"Tutto é bello a Spello"
Madeleine, aka Little Britain, and I took the 2:30pm bus to Spello one day after a morning lesson of what my friend Jim likes to call "Intense Congiuntivo." (As if there was any other way to truly study this bizarre verb mood without going a bit nutty. I mean, basically anytime you are expressing an opinion or desire or uncertainty you must use "Intensive Congiuntivo" which changes everything and will drive you bonkers. Just take my word for it.)
Back to Spello... on our passeggiata (walk) to town from the train station we encountered CRAZY Old Lady who advised us not to get in the car with the guy asking for directions. Good advice of course, but really CRAZY Old Lady, he was just asking directions and was not going to steal your bag and drop your body in the river. She then babbled on about her house in Spello behind the brown building over there, past the playground and to the left of the big tree where her brother lives near that fence, just near the door next to the wall, see it... what? Was she even speaking Italian? Perugino? Spellino? Or Greek? Chissa! (Who knows!) All I know is we stood there with her for about 10 incomprehensible minutes. I nodded a lot saying "Certo!" (Of course!) and "Si" to whatever it is she was talking about. When she finally stopped for a breath I was able to interrupt, "Which way to the center of town?" After giving us all our options, we finally thanked her grazie, grazie, grazie, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao. CRAZY Old Lady did leave us (rather we left her standing on the corner waiting for the bus) with my favorite quote of the day "Tutto é bello a Spello" and she was right, everything is beautiful in Spello!
When there's a fork in the road and a cute old Italian man resting at the top, always go up! That's where you always find your favorite street!
Montefalco ...non c'éra nessuno, solo un castello, il vino e Giulio, il mio Romano! My friend Giulio from Rome came to visit me one very rainy weekend in November. We decided to defy the weather gods and travel to both Montefalco and Gubbio. Montefalco, famous for it's wine, was a big must on my list. Everywhere I went in Perugia, Montefalco was the wine of choice so it seemed like a good bet that this was the town for me! We took a late afternoon drive on the Autostrada where (mi raccomando! I advise!) one should never drive unless you are a true-blooded, born and raised Italian -- almost the same thing as driving on the 405 or I-76, risking life and limb, except 30X faster. I believe race car driving was invented in Italy, and if not, it certainly seems like the Italians have perfected it.
Comunque, we went for a late afternoon/evening adventure and found this tiny little town completely abandoned. At least until we discovered the town watering hole housing the entire population of Montefalco. We pushed our way to the back bar and ordered a glass of Sagrantino, THE wine of choice. So delicious. That's about the best I can do in terms of describing wine. Maybe it was peppery, fruity, bold, full, great tanins, etc, etc, blah blah blah. All I know is that it was good and I was happy. I feel like any town that defines itself as "Citta del Vino" is a sure bet.
Gubbio, dove si deve fare 3 giri circa la fontana per non impazzarsi... Gubbio, where you have to walk around the fountain 3 times so that you do not go insane!
Apparently there was an outbreak of crazies here once... maybe CRAZY Old Lady from Spello escaped from Gubbio. As the legend goes, you have to walk around the fountain 3 times to ensure your sanity. Hmmmm, that sounds absolutley sane to me. I did 6 circles - 3 in both directions - just for good measure.
Gubbio is yet another beautiful Medievil town where ceramics are handmade and hand painted and hanging on the outside of every shop that sells them. It was another day where no one but me (RainGirl) and my trusted Roman sidekick ventured outside. The Duomo and town square were completely empty. I guess the dark clouds in the distance where a bit daunting.
Orvieto was high on my list of towns not to miss. I had been to Orvieto 13 years ago with an Art History Study Tour my freshman year of college. I remembered absolutely nothing about it except the feeling that I wanted to go back. I have a memory of eating a picnic of cheese, bread and wine one warm June afternoon and being blissfully happy.
Armed with this knowledge and my Brazilian friend Edurardo, I trained it to Orvieto. Okay, so I do have one little regret and here it is - I wish I had come to Orvieto in September because I would have come back often. It's absolutely beautiful and it's just easy - easy to be here, easy to relax, easy to find a little bench and pass a few hours reading a book. Everyone was nice.
It was a little foggy this afternoon, but you can still make out the castle in the countryside I will be purchasing when I win the lottery... (by the way, I did not win the cow). The Duomo here is absolutely breathtaking, if only my stupid battery camera hadn't died there would be a few more pictures. Instead, I only managed 4 photos and these are it! They certianly don't do Orvieto any justice. You must go!
