Orte

This small town which we visited on our way from Rome to our first hotel isn't mentioned in the Lonely Planet book on Tuscany and Umbria, but it was an ideal introduction to the area. It is perched on a volcanic "plug" so provides excellent vistas like many we would see in the coming days. We were tired from the trip and little sleep so a very small town was perfect. After being impressed by the remains of the Roman aqueduct and a brief geology lesson, we walked up into the town, found our way to a small restaurant and had a nice relaxing lunch - then back to the bus and on to our first hotel.
Time for photos was brief but there was time to capture the view from the road we walked up to get to the town, the town square with it's chain fence and a few other narrow streets and adjacent buildings.
Of my collection of doors (see Doors and other portals)the one I like most is here in Orte.

R

Volterra

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Also, see Day 4 notes and photos from September 18, 2007.

Volterra (pop 11,000) was established by the Etruscans as Velathri, an active trading centre, which was absorbed into the Roman confederation in around 260BC when its name was changed to Volterra. In mid 1300's it was taken under the control of Florence during the continuing battles between Florence and Siena for dominance in the region. The baptistery shows characteristics of both Florentine (pro-Pope Guelf) and Siennese (pro empire Ghibelline)architecture.
Since Etruscan times (Etruscans were well established in this area as early as 800BC)the town has been a centre of alabaster extraction and workmanship. Though the quarries were relatively inactive in the middle ages, they were revived in the renaissance period when the stone became popular again. All manner of alabaster items are available in the shops..
One of Italy's finest Etruscan museums is here in Volterra, Museo Ettrusco Guarnacci.
Just outside the walls are the remains of a Roman theatre and there is an active archeological site near the Roman fort, now a prison.
Rich

Map of Tuscany and Umbria

Should have included a map earlier but this should help locate the places mentioned in the recent postings.
All the places we visited are identified on the map - the ones referred to in recent postings are in large dark print - the ones not yet posted or mentioned since October are in white. For a larger image, click on the map.
R

San Gimignano

This is one of my favorite places - the town of fine towers. The towers, though plain, were once a sign of wealth and power, higher signifying more of each. At one point, apparently, the town administration passed a law limiting the height of each tower. One wealthy citizen, determined to demonstrate the level of his wealth circumvented the law by building two towers each reaching the maximum allowable height.
If you have seen the movie, "Tea with Mussolini" you may recognize that quite a bit of it took place in San Gimignano.

R

Pienza

Pienza (pop 2200) example of early renaissance town planning initiated by Pope Pius 2 when he decided to "upgrade" his home town. (These blog entries contain some repetition from entries in October postings - sorry about that.) He commissioned the building of a cathedral and a "palace" for his own use - the Palazzo Piccolomini - on two sides of the town Piazza Pio II. There was little space for the architect to use and the Pope was in a hurry, all of which seems to have contributed to inadequate structural support for the cathedral as the transept and apse are now sinking producing large cracks throughout the front of the church.
There are three collections of photos here (one outside and one inside the cathedral and palazzo) and a third of photos from in Pienza and some views from the overlook areas.
R

Abbeys San Galgano and Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Abbey San Galgano, it is said, was once one of the finest 13th century Gothic buildings in Tuscany. Nearby is the Capella di Monte, the site of the original Cistercian settlement from which came the impulse to build the great Abbey now named in honor of San Galgano. San Galgano was a soldier come saint, who, allegedly, had a vision of St. Michael on this site. In renouncing his worldly life, he apparently plunged his sword into a rock and rock with embedded sword remain there on display. The Abbey, though originally home to quite powerful monks, had a relatively short life span and has been in ruins since the 16th century.

Abbey Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a 14th century renaissance structure with a baroque interior. One interior wall is lined with frescoes illustrating events in the life of St. Benedict whose philosophy, some say, is the basis for the philosophy of the Benedictine monks. This Abbey is still a retreat for 40 monks whose dining area is shown in the photo top right.

R

The Abbey Sant Antimo in Tuscany

Three collections of photos from Abbey Sant Antimo, one set outside the Abbey and one inside. The third group of photos shows the variety of fascinating small sculpted figures which are in place in many areas around the outside of the Abbey buildings. If you look closely at one of the earlier Sant Antimo figures you might see a couple of these in place.

