Umbertide - Niente Acqua!

6am  Saturday 27^th.  Only 25C  -  positively cool! 

Umbertide by river

Just waiting to see whether we can have a shower or have to be smelly!  (have got some wet-wipes on hand!)  The water got cut-off unexpectedly last night.  Must be a leak - we would have been warned if it was water shortage.   It’s now coming through as a trickle so promising.

Rocca

Yesterday morning we visited Umbertide so called after builder Uberto, son of the king of Italy Ugo after old town was abandoned following Hannibal’s invasion.  (Hannibal comes up everywhere!)

The actual historical centre of the town is not very big at all but very distinctive..  There is a Rocca (fortress) which dominates the landscape and is well worth a visit.  Also the church of Santa Maria which has an octagonal plan topped by a cupola. 

lovely little houses

The Piazza San Francesco contains another church – Santa Croce which boasts a fine painting ‘Deposition from the Cross’ by Luca Signorelli.

There is a lovely bar at the crossroads just off the centre of town (with great toilets! – see yesterday’s blog.))   From a roadside table you are guaranteed to see at least two near-altercations and hear lots of horn-blasting!  Suppose one shouldn't really enjoy watching cars playing at dodgems! It is one of these junctions where what appears to be the main road is actually a side road plus the fact that the white STOP on the tarmac has virtually worn away!  

part of new walkway

A ‘must’ in Umbertide is a stroll along the newly formed riverside walk.  Along here in one direction you will be able to view a quaint set of old houses as you meander under assorted archways.  In the other direction, there are beautiful views across the gentle hills and fields as the river widens leaving the town. 

walkway

7am

Water off completely again so it’s ’wet-wipes. Not sure what I will do with my hair. It’s sort of wavy after being screwed up all night.  Maybe put it up.

Not too bad but feels ghastly!!!

Can’t hang on much longer cause catching the bus to Passignano for the morning – it’s market day - Mike working – it’s been too hot in the afternoons for him to concentrate.  Actually according to the TV news, people have been dying of the heat and there have been considerable warnings.  Not surprising when it’s 42C in the shade! 

Will go to Gubbio this afternoon and have a ride on the funivia.  It’s taken years to persuade Mike to do that again! 

Umbria Acqua has arrived - looking a bit puzzled!   He is staring out across the football stadium!  Will probably get out a divining rod next! Hopefully it will be back on before I arrive back tonight!

Toilets -Il Bagno!

Went into a beautiful bar this morning and, not only did it serve delicious cakes and coffee it had a great toilet!  This, in Italy,  usually means it was clean, had toilet paper and running water,AND one could lock the door!
 But today - even better - this one also had soap, paper towels  and a little vase of flowers!

 It also had a light that stayed on .  This is VERY important!

 Italian toilets, generally don't seem to have windows so if the light doesn't work or goes off when one is in the middle of whatever one is doing - life gets very difficult!


For example, many of the toilets in bars have a lights but they are usually the sensor type so often go off when one is on the throne.
This is easy to remedy if one is a teacher cause it happens all the time in our classrooms -simply  stand up and wave your arms around and then sit down again!  After all noone will see you - unless, of course, it's one of those toilets without a lock!

Dance, Little Man, dance!

6am  Friday 26^th August

Watched 'Ron'  in concert in Assisi last night.  Must buy his CD

Assisi is so beautiful at night - Santa Chiara

Had one of these unexpected magical Italian evenings  that my daughters know so well.  We’ve had lots in the past – some arranged – suppers in the garden at an Italian friend’s house where we would sit  watching the sun go down, eating, drinking and talking into the early hours while cicadas sang in the trees.  Others like last night where we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

Last night we called in at Assisi  after a trip to Perugia. Still hot at 7pm (but had been 42C! )
After buying some pottery and having a meal we wandered into the square by the fountain only to find a performance of drumming and flag waving and throwing. (actually they dropped quite a lot!) The energy put into the beating of the drums is amazing! I could listen to them for ever!  There was also a concert by, I think, 'Ron'?  

Two toddlers stood in front of me watching the drummers and just couldn’t keep still!  They were so cute but didn't dare take photos in this weird age we live in. They danced for the full time and showed amazing rhythm which just shows how natural movement and dance is.   It’s a shame that we knock it all out of them by lack of example and encouragement in the pre-school days and then put them straight into severely disciplined ballet classes at an early age.  

