On Saturday, we set out to see Trevi. It is a lovely little town with a new piazza and an old one. We waited in the new piazza for Lee to park the car and enjoyed basking in the sun. Then we set off up the hill, ostensibly to look for an internet café, and stumbled into San Francesco. They were setting up for a concert that evening. We think this church has been deconsecrated. In any case, we looked around for a few minutes and then they kicked us out. So we kept walking up and found the Church of Saint Emiliano. I’m going to guess this is a Romanesque-era church given the style of walls and the statue of the saint on the outside wall. Inside is very bright, thanks to clear clerestory windows. We took lots of pictures as you can imagine.
When we wandered back down to the old piazza, there was the internet café but it was lunchtime so it was closed. We decided to take ourselves to Montefalco, a town not too far away but not all that easy to get to. Sometimes the road signs in Italy aren’t too clear. We found the car park and climbed up to the town gate. Once inside, we realized it really was lunch time and we were hungry. So we took ourselves to the piazza and had a very nice lunch outside the Hotel Federico II. We did a lot of people watching while we were there. I hate to say it but we picked out the British tourists by their teeth. A school group wandered past us once or twice and some families looking like they were on vacation, too. Must be an Easter holiday?
Montefalco is known for its red wine. As with Brunello in Montalcino, there’s the official Sagrantino di Montefalco and then there’s Rosso di Montefalco. The rosso is excellent. We had the same brand at lunch that we had had the day before in Gubbio. Still good. Since there was also an enoteca at the hotel, we bought some Montefalco wines to bring back with us. We opened a sagrantino yesterday and it, too, is excellent, drier than the rosso - actually, I decided it was too dry for my taste but I was in the minority. Then there is the sagrantino di passito which is a very nice dessert wine, good with cantucci (sort of small biscotti with almonds). And yes, we bought some of that too!
After lunch, we decided to head for Deruta and get the pottery cravings out of the way. We wandered up hill and down dale, over where rivers ought to be but not through the woods and finally found it (actually, it was right where the map said it would be but getting from one road to another was exciting as they didn’t always seem to be where they belonged). The road was lined with ceramic stores so we just picked one, went it and bought all the pieces we had planned to buy. They are being shipped even as I type and will arrive at my house before we do.
And then we decided we had had enough wandering around for one day so we found the SS3, our main highway to everywhere, and headed for home. We had a lazy evening and set an alarm so we could get up early enough to make church in Orvieto Sunday morning. Naturally then, Claire and I didn’t go to sleep until after 2:00.
When we wandered back down to the old piazza, there was the internet café but it was lunchtime so it was closed. We decided to take ourselves to Montefalco, a town not too far away but not all that easy to get to. Sometimes the road signs in Italy aren’t too clear. We found the car park and climbed up to the town gate. Once inside, we realized it really was lunch time and we were hungry. So we took ourselves to the piazza and had a very nice lunch outside the Hotel Federico II. We did a lot of people watching while we were there. I hate to say it but we picked out the British tourists by their teeth. A school group wandered past us once or twice and some families looking like they were on vacation, too. Must be an Easter holiday?
Montefalco is known for its red wine. As with Brunello in Montalcino, there’s the official Sagrantino di Montefalco and then there’s Rosso di Montefalco. The rosso is excellent. We had the same brand at lunch that we had had the day before in Gubbio. Still good. Since there was also an enoteca at the hotel, we bought some Montefalco wines to bring back with us. We opened a sagrantino yesterday and it, too, is excellent, drier than the rosso - actually, I decided it was too dry for my taste but I was in the minority. Then there is the sagrantino di passito which is a very nice dessert wine, good with cantucci (sort of small biscotti with almonds). And yes, we bought some of that too!
After lunch, we decided to head for Deruta and get the pottery cravings out of the way. We wandered up hill and down dale, over where rivers ought to be but not through the woods and finally found it (actually, it was right where the map said it would be but getting from one road to another was exciting as they didn’t always seem to be where they belonged). The road was lined with ceramic stores so we just picked one, went it and bought all the pieces we had planned to buy. They are being shipped even as I type and will arrive at my house before we do.
And then we decided we had had enough wandering around for one day so we found the SS3, our main highway to everywhere, and headed for home. We had a lazy evening and set an alarm so we could get up early enough to make church in Orvieto Sunday morning. Naturally then, Claire and I didn’t go to sleep until after 2:00.
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