Many of these sculptures were brought here from ruins in the region - examples of medieval recycling!


This is an active Abbey and if one arrives early enough in the morning it is possible to hear the monks singing Gregorian Chant. Unfortunately, we didn't get there in time.
R

Gates to Hilltowns of Tuscany and Umbria

This is a collection of photos of gates into the walled towns of (top left to right) San Gimignano (2), Monte Oliveto Maggiore, (left centre) Montefalco, (bottom, left to right) Volterra, Assisi and Pienza. Click on the image to enlarge it.
R

Doors and other portals Tuscany and Umbria

Collages of doors and other portals in Tuscany and Umbria.
R

Scenes from Tuscany and Umbria

Octoberr 2, 2007

Well, we are now home in Dundas, catching up on things here, culling through the mail, doing laundry and reminiscing while we review our photos from Italy.

And, because we are no longer in Italy doesn’t mean the blog ends. There is still much to say and show, even if it is just “for the record”.

The blog space is very restricted for photographs for each posting, so until I set up a web site, this blog is a reasonable place to show some more photos of the trip, even if no one views them.

One of the things the camera doesn’t do well (or at least I have so far been unable to be very successful) is to do justice to the wonderful scenery we found in virtually all of the places we visited and along the way to these places.

But I think it is still worth showing some selected “scene” pictures, which is what I have done in this posting. In order to post them they need to be much reduced in size and resolution so they are less impressive here than the unaltered version is on my screen. Even so, I think some are quite attractive.

I think if you click on the photos you will see a slightly larger version.

I don’t think it really matters where each of these photos was taken but, for the record, the order is as follows:
San Gimignano
Monteregionni
Pienza
Todi
Orvieto

Last post from Italy

September 27, 2007

I am several days behind in writing about our trips and as we leave our current home in Citta Della Pieve tomorrow to go to Rome, this may be my last opportunity to post anything on the blog.

I am going to do a brief summary of highlights so the text will be longer than the others.

First, just a note about “hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria” - the name of our trip. We have visited about 17 hilltowns but there appear to be a great many more of them that we can see when we are driving to our various sites - relatively small (populations of 2,000 to 20,000 plus) medieval towns perched on the top of hills or volcano “plugs”, often right to the edge of a sharp drop (e.g. in the town of Oriveto, they have been losing some of the edges of the city over the decades and continue to work on ways to prevent this problem). The reasons for building on these hilltops apparently was for defensive purposes (there were constant battles between these towns and the major areas like Florence and Siena, for political/religious reasons) but also the lower areas were swampy breeding places for mosquitos, a serious source of disease like malaria and deemed poor places to live.

We have been here just under two weeks and in that time we have visited a lot of places (sometimes 2 a day, or even 3, visiting multiple buildings, frequently churches, in each place - a total so far of 17 locations) so places and events begin to blur together. Writing these notes for the blog helps me retain some information about some of them.

Since our day spent poking around Assisi, which I referred to in the last posting, we have visited the following places:

TODI- This is a town of 17,000 people where the pace of life is relaxed. - like many of these towns, they take a 3 hour break in the middle of the day, usually from 1pm to 3:30 or 4:00 when the stores are closed, except for the Gelaterias (ice cream sellers).

The highlight for me here was an elegant church just outside the walls of the town - Tempio di Santa Maria dela Consolazionie. It was designed in 1508 and completed about 100 years later - said to have been a potential model for St. Peter’s in Rome. It is considered by some to one of the top Renaissance architectural masterpieces, and it I can certainly see why. It’s footprint is like a Greek cross - nave and transept of equal length - so the major dome is in the center. It is one of the geometrically “perfect” architectural structures of the early Renaissance period in this part of what is now Italy. This an beautiful building both inside and out. A photo of it is included.

URBINO - Just outside the region of Umbria, which is where most of the recent locations are, Urbino is the location of a spectacular “palace” - likely the most spectacular in Italy. There is much to tell about the Duke - Federico something - who was the person who built this place of large and small rooms too numerous to count and often too beautiful to describe, a place which apparently once functioned as a household. Following in his father’s footsteps, he accumulated a great deal of wealth through various means, and used his wealth to not only build this amazing mansion but to improve the lives of the people in Urbino and Gubbio whom he governed, by creating and providing the resources for universal education and health care, among other social initiatives. No photos allowed inside, but I have included a couple of pictures of the outside.

