Blogs from Umbria, Italy, Europe - page 7

A great surprise whilst in Umbria was the film festival im Montone with Terry Gilliam, last night we wnt to the beautiful restuarant on the piazza. we enjoyed the meal while awaiting the film festival of kids shorte to begin. The first film was the Fox and the chicadee from the Canadian director, second was a delightful short from Holland Mina, about a girl who wanted to be different from her constrictive society where everyone wears green. She is obsessed with Minnie mouse and loves to dress as her. Before the films began we enjoyed watching the outdoor set up of the screen, van from where the projector sat and the seating. Thankfully the rain held off but the fog did come in bringing the temperatures down a little colder than we expected. just before the ... read more

Assisi- it was the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208, and St. Clare (Chiara d'Offreducci), the founder of the Poor Sisters, which later became the Order of Poor Clares after her death. The 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was also born in Assisi. Perugia - was one of the main Etruscan cities. The city is also known as the universities town. Perugia is a well-known cultural and artistic centre of Italy.... read more

As the title may suggest to you we were to be reminded that even at our venerable age (Gretchen is almost there) we can still learn valuable lessons on the road. More of that later. We woke in Teramo to a partly cloudy morning which looked substantially better than the thunderstorm and rain from last night. The road sweeper was out keeping the streets cleaned which we are finding is more obvious now we are further north in Italy. Shame that the towns in the southern part of the country haven’t invested into these machines. Breakfast was good and the coffee strong (one morning coffee Ruth and Owen and you would have your equivalent for a whole year!) We knew that the journey from Teramo to Spoleto was going to take over some lesser, country roads ... read more

Geo: 43.1281, 12.0463After an unremarkable and uneventful flight we arrived at Fiumincino airport on a foggy morning.Quickly through Customs etc we collected our car, a tiny Fiat 500 which meant most luggage is on the back seat. We followed some back roads, me with the map on my lap and Fletcher as usual making all sorts of noises and comments as he got used to the car and my navigation was not always perfect! (If only it was as easy as for Dora and her map!!)We headed north along the coast to avoid Rome and drove through Civitavecchia to which we will return on Thursday. Our aim was to find a base in Tuscany for a couple of nights to explore the surrounding countryside and ultimately to visit San Marino (to rack up a another country). ... read more

Dear Max and Dominic, As you know, our plan is to work hard during the week and then spend the weekends exploring parts of Italy near the city we are living in. One thing that makes this very easy is that most of the train lines in Italy go through Bologna, including Speed Trains that go faster than 200 kilometres per hour. Last weekend we decided to explore two cities in a region of Italy called Umbria. This part of Italy is very hilly so quite a few small old towns have been built on hills. The two Hilltowns we wanted to spend time in were Orvieto and Assisi. These towns have been here for a very long time. Orvieto was built on an ancient volcanic hilltop at least 2200 years ago before the Romans had ... read more