and even a "celery and sausage" festival. And, although things were closed up, there is reportedly an olive oil museum and churches with the usual unbelievable art. But that eluded us this day.

There is a beautiful old theatre building that got our interest, but, like most of them in Italy, it was all locked up.




We had planned to spend the day in Trevi, but it was time to move on, so we quickly picked two towns we visited in the year 2000.



Montefalco



Montefalco

First stop: Montefalco, which is known for its wines, and we decided to try some for lunch. We elected to eat on a porch of a funky looking restaurant, and when we went inside to pay, we realized how much we were missing out on, due to Covid. Most of us are eating on decks, porches, and even in alleyways, while some of the prettiest, and, in this case, most interesting, restaurant interiors are steps away (and empty).





As shown above, there are spectacular views from Montefalco back to our temporary home on Mt. Subasio. It is a small village, easy to navigate most of the streets, and the several view spots. After lunch we had a gelato, and were happy to wait five minutes while they switched out all the old stuff with new. We would have preferred knowing they made it out back, but their delivery clearly came from a good manufacturer. We can usually tell by the dull colors (good) vs. the bright green, and even blue, colors (awful).


Main square Montefalco

We have a photo sharing album of each of our trips with family members, and one of the most commented ones by our grandchildren was the one of the body of a Spanish wayfarer behind glass on a side altar at an old church. The story we shared was that this man, a pilgrim, was taken in by friars hundreds of years ago and during the night returned to the church, where he was found dead next to a confessional. He was buried in a sepulchre, but somehow his body got out. They buried him again, only to find his body out again. The third time, they placed him in the bell tower for a hundred years, but his body did not de-compose. And, there he is with his original clothes, still in decent shape for his age.


Next stop: Todi.



Todi

All around Montefalco, there were grapevines loaded with grapes. And, we even stopped along the road and picked a few handfuls of very sweet blackberries.




There are several ways to access Todi. We took the little automated funicular, all by ourselves going up. And, there were some buttons we had to push.



Funicular Todi

A bigger town than Montefalco, there are many more shops and larger squares and churches in Todi.



Main Square Todi

We walked so many streets, we soon found ourselves at the lowest part. Just outside the walls of the town is the magnificent Santa Maria della Consolazione that attracts pilgrims who want to see an icon of the Madonna on its altar. Legend has it that a construction worked, blind in one eye, rubbed that eye with a cloth he had used to clean the Madonna, and, of course, had his sight restored. We returned to the town center, walking uphill and on stairs through beautiful park-like surroundings.


Santa Maria della Consolazione, Todi



Path back to town

We visited several churches that, although old, were fairly simple in design and decoration.,








We normally would deny this, but our photos suggest we had a second gelato in two towns, but this one was definitely “piccolo” (small) cones with no “panna” (whipped cream).




Back to Spello for a light snack and some wine at home. We did takeout at a little panini place our son frequented when staying here. We had one with a simple tomato, cheese, arugula and sautéed pepper combination. The proprietor apologized for the 10-minute wait while she rolled the dough and cooked the bread. Nice.

yestravel

Fabulous TR! thanks for taking the time to write this. We are planning somewhere in Italy next fall so reading your TR will help us pick places to visit. Did you give a site for your Rome apt?

TDudette

What yestravel wrote.

millie2112

I am so loving this trip report. Photos are wonderful.

Adelaidean

Me too, so nice to read about Italy!

whitehall

There is a gas station/garage at the base of Spello that every morning puts out this beautiful pink VW bus, presumably to get attention for their business. It got our attention every day, so we wanted to share it.



Trevi

We missed the weekly market in Spello, so we decided to head back to Trevi for their market. And, I still can’t get enough of what a good looking hill town it is. Therefore another photo, this one from our second visit there.



Trevi weekly market

The market was much smaller than we expected. One of the two produce companies there even had their truck wrapped with a Trevi photo. We appreciated the quality of the fruits and veggies and split our business between the two vendors. All items were fresh, and we especially enjoyed the juicy and sweet peaches. Often by September in the US, it gets risky to buy peaches that often are mealy. The produce cost about half or less the amount of comparable items at home. We looked at the couple of other vendors and don’t see how this sparsely attended market was worth their while.

