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.