GUBBIO - Though there is much here to see, the highlight was the town market, especially the enormous cheeses with their delicious aroma. In the building above the market the old loggia (open space usually at the top of a building) which in this case were apparently used by the wool producers - here they used to process the wool through all stages of production. Loggia in other buildings are open places on the upper floors where people seek refuge from the heat.

MONTEFALCO - Actually the highlight of this day was near Montefalco at a lovely vineyard called Scacciadiavoli. We were treated to a tour of this winery by a delightful woman (Alberta) and older man (Pualo) - they were warm, welcoming and hilarious, constantly disagreeing (in Italian and in good fun) about the content of the description of the history and operation of the winery. The tour was followed by sampling of the several wines they produce along with a delicious 4 course lunch! I have included a photo of one of the wine maturing areas.

LUGNANO in Tevernina and NARNI - for me the highlight of these two places (both with lots to impress) was a beautiful small 12th century church of Sta Maria Assunta in Lugnano. A bit ornate outside with lots of detailed sculture and a simple interior - makes one feel relaxed after the magnititude and busy interior walls of most of the larger churches and cathedrals. I have include a picture of the inside of this church (inside pictures will be a bit blurry as I did’t use flash - taking pictures inside a church is usually forbidden).

Lots to see in Narni as well and to point out that this is the town which C.S. Lewis apparently loved and where he found the inspiration for his Narnia series.

ORVIETO - a mediaval town (of about 21,000 folks) perched precariously on the plug of an old volcano. Another wonderful place - just when we think we’ve seen the best, we come across something that seems even more impressive. (Mary, our guide, is a master of superlatives, but this entire experience begins to make me appreciate why she is.) Again, lots to say about this place, but the overwhelming highlight is the incredible cathedral. Its origin stemmed from a priest who was passing through a town near Olivieto and had his doubts about the notion of transubstantiation dispelled when blood dripped from the host. The pope promptly declared it a miracle and caused the cathedral design and building to begin. The cathedral started in 1290 as a Romanesque church but during the years of building incorporated much of the emerging Renaissance style.

We had to walk up quite a long street to enter the town and when we turned the corner we were “blown away” by this towering spectacular structure. As usual the photos don’t do it justice either inside or out but they are all we have, so I will include at least one picture of the front and side and, if possible, one of the beautiful alabaster windows. Note the striped pattern on the side which is seen throughout this church as well as in cathedrals in other places, such as Siena.

Our flight from Paris is scheduled to arrive in Toronto about 1 pm on Saturday - back to reality.

Day 7 - Assisi

Day 7, September 21, 2007

Assisi - where to begin?

An amazing hilltop city in Umbria - population about 25,000, with millions of visitors making it the most crowded place in Umbria, they say, and it certainly seemed like it could be. This place thrives on being the home of St. Francis of Assisi.

None of what I can say here can come even close to describing the magnitude and impact of this this city, but I will try to give some impression.

When you are approaching it, from a distance it looks quite white, more than any of the other places we have visited. That is because many of the buildings are built of a combination of white and pink stone. It is a very imposing place looking from below and it becomes more impressive as you wind your way up the hairpin turns to the top where the city sits.

This is the city of San Francesco and the huge Basicila in which his “relics” are housed is overwhelming. It dominates the east end of the city and consists of three levels. It is built on a hill (hell hill) where criminals were executed in the 13th century - Francis, who died in 1226 at the age of 44, had asked that he be buried there. He had made quite a reputation by the time he died such that construction on the Basilica began within a couple of years and the Pope came to lay the first cornerstone. For political reasons (apparently there was a long standing Roman belief that God was on the side of whoever was in possession of the body of a holy person) his body was hidden immediately, and hidden so well under the church that that it wasn’t found until about 1814. When originally built the Basilica consisted of two levels, the lower built between 1428 and 1430 and upper between 1230 and 1253. When his body was discovered in about 1814, they excavated under the lower church to establish a proper reliquary which is dark and mysterious, creating a sense of awe even for someone who is not a believer.