We did notice a couple of olive oil retail stores in the otherwise quiet central square. We tried to communicate with the proprietor of one. He was very proud of his oil, speaking only Italian but showing us photos of his family and his farm where it is produced. We considered ordering some oil to be shipped in the late Fall after the harvest, since EVO loses its health benefits after 12-18 months. We noticed his inventory had 2019-2020 harvest dates, which suggested that the oil might be from two seasons ago, but he did not provide any explanation we could understand. He just repeated that his oil and Trevi were "numero uno."

We were anxious to get our market food home and cook our first dinner at home. But we needed to go somewhere new and picked Bevagna, only 15 minutes from Spello.


Vineyard

On the way to Bevagna, we passed several vineyards, including one that looked nice enough to photograph. Although we only recently noticed we had taken this photo, we did not realize that, based on an unrelated recommendation later in our trip, we would do a wine tasting there in a couple of weeks with our daughter from Florida. We also did not know at that point that we would be seeing our daughter in the next week.

Bevagna
Bevagna


Bevagna has a history with the Romans that pre-dates Christ. When the Romans became an established power in Umbria, Bevagna was an important link to the area’s agricultural interests. And, it is still surrounded by large farms with lots of olive trees and grapevines. Even on the edge of the walled town, there are signs of farming.




As we understood, the current medieval village is on top of the remnants of an extensive Roman city including an amphitheater. Bevagna is not a hill town but it is a walled village that is a favorite with many Umbrians. Several times when we met people they recommended we visit Bevagna. Our attention first went to a little fresh pasta shop.




In other areas of Italy, we have found shops that make and sell pastas, sauces, pestos, and it makes for a nice and easy Italian dinner at home. The young lady behind the counter embraced our business and offered us lemon ravioli (always a favorite for us) and a thicker pasta to try that she said was a local favorite. We also went across the street to a nice looking butcher shop and purchased some homemade pesto.




There were other merchants in this town worth noting. Of particular interest was a nice shop that served as a cashmere outlet for a local business. This room was what seemed to be the manufacturing part of this business, which had a nice retail area in the next room. We wondered if all their beautiful sweaters could be made on this tiny weaving machine. Or maybe this was like the rug sellers we have encountered in Tunisia and Turkey who show someone hand weaving rugs when they are actually selling machine created ones. Only kidding. We are certain this is a very reputable business, probably manufacturing their cashmere in a different spot. We fully realized that they need a fair amount of manufacturing capacity when, later in Rome, we came across another Bevagna cashmere outlet, full of beautiful sweaters. (My wife purchased some beautiful rings from a newer jeweler in Spello, with beautiful low and moderate priced goods, that she said her daughter manufactured in Bevagna).



Dinner was all set for later at home. But for lunch, near one of the town gates, we had a lycopene overload, with pizza and a tomato salad.


Speed Camera

We headed home to create our first at-home menu from our shopping. On the way, we noticed a number of Autovelox speed cameras and read that Italy has 8,000 of them (compared to only 2400 in all of France). The average speeding fine on motorways in Italy is 143E, but that is puny compared to the 711E in Norway. Speed limits change a lot but mostly seem reasonable, except on motorways in construction zones, and there were a lot of them in Umbria. In these zones, traffic often was routed into one lane with the regular limits of 90-110 kph dropping to 40 kph (that is 25 mph, which is ridiculous for sometimes miles of highway driving). And, unless you want to be responsible for a major traffic tie-up, you need to go at least 70 kph in these zones (and still keeping most drivers behind you frustrated). We may have to wait and see, a year or two from now from the past experience of many, if these speeds result in any tickets. If so, every car on the road should get one, maybe a dozen for each of us per day.


And then, from today's shopping, our simple but quick dinner. Veggies that you often don’t find on Italian restaurant menus and that thicker pasta with pesto.

whitehall

yestravel We booked our Rome apartment on airbnb. It was a studio (fairly small), which has a kitchen that we prefer when we travel. We normally try to hit a daily lodging budget of $100, but this one was closer to $120 with all taxes and fees.Its best attribute was its location. To give you an idea of location, walking distances are: 5 minutes to Rome's best (our bias) pizza (Pizzeria di Baffetto), 10 minutes to Piazza Navona or Castel Sant Angelo, and 12 minutes to Vatican City. Private message me if you want the airbnb link.