Night market

Thank goodness for ‘Twinkle-Toes Dance’ !  They have the right idea – to encourage a love of dance and music while developing natural rhythm and learning basic steps.  Their teachers are also performers so naturally radiate enthusiasm and passion.

That’s really got me thinking now - how often do kids in the UK see adults dancing or performing music apart from bobbing around aimlessly at a disco?  We  used  to have folk-dancing when I was little and everyone from the village would gather in the village hall, children and adults together and so we learnt by example.  It also enhanced our confidence and made us less embarrassed.  Now there is nothing.  Here, in Italy, children regularly see adults they know performing music, singing and dancing as every village and town seems to have their own orchestra and band and dance group, and, of course just about the whole village is involved with the annual Festa. It is also 'cool' to belong to such groups.  This makes a big difference! 

Also, when do UK children see Professional dancers performing – maybe on an occasional theatre trip? And how many children are taught by REAL dancers?  People who live to dance, who can inspire their pupils.    Those who attend Dance Schools where the teachers are also performers are very lucky.  There are not many of them around! 

  

Italy - A country of excesses!

Mad parking!

When parking DO find a convenient bend1  It's so much fun!

Cake !

Cakes for breakfast, coffee, tea!  Large cakes, small cakes, cakes with nuts, lots with nutella,  huge meringues.  They all look very tempting but...........well, you need to try them because they just don't taste as you expect them to and lots of English folk are not too keen.    Hubby loves the gooey layered ones with chocolate cream and and the spongy ones with the red liqueur.  Its not fair for me to comment cause I don't really like cake anyway! 

Chocolate!

Italians love chocolate in and with everything!  Chocolate cakes, rich chocolate ice-cream, gooey thick hot chocolate drinks, chocolate sauce drizzled over melon (yuck!)  If you like chocolate too then do visit one of the chocolate festivals.  There is a good one at Perugia.

Crafts and art - in every city town and tiny village you will find art and craft displays and will be able to see real artists and craftsmen at work.  This a wood-carver's workshop in Assisi.  Hence the huge Pinocchio!

Sockets and plugs - there are so many different kinds!"  In our house we have four different types of sockets -  there are two pin narrow and two pin small, three pin large and three pin small and so it goes on so when you also need UK adaptors it gets quite tricky!

Excess of food!
These pizzas are standard fare at Citta della Domenica and  very good,  very cheap and provide you with another meal tomorrow!

Festivals!  Everywhere!
You would easily attend one a day in the months of July and August.
They celebrate everything!  Peaches, Fish, Tomatoes, melons.......

Kittens!  
These sweet little chaps were lucky - they had a good home (with 9 more!) But there are lots and lots of strays. 

Motorbikes and scooters!
These were OK but there are alot of these with  noisy exhausts which just make you so mad at 1am!




I could think of lots and lots more .....  sunshine!  wonderful people!  fantastic views, olive groves, Cyprus trees....the list is endless!

Have fan - can sleep! Cortona

Wednesday  24^th August

  

Yeah!!  We have a fan and hence had a great sleep last night!  Feel full of beans again today without suffering from sleep deprivation!  Raced up the numerous steep hills in Cortona this morning with no trouble!

Was pleased to see La Chiesa Di San Niccolo open – we are often up there at the wrong time (note 11am-1pm and 3.30pm – 6.30pm at this time of the year)

Chiasa di san Niccolo

As usual it didn’t open on time but, not bad by Italian standards, only ten minutes late!  It’s funny how one has certain expectations and these didn’t include a young man on a yellow vespa coming to unlock!  Neither did I expect a friar complete in brown garments to arrive in a Panda!

We first chanced on  San Niccolo many year ago when wandering around the upper streets of Cortona and were surprised to find that it contained an original paining by Luca Signorelli and others by artists of his school. It was then extremely run down and a little sad.  Now it has been fully renovated and every year we can see further improvements

This is the original paining that can be seen over the altar - taken from book - no photos allowed.

