Thursday October 27th
Well I lied to you yesterday, we didn’t go back and explore Orvieto further. We did go back, but the fog was so thick you literally couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. Not too many good pictures your going to get in that stuff. We waited around for a while for it to burn off, but it became obvious that it was going to be around for a while. So we had to head out.
As we got closer to Spoleto the fog hadn’t gone anywhere, and I thought we were going to be 0 for 2. But the sun broke through, and we were good to go. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is quite striking with it’s Rose window and byzantine mosaic. But it’s the fact that it is sitting more or less all alone in a fairly large square that caught my attention. Anywhere else and it would have been lined with Cafes. The frescoes inside are considered to be the possible inspiration for the Sistine Chapel. We couldn’t get inside, and I’ve never been to the Sistine Chapel, so I’ll have to let you decide for yourself. The Rocca Albornoz castle sits solemnly watching over the town, and the Roman theater is in exceptional condition.
Montefalco is called the “Balcony of Umbria” and it’s Piazza della Repubblica is supposed to have a tremendous view over the Umbrian countryside. However, as we approached we saw that the views today were going to be of the white clouds in front of your face. Our schedule is always fairly tight, so we couldn’t afford to sit around and wait for it to clear up. So we had to leave Montefalco behind.
Assisi isn’t really off the beaten path, as many people already know about it. Even more people know of St. Francis of Assisi. He is more or less the reason that this town is so popular. Then there is Santa Chiara (Clare) who is his female counterpart. Assisi has obviously benefitted from their popularity, and is one of the cleanest and most well kept towns we’ve been in. There are a number of lovely little squares to people watch in, and lanes to stroll down. Even if you aren’t especially religious it’s still pretty cool to see the tomb of St. Francis, and Santa Chiara, as well as the very baptismal font where they were both baptized. The fog we had tried to avoid started to roll in as the sun was setting and it was truly beautiful. The lower parts of most of the buildings were covered, and then the sun gave a special hue to the tops. It was really nice. It was also the signal for us to get on down the road.
Leaving Umbria and heading to the ultra famous Tuscany, we pointed in the direction of a tiny little town called Montisi. It’s about an hours drive Southeast of Siena. It’s certainly not a regular stop on the tourist map, but it’s becoming a big stop for the vacation home searchers. They have opened themselves up to this, and even have English movie night every Friday at the cinema. There are only 2 restaurants, one of which belongs to the man that owns the only hotel in town, the same man that we were staying with for the evening. La locanda di Montisi www.lalocandadimontisi.it is a lovely little place that sits right in the middle of the town. The room was large, the bathroom larger still, and a very pleasant overall decorating style. Exit La locanda and turn right, walk down the street for 100 meters, and you’ll find the restaurant “Da Roberto.” Roberto does it up right, and that’s all there is to it. I especially liked watching him open wine bottles for the various tables. He always poured himself a little glass to make sure it was up to snuff. Not something I would think to do when I was a waiter. I had the traditional local dish called “Tagliata” which was perfectly cooked. The prices were more than reasonable, in fact in Tuscany where everything is rising way out of control, La locanda is down right cheap. Considering the fact that an hour’s drive or train ride can get you to Siena, Florence, and the like, I’d say Montisi would make an excellent headquarters. Save a ton on your lodging and treat yourself to a $45 piece of “Fiorentina” steak.

1 Comments:

Blogger sarainitaly said...

These pictures are gorgeous!

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