Adelaidean Thank you.

whitehall

Day 6: Spello Day



Our apartment Spello

We decided to relax a bit on this Saturday. We took some photos in our neighborhood, including the outside of our apartment (the two floors above the ladies clothing store).


We watched locals (most who were not invited) crowd near a church and another group outside city hall as two weddings grabbed their attention.




We missed playing tennis, something we try to do twice a week at home. On google earth, we saw what looked like a tennis court down below Spello village. We walked down there and found a soccer practice field and what looked like an ice rink behind it. No tennis court.



Spello Station

Our daughter, who has joined us on many prior trips and is getting married in November, called us on Face Time and told us she planned to come to Italy the following week for 5-6 days. She is a great travel companion and would synch perfectly with whatever we might do in our unplanned time here. And, our apartment came with an unused second bedroom. So, we timed a walk to the Spello train station since we planned to go by rail to Rome and meet her. The station was an easy 15 minute walk from our apartment, so we decided we did not need to bring a car to the train station. We also noticed that the station was closed as a result of Covid, and that tickets needed to be purchased online or in a machine on the platform. As we traveled, this seemed true of most rail stations except the largest ones. Even the bigger ones had some shops and restaurants closed.




We hadn’t seen any local police, although there was a sign for a local police station in the village. On the way back from the railroad, we watched two officers set up their car at a busy intersection leading into Spello. We stood and watched them meticulously and slowly put on bulletproof vests and then their gloves, and then set up a computer and got it up and running, in their hatchback area. One strapped a long gun over his shoulder. Eventually, they raised their paddle to a passing car, presumably for a random document check. We walked around the corner, and it seems only a few minutes later, the officers were cruising by. Law enforcement Italian style.

Adelaidean

I prefer staying in apartments, too, as your home cooked meals remind me.
Visiting a market and preparing dinner seems much more fun when I’m in Europe!
I’ve enjoyed seeing all those towns, we stayed in Volterra for 2 nights and it was wonderful.

whitehall

In 2007, we stayed two weeks in Tuscany, one of them in Volterra. We loved how active the town was in the evening, including a lot of young people. There was a coffee shop where we got a pastry every morning and, after a couple days, they treated us like regulars. We remember one morning when the door to the back room was opened and a man, rolling pin in hand and covered in flour, gave us a surprised look. Our kind of baked goods!

whitehall

Spoleto

Mom and Dad rented a villa outside Spoleto in 2000, and we joined them there for a few days. We tried unsuccessfully to find that villa, but we returned to the castle that looms above the large village. The last time we were there, our family arrived at the end of the day and got what turned out to be a private tour, with two tour guides, of this massive fortress that was home to Popes, and the legendary and controversial Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of a Pope. The castle in the 1800’s up to the 1970’s also served as a prison, and there was lots of graffiti left by prisoners.

We recall our family being brought to the castle in a small mini-bus, but today there is an extensive underground area full of displays, elevators and long stairways that bring you to exterior areas of the castle. The views from the castle ramparts are exceptional.



Spoleto Castle


The castle property is connected to a dramatic old Roman aqueduct, rebuilt with a bridge in Medieval times. The bridge, said to be the highest ancient bridge in Europe, is currently closed for safety reasons after suffering some damage from the 2016 earthquake..


Aqueduct

In the early part of this latest trip, our Covid anxiety had largely kept us from going inside buildings including museums. We had gone inside a few churches, and added the duomo in Spoleto. It was Sunday and, shortly after our arrival, they were scooting tourists from some of the more interesting areas.



Spoleto Duomo

Our prior Umbria visit was quick, and we didn’t get a chance to explore much of the old town in Spoleto, so our goal this day was to walk the many streets and squares and window shop. Although tourism most of the year is less here than in some of the much smaller towns, there is an elegance with many of the shops here. The city does get packed in summer for its internationally famous music, theatre and dance “Two World Festival.”


Spoleto

As part of our scaled back week-end, we decided to head back in the direction of Spello, with one more stop. Foligno is the closest large city to Spello, parts of it only 5 minutes away by car. It is even larger city than Spoleto but also much less touristy. And, on a Sunday, it was like a ghost town And, frankly, although we saw many of its streets and large squares, our visit did not do it justice. (It also has two Lidl supermarkets and allowed us a stop to pick up a few more grocery items.)


Foligno

We found a massive, but nearly empty, parking lot and had to cross a small water canal to enter the city. This area had numerous large bars along the canal, and it looked like a lively nighttime place.


