Blogs from Umbria, Italy, Europe - page 36

St Francis of Assisi .. remember the name? He was the wealthy nobleman who forewent all his riches to become a monk and help the common man. Well this village was his home and it remains today a fully functioning religious city complete with many wonderful churches, a castle and , of course, a spectacular Basilica. Lots of monks and nuns can be seen to be running around in their robes as they live inside the walls .. and because it is a functional religious city, it is less prone to the tourist hoardes. So this means a very tranquil place to idle away summer afternoons and evenings in one of the many exquisite restaurants .. and of course, the art in the cathedrals is the stuff of legend that you read about in the ... read more

So, we started the journey back across Italy, and ended up Gubbio. The first thought on mine (and Adriana's) mind once we got there: ESPRESSO. After that, we toured some different churches and the city. We grabbed some what we thought would be delicious lunch (because it took us such a long time to find it again -- the first time we saw it, there were a ton of locals swarming it), but it was lacking. Oh well. After our gubbian good times were over, we went to Assisi, where I might have been in my worst mood on this trip. I really didn't like it all the much. I felt like it was way too touristy (with the fake birds?? c'mon.) Maybe it was my lack of sleep and espresso that made this city ... read more

Num final de semana chuvoso dos primeiros dias de verao resolvemos visitar Norcia. Existe uma palavra em italiano - "norcino" - usada como sinonimo de açougueiro ou linguiceiro... aquele que trabalha com a carne de porco, e de fato, Norcia é famosa pelos seus produtos embutidos (linguiças, salames, etc) desde sempre. Os colonos eram especializados na anatomia, castraçao, matança e elaboraçao de carne suina ja em 500 d.C. , que era vendida salgada às cidades vizinhas. Foi esta profissao de açougueiro que deu origem à  "Escola de Cirurgia dos Beneditinos" naquela cidade, onde começavam trabalhando como "residentes" e depois "cirurgicos profissionais do corpo humano". Putz, talvez isso explique as "avançadas" técnicas de cirurgia italiana deste século e o tratamento dado aos pacientes por aqui!!!! ... E' também famosa porque ali nasceu Sao Benedito. Foi territorio do ... read more

Oh no! Our last full day in Italy. How to decide what to visit, but more importantly, we had to make sure that we had our final tastes of all the good Italian food. Luckily, because this is Italy, we were pretty sure to land on our feet no matter what we did. And, oh boy, did we land on our feet. We decided to drive out to Orvieto through the Umbrian countryside. Absolutely stunning and, what amazed me, really different from Tuscany. One would think because they are so close together that they would be more or less the same. One would be wrong. We arrived in Orvieto and found rock star parking right next to the cathedral. A word on the driving. Mom was an absolute star and did all the driving, which is ... read more

Assisi is so surprising! To start in Siena, the hotel called a taxi, and as the driver thought he knew more than I did, he took me to the wrong bus station. But, I had been well prepared by the guide Michele and insisted to the driver that the SENA bus to Assisi left from the train station. Thus the ride cost more (12.50 Euros) than the bus ticket to Assisi (11 Euros). Standing in the right place, I overheard a couple discussing in English if this was the right place, and I confidently assured them it was - the schedule was attached to the post. They were from Australia, visiting parts of Europe they hadn’t been to yet. We conversed until the bus came. The route was as before to Perugia and then through more ... read more