The upper churches are wall to wall and floor to ceiling frescoes which tell stories of Francis as well as Christ and all the other players. As the story tellers of their day these fresco artists, through their work, created what has been labelled the Biblio Pauperum - open pictorial public bibles to educate the poor, almost all of whom were illiterate, and bring them into the fold of the Catholic church.

In addition to the Basilica of San Francesco, there are Basilicas and cathedrals dotted all over the city. One large one to St. Clare, Francis’ cofounder of the Franciscan Order of the Poor Clare, another to San Rufino and many other lesser churches in this incredible city. The extent of the presence and influence of the Catholic church is overwhelming in this place, and in all of the towns and cities we have visited here.

Immediately across the Piazza del Comune (the town square) which was once an excavated Roman Forum, is the Tempio di Minerva, a Roman structure of several classical Roman pillars which is the facade for a 12th or 13th century church. Our hotel was just off this Piazza, so just across from the Roman columns. The Roman Forum, which still exists under the Piazza, was closed for renovations, so we were not able to see it.

We spent one full day in Basilicas viewing frescoes of every kind and by numerous painters, to numerous to remember - some quite beautiful and some completely uninteresting to me.
This is a walled city with multiple gates and the narrow winding interconnected stone streets none of which is level for any distance. We explored the city, some buildings, took pictures, shopped and ate gelato! At the end of the day we went to an excellent concert (string quartet and small orchestra) marking the UN Day of Peace on Sept 21.

I will include some photos including the Basilica of San Francesco, one of Basilica of St. Clare, the dog on the front of San Rufino (for fun - a lot of these odd creatures appear on cathedrals - the artists appear to have some fun if they have the opportunity) ) and an lookout over Assisi. I have also included one of our group walking toward one of the city gates.

I have tried to pick a favorite but so far have been unable. Every place has its own charm and beauty. And there are more to come as you will see in later posts.

Day 6

Day 6, September 20, 2007

Hi all.

Today we arrived in a new place and the internet arrangement is poor - so I will be posting this from the next place in a few days if possible.

This morning we left our first “home” in Tavarnelle en route to Assisi. On the way we visited yet another 12th century church and Abbey - Abbazia di Sant’ Antimo.

It is said that Charlemagne, enroute through this area with his army in 781, was detained because his men were suffering and dying of some strange disease. The locals told him about an herb which would cure his men, which it apparently did. He founded the first monestary here in gratitude in that same year. In fact, it seems there was already a small church which had been built by a local person and dedicated to Sant Antimo, whose relics were venerated here, in 715. In 770 the Benedictine monks began an addition which was under construction when Charlemagne happened by. He decided to set his seal on it and thus take undeserved credit for its existence. What stands now is a small rather rough Apse area, which was the original church, partially surrounded by the now restored version of what the Benedictines designed and completed sometime after 770. The church is relatively small but beautiful inside and out. It is built with a stone called Travertine as well as some recycled material from other buildings including some marble and alabaster. The builders lightened things up a bit by insert many small carvings of human faces and animals on the outside walls.

The monks allegedly sing Gregorian chants in the morning, but we missed them, so picked up a cd in the ever present gift shop.

This is a beautiful church set in equally beautiful surroundings. The photos include the cathedral from a distance, one closer showing the rather rough round original church, inside the nave and a small face outside. The blog site size limits has not allowed all of these. I forget which ones I have included now so you may have to try to guess which is which.

After lunch in the town S Quirico d’Orcia we went on to Pienza, a town of about 2000 people and the home of Pope Pius II. In 1450 or so, he decided to spruce up his home town. He hired an architect who applied the principles of Pythagorian perfect ratios to build the cathedral, a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance architecture and the Pope’s residence, the Palazzo Piccolomini, on two sides of the town square. He was provided with limited space and a short time frame to complete these large structures which were finished in about 3 years. The rush to complete led to inadequate infrastructure in the cathedral the front of which has been sinking, revealing large cracks and an obviously sloping floor! The only photo it would accept is one of the cathedral here, I think.
From here we set off for San Francesco’s (St. Francis’) city of Assisi - another amazing place.

Day 5

Day 5 - September 19, 2007

The weather continues to treat us well - warm sunny to partly sunny days. A bit humid at times but overall it has been near perfect.