We noticed flags, lots of them, on many of the streets in the city. Different colors, apparently representing the different districts in the city.


There are many impressive buildings and several major squares. On this Sunday, this is where you find most of the few restaurants that were open but all were busy.


The cutest place was this bicycle themed restaurant with a typical Umbrian menu, but there were no available outside seats.



As with much of Italy, aside from the many cathedrals and other impressive churches, sometimes you find a church behind a fairly non-descript facade. A church we once attended had an African priest, who combined chants from Africa with sounds more familiar to us. From the street, we heard something similar, and took a peek to find not only an African Mass but a church full of beautiful marble, artwork and sculptures.



And, as with most Italian towns, there were quirky things like this board for lost gloves. And the Olympic Rings? Perhaps a salute to a silver medalist in fencing at the 2019 Olympics. He was born in Foligno.



We decided to eat at home, but had a gelato appetizer.




And, that parking lot where we left our car. It was a gated lot that offered free parking on Sundays. When we got back there, two other Italian families were unsuccessful in getting the gate to open. So, we were locked in. All of us tried to make a payment, with cash and with credit cards, but the machine would not accept them. Thankfully, one of the locals managed to reach someone by phone and the gate opened, and they signaled for us to drive quickly behind them, apparently fearing the gate would close again.

Next up is Monday. Looks like a beautiful day. Time to check out that mountain behind us in Spello.

TDudette

Continued thanks for a wonderful TR and photos, whitehall. We based in Spoleto before the earthquake. I'm grateful that we had the chance to walk on the aquaduct. That such structures were built pre- power tools is striking indeed. Your market meal was so pretty. I'm looking forward to the rest of this TR.

whitehall

Spoleto is a wonderful city, one we also seriously considered as our base. Before this trip report is finished, we will return two more times for lunch. It has a nice feel, without the tourists.

TDudette

In Spoleto, we stayed at Hotel Clitunno,

http://www.hotelclitunno.com/

and had some wonderful dinners there. I don't know if they served lunch though.

Adelaidean

Am having a very enjoyable morning coffee travelling with you, many thanks!

whitehall

There are two ways to go to Assisi, the first town north of Spello. Drive 15 minutes or so on the motorway or drive over Mt. Subasio. The second choice seemed like the scenic alternative (a huge under-statement). And, as it turned out a rather challengng route.


Spello

Both Spello and Assisi are placed on the lower side of the mountain, which reaches a height of 4,200 feet above sea level. Much of the mountain is part of a national park. Our drive up started out on a rural road running through olive trees, and soon we were well above Spello.




There are a few private homes off the lower portions of what turns into a gravel road. We didn’t see anyone, but there are signs of logging operations. The higher we got, the narrower the road, and one that is in bad shape. Lots of pot holes and signs of some washouts. And, the gravel includes many large and sharp pieces of rock.




We are glad we leased our car; that makes us in essence the owner and subject to fewer restrictions. If this were a simple car rental, typically we would be prohibited from driving on a gravel road. But we mused about making that call to Renault to get roadside service in case of a flat tire.




It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny (like most days on this trip), and we expected that this would be a perfect day in the mountains and park. So, we were surprised not to see any other cars, coming or going. None.




Near the top, we got a glimpse of a paraglider. We also passed what looked like a newer lodge-style building that appeared to be abandoned or possibly closed.



At this point, we were above the tree line and saw acres and acres of fields. And the views simply were the best we have seen in Umbria.




To our right were a bunch of horses (we aren’t sure who owns them; we have seen them described as “semi-wild” whatever than means). These horses may not be wild, but they are free range. The few fences are all open. Most of the horses ignored us, except for one in the pack, who had a bell jingling around his neck, and he quickly trotted toward us. And, even startled my wife when he tried to stick his head into our open window. Just checking us out, it seemed.




After a short distance, we came upon a sizable empty parking area, with a wide expanse of open fields on both sides of the road, from where we could see a monument that presumably marked the top of the mountain.






And, there were two women standing near the monument. There was no path to the top as such; you simply walk through the field, trying to avoid ample amounts of doo-doo. The two women were hikers from Germany, explaining why we didn’t see their car. The top of the mountain had a stone monument and several placards indicating other mountains you can see in the distance.