 But, how insensitive or just plain mean can some people be?  The suggested donation is only 1 Euro per person and yet I witnessed several people standing in the doorway trying to look without paying and another family even sent in their children (they are free) while they stayed outside!
Good for them that the most treasured painting is mounted in such a way that it is not visible from the door!

A little cat we made friends with!

Montepulciano

Tuesday 23^rd August

3pm  Castel Rigone

33C in the shade

Hubby back so got further afield than Preggio and Passignano today! 

Just had lunch after a morning in Montepulciano – a favourite place for tourists although there weren’t many there today.  Lovely old hill-top gated town just in Tuscany with beautiful views.   To get there one drives through famous wine growing areas including Ruffino and Tre Rose.

The main street is full of produce shops and here are lots of leather goods such as shoes and bags and quite a few expensive dress shops.

Thought this was a good way to attract attention to a shoe shop!

In addition to the shops it is the place for wine - the famous Vino Nobile and I still like exploring the underground cantinas with their barrels of maturing vino.  Of course at first it is fun to try samples of wines but one gets a bit bored of the ‘hard-sell’ after a few visits!  For the hungry there are also tastes of hoe produced olive oil and cheeses.  

This is the one we usually explore because it has an extensive and interesting grotto.

This month there is an art and craft event in the area and there were lots of exhibitions. 

This man was painstakingly re-creating famous masterpieces in mosaic (huge versions!) of , amongst others, Van Gogh. You can see his 'Sunfloers' in the background.  he also had beautiful orignal landscapes and street scenes.  All the little blue boxes contain different colours of tiles.

Our favourites were a huge hall full of giant carvings made from dead olive trees which are beautiful in themselves.  But these had been stripped and polished and then carved into the most exquisite forms of people and animals.  Unfortunately it was not possible to photograph but took this one before realising!

Duomo

We walked up through the town to the top of the hill to the church of Santa Maria Ascunta.  Sun in wrong direction to take photo! Interesting because although the inside is beautiful the outside remains unfinished – they must have started at the back finishing in lovely stone but leaving the front in rough brick and stone. 

Salami, Sausages, Cinghiale e cherries

Monday – 22nd

9am

Hotel pool with our English friends house on the left

In Hotel early as Mike is back this afternoon.  Rather nice as the pool is in the shade so can sit there instead of inside.

11am

Cooking sausages!

A MUST  in Italy.  All super but the cinghiale (wild boar) are the best and should definitely be sampled!

Got this lot out and 9am n put on the window ledge to thaw out – now in the pan!

Rules for cooking sausage in tiny house in August!

1. Cook LOTS at a time and put in the freezer!
2. Always cook in the morning – NEVER in the afternoon!
3. Place in large frying pan with a little olive oil and sprinkle liberally with rosemary or, even better, use fresh sprigs.
4. Ensure all windows and doors are open wide.
5. Cook slowly on low heat whilst sitting on the terrace sipping a cool San Bitter!  Set alarm on phone for 10 minutes just in case you doze off!
6. Make sure they are cooked through – they take much longer than English sausage.
7. Then much later in the day heat up in the microwave and serve with fresh green beans and tomatoes.  Delicious!  (I know it's just not done these days BUT ....... the juices left in the pan are just too good to wash away - so good mopped up with bread!

Ready to Eat!

1pm

Just been for walk and had a read of my Kindle in the pine-woods.

I do love my Kindle!  How else could I have managed to bring all my books on Ryanaire?  Also, now I am coming to the end of my supply I can simply go on Amazon and choose some more to be sent directly to the Kindle.  It’s light, easy to use and saves your page.  It’s so clear and just like looking at the page of a book and the print size is adjustable.  I also like the way one can download a pretty large sample of a book to read before deciding to purchase. 

Have just finished and enjoyed:

The Lonely Bones (second time round!)

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

Picture Perfect – Jodi Piccoult

Before I go to Sleep – S.J Watson

A world I never Made by James Lepore

Every Last One  by Anna Quindlen.

The Summer of the Bear  by Bella Pollen

Now on Star Book by Ben Okri

Having a lunch of melon (again) Taleggio cheese – sorry but do not like the local Percorino cheeses made out of sheep’s milk -  and Salame cinghiale – it might look mouldy but don’t be put off – it’s only the skin and it’s really delicious! 

Me setting off with computer - amazing what one can get in a M&S bag!