We have been doing more touring, more relaxing, and of course, it goes without saying more eating and drinking! We are taking turns to planning a days itinerary….some successful, some not!

Rhonda’s turn had us visiting several smaller villages, some we actually stopped at , and some we didn’t bother! Fail for Rhonda!

 

 

Our first stop was Torrita di Siena, a hilltop village with a nice gate and a half decent coffee , and that was about it!

 

 

 

The following 3 villages on Rhonda’s list, well, we drove through but didn’t stop….enough said! We then stopped at Buonconvento. The medieval historic centre was quite pretty.

 

The Town Hall is covered with 25 crests of previous mayors who ruled until 1270. Greg had to finish his lunch with an ice cream…. pistachio of course!

We stopped also at the next village (win again for Rhonda) , San Quirico d’orcia , and although a little touristy it was rather nice to wander around.

 

The Cathedral was very majestic as was the main square!

 

Of course with all these hill top villages one parks at the bottom, because you don’t want to drive through the extremely narrow one way streets in the village itself! Then you walk up and up and up to get tot he church because they are ALWAYS at the uppermost point. But the saving grace is that you walk down to the car again!

 

 

 

 

Next stop (yes stop) was Bagno vignoni , and not a hill top village. The “main square” in this village is a pool, 49 metres long and 29 metres wide  with a hot spring bubbling up from the bottom.

Last stop on this “long day” was Castiglione d’orcia to see the “Rocca”, the well restored fortress. The term “Rocca” translates as “a local fortified high place” , and it certainly was!

 

So for her day, Rhonda had some hits and some misses, Greg’s turn was yet to come!

We decided to return to the Roman town of Spello even though we had been there on previous trips. The Porta Consolare is the main gate into town and dates back to Roman times and re fortified in the middle ages. The narrow streets in the town are extremely colourful and well kept. The many plaques on the walls are the results of awards given for the “prettiest streets” over the years.

 

We also stopped off at Spoleto. The massive Ponte  delle Torri is 236 metres long and 90 metres high and has 10 arcades. It is a 13th century aquaduct, possibly built on Roman foundations.

The Basilica of St Eufemia was quite beautiful, and a Romanesque church built in the 12th Century and overlooks the spectacular Piazza Duomo, so named because of the magnificent (Duomo) of St Mary.

 

The cathedral was first consecrated in 1198 and progressively added to over the years. It was the perfect place for a lunch stop.

We then drove to Monteleone di Spoleto as we had read about the church which had magnificent 14th century frescoes! Well, guess what, the church was not open. It was however a quiet village with great views and on a hot day, being 978 metres above sea level, and in the mountains, made it a pleasant spot to be.

 

The weather has now cooled down with days in the low 30’s and the nights around 18 so better for sleeping. We did wake a few mornings ago with a rather strange sight from our terrace! It didn’t take long however  for the fog to clear!

We have found a good “Friday night” Pizzeria now, but unfortunately it is in a village about 15 minutes drive away which means we can’t drink before we go! We arrived home last Friday to find a small festival happening in a little piazza across from our terrace with a band playing. We sat on our terrace having a few drinks and listening to the band playing mostly English music. Obviously they were big fans of the Beatles, Creedance, Tina Turner  and Fleetwood Mac …. free entertainment!!!! It was great!

Two days ago it was Greg’s turn for the itinerary! His was almost a failure too! We noted that the town of Tuscania was “yellow” on our map! We ask the question…..WHY???

There were lovely fountains throughout the town but that that was about all, so hence only 1 photo! However we did pass by Lake Bolsena and stopped at a pretty little town called Marta.

We had read about the “Ghost town” of Celleno , so we stopped there also on the way home and it was the highlight of the day!

It was a vital strategic outpost during medieval times, due to it’s hill top position but had a slow decline. The village was abandoned in 1855 after an earthquake., It was actually quite beautiful….definitely not touristy!

 

The day proved to be quite stressful. It was supposed to be “about a 1 1/2 hour drive to Tuscania , that’s looking at the map, however our illustrious GPS decided not to take any straight roads , but took us on “short cuts” through windy roads and every village that happened to be having their market day, hence heaps of traffic.

The traffic flow in Italy generally is either very ,very ,very ,fast and sitting  “up your arse” , or extremely slow and holding up traffic. As for the quality of the roads, we would refer you to the bridge that collapsed in Genoa today!!!!! They are shit!

Greg was very glad to arrive home, he had had enough! It WAS going to be an AFD , but Greg needed something to calm his nerves! He had a few beers (that’s  a Peroni red long neck!) By the way these are on special at 59 cents a bottle….. bloody cheap!

Just realised so far there have been no food photos! Oops!

 

We enjoyed a great dinner in Cetona . Greg’s pici with tomato and garlic sauce was bloody good, and Rhonda’s fettucine with white veal ragu , zucchini, and fresh tomatoes was awesome. As for dolce, a picture tells a thousand words!

 

We have also discovered the “narrowest street” in Italy, courtesy of our GPS! She tried to send us down this street!

Now it is time for a quiz!

These are our rubbish bins in our house! What goes in which bin???……..wrong!!!!!

We stand in front of them trying to decipher where to put things , and we have been here for 3 weeks!

We are still enjoying ourselves, still eating great pasta, and drinking great wine, and of course beers and aperols!

Speaking of which, yes it’s that time…again!!!!

So ciao ciao

love Gregorio and Rhondio