This is a large mountain, but we didn’t see signs of any quarrying, although we have read that pink rocks from this mountain were used in the construction of many landmarks in Assisi, including the prominent castle.




As we returned to our car, we saw a couple on a motorcycle come up the road from Assisi and head into the fields. It still seemed odd that not one car had come up the mountain from the much busier town of Assisi.




We did pass another open pasture full of cows. We had seen lots and lots of cow patties and horse dung when walking in the fields near the top; it was difficult to avoid.



As we headed down, we got our answer why there were no other cars on this day of superb weather, in the form of another group of horses blocking the road. They were hemmed in on the one side by a fence and the other by a steep drop off. without much room for them to get out of the way. We honked and honked and edged toward them a few inches at a time. Eventually, we managed a narrow passage alongside them. We stopped at a lower parking area used by paragliders, who hike from there to their launch site. From there, we watched two cars try to ascend the mountain, only to be turned away by those horses.

Once we reached the village, we remembered that parking has always been tight in Assisi, but we found a nearby parking garage.


Assisi

We visited Assisi on our first trip to Umbria with a focus that time on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare, touring the woodlands area outside of town where Francis lived and prayed in a cave and visiting two spectacular churches built to honor those saints at opposite ends of the town.



Although we visited the Basilica of St. Francis again this time, our focus was on the town itself and the castle perched above the town. The last time we were at the Basilica, it was three years after the 1997 earthquake that killed 11 people, including two friars and two government inspectors in the church when the vaulted ceiling with Giotto frescoes came crashing down. In 2000, we watched a crew still going through rubble in a painstaking effort to replace tiny tiles that provided art behind the altar, but the many missing pieces are evident today. We were surprised at how few people were at the rambling Basilica complex on this day, and, in fact, there were only a handful of people in the upper church when we were there.




At the opposite end of town is another Basilica to Saint Clare, a founder like St. Francis of a major religious order, and his follower and friend. We skipped it this time because of a long line that seemed to be Covid related. Although museums were supposed to see green passes, churches are exempt, except perhaps when they have separate museum facilities within.



The town has always been a major tourist destination, perhaps number one in Umbria. It is a pilgrimage site for Catholics and others. Members of religious orders flock here. And, churches from all over the world sponsor bus trips to this city.



The town was relatively busy. Not with the large numbers of bus trips we remember in the past. And, even here, at the end of August, we didn’t notice any other Americans, who often are in great numbers.


As a significant tourist destination, Assisi had a few street buskers including a great St. Francis "statue", with his trusted dog, and a street artist.




The Italian military has a presence at many popular tourist sites in Italy, most notably all over Rome. These two guys, with their long guns, were the first ones we saw in rural Umbria.



While Deruta is the center of ceramics in Umbria, and Italy for that matter, Assisi has it share of shops selling ceramics. One merchant explained that they are busier here than in Deruta, where most ceramics are made, based on the sheer number of tourists. One shopkeeper showed us how ceramic plates are hand painted, but, having already driven through Deruta and seen many large industrial buildings for ceramic manufacturing, we were skeptical that anyone is hand painting anything.



We wanted a pizza for lunch but preferred an out of the way place and found Las Lanterna on a secluded street. We convinced ourselves that a little salad, some fresh firm broccoli, and arugula on the pizza would offset the cheese and the gelato on a stick dessert.





The castle overlooking the village, or Rocca Maggiore, was the first place that required us to show a green pass, or, in our case, our CDC vaccination record. The castle is in great shape, and the views from there are awesome. Worth the visit.



On the way home, we made a quick walking tour of nearby Cannara. It is a town well known for its onion production and onion festival. Much like the Georgia Vidalia onion, their sweet onions require a specific soil type that is unique to this area. It is a protected product in Italy.

Like many places in Umbria, Cannara claims a connection to St. Francis, this one an important one, and we didn’t find it. It is a shrine claiming a spot where the saint preached and talk to the birds, one of the most famous images of him. We were told a similar story when we visited the woodland Assisi park years ago. Perhaps St. Francis repeated his best sermons, or just that, after 900 years, people in this region are showing pride in someone with his well-known values and love of ecology and animals.

Again not much in Cannara, and the only activity we saw was a painter in his studio and a group waiting, all with papers in hand, for the pharmacy to open in 10 minutes (and we side-stepped them in case they were waiting for Covid tests).