Jazzing up the Umbrian towns

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After yesterday’s unsuccessful venture into nature, we thought we’d stick with man made beauty for the next few days. Another lazy start before we were on our way to Gubbio. Miraculously didn’t need a divorce to find the parking area and we were on our way up into town in minutes.

The town is spectacularly set on a hillside, dominated by the Palazzo dei Consoli. We made our way up up up but thankfully, it was cooler today with a bit of cloud cover, so whinging was minimised. We enjoyed a wander through the medieval street before reaching the top point of our climb at the cathedral. Meandered back down and pottered around in some shops before the requests for lunch became overwhelming and we stopped on a small square. We all enjoyed some pasta, with Geoff’s gnocchi vying for Meal of the Holiday.

Obligatory gelato stop before driving back to the villa for the equally obligatory afternoon swim and nap. We were feeling refreshed and invigorated and ready for some jazz as we headed for Perugia for the evening. Excellent parking decision making was followed by some equally good pizza eating in the lower part of the town before climbing up to join the throngs enjoying the atmosphere in the upper part of town.

Enjoyed some music on the main street then to the stage in the Carducci Gardens. Enjoyed some tunes there before a change of pace in Piazza IV Novembre and a different band. The atmosphere was getting a bit much for everyone so we trekked back down to the car to make our way home.

A nice relaxing sleep in before we set off to check another hilltop town off our list - Cortona this time. More drama-free parking but a fuori servizio escalator did not a happy camper make. Hauled arse up to the town and had a wander around the streets - not as impressive as yesterday’s offering and much more touristed but we enjoyed the spectacular views…and another gelato! Lucky this fortified us for the windy, mountain-hugging road google sent us along for 20km. Clearly everyone else knew this was a stupid way to go as we passed only two other cars and one mad beagle, determined to lead us to safety down the hill.

Next stop Citta do Castello to see what we’d overlooked on our first day. Quite a lot it seemed! A cute walled town, we had a short wander before grabbing a quick lunch in a bar. We’d had enough of the heat and the pool was calling, so we collected dinner supplies on our way home before our last evening at our Umbrian home. Some steak and sausages on the terrace, some aperol and limoncello and lots of red wine. And some swimming and jumping and lots of chatting too. Lovely way to finishing.

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