We left Puglia and headed north to the area of the Marche, and to the beautiful UNESCO listed town of Urbino. It is a classic hilltop town and walled city. It sits on a steep hillside and has kept most of its medieval appearance in tact.

It is probably most famous as the birthplace of one of those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Raphael, but it’s fame is actually due to the Duke of Montefeltro who brought the Rennaissance architecture to the town from 1444 to 1482.

Our little house was in a fabulous location, just inside the old town walls, but close to the carpark for Tony, so we didn’t have to drag our suitcases up the VERY VERY VERY steep cobblestoned streets! We had a lovely garden with a view of the walls and the back of the Cathedral.

The most famous building in the town is the Ducale Palazzo, a monumental Renaissance palace built by the Duke in the second half of the 15th century. It is now mainly an Art Gallery (with sadly only 2 of Raphaels paintings plus some of his dads). The dukes tiny study is the only room in the palace that is “as it was” during his reign. The wooden inlay panels were remarkable, and the building was enormous!

The Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was built in the 17th century but renovated at the end of the 18th century. It was beautiful to walk around the outside but nothing special on the inside. We ventured into the “Botanical Gardens” founded in 1808, Monets Garden it was not!!!!!! Rhonda wanted to flee because of all the bugs and mossies!!!

Of course one has to eat so we had a lovely dinner one night in a little out of the way laneway. A speciality of Urbino is Coniglio in porchetta (rabbit porchetta) and it did not disappoint us. However Greg’s panna cotta was definitely not up to scratch, but Rhonda enjoyed her basil strawbs with hazelnuts and meringue.

After dinner we wandered the streets for some night shots. Although Urbino is definitely not a tourist town, there were still lots of people around.

Urbino is a University town, with the first Uni established in 1506, and we timed it perfectly for Graduation week!!! On our first day we noticed a lot of young people partying , some with live laurel wreaths with coloured ribbons on their heads. Well, when one wants to know the reason why, one asks Google, and Google told us it was Grad week for the Uni. We discovered that ALL students must pass a final oral exam in front of a panel of professors. Parents and friends may attend this exam, then when everyone leaves, the profs discuss whether the student has passed their degree. The student re-enters to receive their degree papers (hopefully) then exits via a door where the parents /friends await. Then it’s party time. They sing (apparently a quite vulgar song) explode confetti bombs, give bouquets of flowers to the graduate, and pop numerous bottles of champers. Each student has a different individual time so this goes on ALL day. Most are well dressed, but of course you do get the exception.

A typical street food of the March area is a crescia , so of course we had to try one. It is a thin Italian flat bread filled with whatever one wants! We had sausage cheese and veges, it was yum!

We visited 2 magnificent Oratorios ( a sacred place for prayer, other than a church). The Oratorio San Giovanni Battista was built between 1365 and the last decade of the 14th century and we were blown away by the frescoes. It is supposedly the most magnificent example of late Gothic paintings in Italy done by two brothers in 1416.

The other one was the Oratorio di San Giuseppe was completed in 1515. It was just as stunning and we were happy to pay the 5 euros to see them both.

It’s no wonder Greg’s knees were talking to him, the streets and lanes were extremely steep, and on one day alone, Rhonda’s phone told us we walked 15000 steps, 12 kms , and walked up 42 floors! Not too bad at all.

We loved our stay in Urbino, a wonderful place to see, but then it was onto an area of Italy we had never been to before.

We have just spent the last 4 days in the town of Cividale del Friulli, another UNESCO listed town in northern Italy close to the Slovenian border and the Eastern Alps. It is a very pretty non touristy town on the banks of the River Natione.

The town has quite a history and was actually founded by Julius Caesar in 50BC and soon became one of the most important centres of the region and a commercial and military force. Then in 568AD the Longoboards came, and it was the capital city of the first Longobord Dukedom in Italy. It became a powerful religious and political city. Over the centuries many churches and palaces were built. It was dedicated for military valour because of the citizens sacrifice and resistance during the second world war.

The Town Hall (above) , a former palace was built between 1545 and 1588. Julius Casear stands proudly in the front! Apparently, there are some Roman ruins inside but we didn’t venture in as we had seen enough of them in Sicily!!!

The Ponte del Diavolo , or Devils Bridge is rather picturesque, worthy of a LOT of photos. The original bridge was blown up in 1917 and re constructed by the German army. Then in April 1945, the Germans tried to blow it up but not much damage was done!

The oldest house in the town is known, not surprisingly as the Medieval House, and dates back to the mid 13th century. It was originally a Goldsmith shop. The main square, the Piazza Paolo Diacono was a great spot for a drink with many lovely buildings surrounding it.

The Tempietto Longobardo was on our list of places to visit, however, it was quite disappointing as nearly the whole complex was under restoration. The frescoes which we had hoped to see were being re done and the cloisters were an absolute mess!!! We were supposed to see “glorious and delightful heritage from the 8th century with mosaics and frescoes”, but instead we saw lots of scaffolding!

We decided to visit the city of Trieste. We spent the day there and our views of the city are….a big city with magnificent architecture, but don’t visit when there are 3 rather large cruise ships in port and when it’s 37 degrees! But it was on Greg’s bucket list so now it’s ticked off!

We found one of the oldest coffee houses in Trieste, because apparently Trieste is the coffee capital of Italy! W also had a drink in one of the many beautiful piazzas.

WE asked our host for a recommendation for a winery lunch, and we weren’t disappointed. we went to Alturis Winery and tasted some of the famous white wine of the region. Our lunch was delicious. The charcuterie starter was great as was Greg’s vegetable parmigano, and Rhonda’s agnolotti pasta with lemon butter, poppy seeds and speck. We decided that dolce was in order and Rhonda’s “birramisu was certainly different, a deconstructed tiramisu but made with dark beer instead of the usual liqueur.

The town is surrounded by hundreds of wineries and of course the vista of the vineyards is spectacular when you are driving around.

We also visited Grado, a seaside town located on a lagoon island. It is a working fishing port and has a lovely small historic town centre. It is mostly however known for it’s beaches and is a big tourist spot for Austrians. We had a great lunch at a fish restaurant, sadly it was probably our last spigola meal. It was a rather hot day, so it was quiet wandering the streets as most people were at the beach!

We have spent a lot of time just wandering the streets and lanes of Cividale coming across many lovely old buildings. WE have really enjoyed our time here but now it is time to move on.

So tomorrow we head into Austria to spend a month there. We think it may be a little cooler (fingers crossed) as the weather this past week has heated up quite considerably!

So it’s that time again, time to pack!! Already had our aperitivs!

So it’s arrivederci from Italy and hello Austria.

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda

xxx