Today we went to the ruins of a Gothic church (built in 1224) of the Cistercian monks of San Galgano. The church itself was without roof or windows but still connected to the rest of the monastery which seemed in reasonable condition. The scriptorium was intact complete with small chambers for candles to keep the ink warm and and a small stove to warm the hands. Nearby on a substantial hill, which we had to climb, is a small but attractive church dedicated to the local saint, Galgano Guidoti, who, after his escapades in the Crusades decided to pursue the monastic life. To show his mother that he had put the life of a knight behind him, he plunged his sword into a rock and to prove that he did it, the rock with embedded sword are there for all willing to walk up the hill to see.

There are 4 photos, one of the approach to the ruins with the tall cyprus trees lining the road (these trees are all over the place used in a similar manner), a view from the side of the cathedral and one from inside the nave. The other is of the Saint’s church up on the hill.

We had a very nice picnic on the grounds of this monastery (after shopping in a nearby Coop) before moving on to Monte Oliveto and another church, this time one of the Renaissance period with the story of the life of a St. Benedict (lots of saints in these parts) painted on the walls of the church. This is an active monastery with Monks gliding around the halls in full habit.
Photos here include one of the church and tower.

The scenery we pass in all the driving continues to be beautiful but it is hard to capture in a photo - we’ll keep trying and post one when we get a good one.

This is our last day at Tavarnelle - so tonight we pack for our move to Assisi tomorrow - enroute we will visit another Benedictine church and the town of Pienza before moving on to Assisi.

More tomorrow.
Rich

Day 4 Note - September 18, 2007

Hi all.
I am going to use this blog as notes on our trip, so there is likely going to be more in here than you want to read, so feel free to just skip most of it if you like.

For the first 5 days we are staying in the Park Hotel Chianti in Tavernelle which is about 4 hours north of Rome. It is a relatively new place on the outskirts of Tavernelle, so we have yet to see the town of Tavernelle. We are now at day 5, our last day/night here. Time to pack up and move on to Assisi tomorrow, where we will stay for 4 days, for a visit with St. Francis.

On day 4 we went to the city of Volterra situated on a high plateau, about 1800 feet above sea level. That doesn’t seem very high considering Calgary at 3000 plus feet but it certainly seems high when looking out over the terrain around the city.

In this area of Tuscany and Umbria, the terrain is in fact extremely “hilly”. Streams running for centuries north and south have carved valley after valley between the higher elevations. As a consequence travelling east or west means very winding narrow roads which descend into the valleys then immediately begin climbing to the next plateau - then back down again. This makes traveling even relatively short distances more time consuming but provides beautiful vistas on route.

Volterra is another walled city of medieval architecture - wonderful narrow winding and unpredictable streets. This city was one of 12 major centres of the Etruscan civilization in what is now Tuscany and Umbria. The Etruscans were well established as early as the 8th century BC and by around 600 BC were the dominant political group in the area. They were a loose organization of city states of which Volterra was one. The area was a major source of alum, which was essential for the wool trade, and alabaster. Volterra is still a major source of alabaster which is a transluscent “stone” used for scultpture, lampshades, dishes, ornaments, and, at one time, for windows before availability of glass.

There is a large, and apparently one of Italy’s most extensive, collection of Etruscan art and artefacts in museums in this city.

Following the Roman take over in 300 BC and then the fall of the western part of the Roman empire around 460 AD the ongoing battles for territory between the “Papists” in Florence and the aristocracy in Siena saw the seemingly impregnable town, change hands many times The influence of these changes in the ruling group are very apparent (once it is pointed out by Mary, our guide) in the architecture and the art in this city.

Volterra was also another city of towers though few remain. We visited the Piazza dei Priori (the plaza) and its 13th century Palazza dei Priori (the hall of city government) and the cathedral (Piazza del Giovanni), built in the 12th and 13th centuries and the nearby hexagonal baptistery.

There is also a restored Roman theatre just outside the walled city and an active archeological dig for Etruscan artifacts both of which we visited.

The photos at the right were taken in the Palazza del Priori council chambers (you can see Ruth sitting on one of the public benches) with its beautiful front wall and ceiling. There are also two photos of the city hall tower from different locations as well as two of the restored Roman theatre.

More tomorrow after we get settled in our new home.at the Hotel Umbra in Assis.

Dad/Rich/Grandpa