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Published: September 11th 2014
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Friday (9/5/14) We had to wake up real early for our mandatory orientation weekend trip. The buses departed at 7 am. The drive to Umbria was 3 and a half hours long. Of course I just slept most of the way. My group first visited the small town of Bevagna. We received a tour of the medieval artisan shops from this nice old man who was just adorable. We were later told that he has 7 children and used to be a professor at a university, then retired, but returned to work as a tour guide because of the burden of his kids. First we were shown the coin smith. The process isn't as simple as you'd think. The metal down the copper and silver into long bars, which are then flattened out into thin sheets and cut into small squares. They cut the corners off and round out the edges by pounding on it. Then they imprint the designs with a quick pound in between the two stamping plates. Next we saw how the old time paper was made. The process involved making a goopy paper soup out of mashed bits of old cloth, which was then collected on
a square frame and let dry. It then had to be compressed to drain the water, and then soaked in animal fat to water proof it, and then compressed again. We also saw how candles were made by continually dipping hemp strings into melted beeswax and how silk thread was collected from the cocoons of silk worms.
After lunch, we visited the countryside town of Montefalco to see the beautiful vineyard and winery of Tenuta Castelbuono. We got to see their cellar where they produce and store the wine in huge barrels. There is even a sort of shrine to the wine. We sampled two types of red wine, which is all they produce there due to the family's wishes. I tried some of the grapes right off the vine, which tasted very good, although I don't think they're ready for harvest for another few weeks.
We then finally went to our hotel for the weekend in the charming town of Spoleto. The hotel we stayed at was also a contemporary art museum, which was rather interesting. That evening my friends and I ventured out to explore the town a bit. We stumbled upon a movie playing in a nearby
Shrine to the wine
located in the center of the cellar park. We sat down to watch it even though it was in Italian. As we were leaving, we saw that they were also playing Pulp Fiction the following night, which we planned to go see. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at this outdoor cafe that was still open. It was a bit chilly out so they offered blankets to their customers, which was very kind.
Saturday (9/6/14) Our morning began with a tour of the quaint town of Spoleto in which we were staying. We saw some old Roman forums, a beautiful church with an entire room depicted with paintings of stories from the bible. We also a bridge that used to also be a Roman aqueduct. The bridge led to the remains of a small castle fort that was used to guard that entrance into the city. The town is known for having "il fonte, il ponte, e il monte" which means, the fountain, the bridge, and the mountain. We were allowed to roam once we got to the bridge, so I ventured to the other side and found a small, easily climbable wall that led up to the old tower.
Climbing up the wall gave a great view of the town across the bridge. After the tour, we had some gelato to hold us over until lunch. Here I tried my favorite flavor of gelato: chocolate with orange. It is the best, and I will get it whenever I can now.
After lunch, we left for the city of Foligno. Sean and I attend the mass held there. It was the first Catholic mass I had ever been to, and it was rather interesting. Then we had several hours to explore the city and get dinner on our own. We ate at this small pub like restaurant, and I tried my first Italian hamburger. It had prosciutto and zucchini on it, so it was rather weird and kind of good. As we were leaving the city, the Baroque festival was beginning. I'm not sure if it had to do with the festival, but there were colored flags along the streets of the city, differing depending on the section. It appeared to be some sort of gang or family type of symbolism, so I could only assume that the festival consisted of an all out gang war blood bath in the
center piazza. When we returned to Spoleto, we still had enough time to catch the last half of Pulp Fiction in the park. It was quite funny to see it dubbed in Italian, especially when it came to Samuel L Jackson.
Sunday (9/7/14) The last day in Umbria, we visited the most beautiful town of Spello. All along the streets were adorned with many flowers. We were given a tour of the town and shown the old Roman gate into the city, that had been built upon during the medieval era. After the tour, the guide suggested that we get gelato and a place just up the hill, which had a patio area with a great view. She was certainly right, there was a beautiful view of the mountain. We then had to walk far down hill to reach the olive garden where we ate lunch. That lunch felt like an eternity, as we were basking in the hot sun outside, and they really spaced out the courses that they brought out to us. But the main dish was the best sausage I have ever tasted, and definitely some of the best food I have had
in Italy.
After lunch, we were given the option of hiking to a ancient Roman aqueduct that was 30 minutes away. Most of us chose to go, as it sounded rather interesting. It was entirely an uphill climb, which ended with us staring at a brick wall with several slender holes in it. This was the aqueduct that used to collect water from a natural spring uphill and was not at all what we were expecting. But it was rather interesting, because the owner of the olive garden studies the plants that grow in the brick wall, which are unique due to the type of limestone and mortar used, for herbal and medicinal uses. We also found out that we ate some of it in the pasta we had for lunch. Eventually we began the long journey back home to Rome. That feels a bit weird to call Rome my home, but also quite comforting. Twas quite a long and exhausting weekend.
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