July 11 - Piegaro

All four apartments turned over yesterday, so we have many new neighbors from Australia, the UK and Denmark. Everyone who left bequeathed the contents of their fridge to us, so we have new and interesting meal ideas!

Colleen took most of the new guests to Monte Vibbiano (this seems to be a pretty regular Sunday 10AM tour) and we lounged by the pool most of the day and I cooked all sorts of yummies. 8:30 brought us back to the piazza; more crowded than ever with villagers eating pizza, drinking wine & beer, and watching the game. The girls hooked up with the Aussie neighbors who have daughters exactly their age.

This picture shows the statue in the piazza representing the history of glass-blowing and the straw weaving that sustained this town for hundreds of years.

July 10 - Lago Trasimeno

We spent the day exploring the little towns around Lago Trasimeno. We circled the lake headed counterclockwise. Passignano was particularly nice, with a little beach and marina. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and we could not believe that there wasn’t a boat to be seen on the lake. Motor boats were docked on the one side and the yacht club was on the other. Funny, in that at home a beautiful Saturday would bring all the boaters out.

We spent the late afternoon back in Castiglione del Lago sightseeing and shopping.

Back in Piegaro, the piazza was set up again for the semi-final. We came out to watch.

July 9 Orvieto

We set out this morning to the cathedral town of Orvieto, 48 km to the southwest. L’Antica Vetreria has a special connection to the Duomo, as the glass used in the intricate mosaics on the façade was made in the glass oven in Il Forno Uno – right between our two bedrooms. The hilliest of the hill towns we have seen in the Apennines, you need to park down below the city and take the funicular up to the old town. The funicular was not running so we took a bus.

Orvieto was settled before the Etruscans who found the soft tufa that the city is atop great material for building. They excavated over 1200 caverns into the cliff, including wells that are several hundred feet deep. The city is built atop this warren of caves and tunnels, using much of the material that was excavated.

We walked past the Duomo and got tickets for the Underground tour, which was being conducted in English in just 15 minutes. It’s a good way to escape the heat of the day (temperature continue to hover in the mid-90’s) and was a very interesting experience. We toured two caves, which have had myriad uses since the Etruscan time, the 5th century B.C. Most are now private cellars. The two we saw were connected. One was used as a mill for olive oil. The other was pockmarked with holes that were designed for pigeons, which people here raised for food for hundreds of years. Windows had been cut into the caves and you could look out and realize that you were truly perched at the edge of the cliff, with a drop of several hundred feet below. In the event of a siege, people could use the caves for shelter and reach the hand-dug wells beneath the cliff. The larger caves were used as bomb shelters in WWII.

(long way down!)

We had a nice lunch (with Orvieto Classico, of course!) of fresh pasta, sauced simply and deliciously in a restaurant on Via del Duomo. Then we stopped for gelato before we got tickets to the Duomo. The façade is amazing, not just for its mosaics, but for the detailed marble relief panels all along the front. Construction began in 1292. The design of the flying buttresses is very similar to the fictional cathedral in “Pillars of the Earth.” The cathedral is constructed of alternating bands of black and white marble.

Inside are the sculptures and frescos typical of the area. The reliquary is the altar cloth that supposedly proved the miracle of transubstantiation to a young priest in a nearby church. It is taken out twice a year, for Easter and Corpus Christi, the holiday that it brought about. Construction of the cathedral began after the pope declared a miracle. The Cappella di San Brizio is in the right transept and is the home of one of Italy’s great frescoes painted primarily by Luca Signorelli in the last part of the fifteenth century. This fresco of The Last Judgment is said to have been the inspiration for the more famous one painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel as there are records of him doing drawings in Orvieto. Very intense Dantean scenes of damnation and the girls were awed and a little frightened. It was a great teaching point to show how the frescoes were meant to tell the stories of the Bible to people who couldn’t read. Certainly this example makes the fear of being “damned to hell” a pretty powerful message for the Church.
We headed back to catch the bus, and waited for almost an hour clutching our return tickets in the hot, late afternoon sun for a bus that was supposed to come every 20 minutes (well, that was what they told us in the morning). We figured we would have to get a taxi, but there were none to be found. So we hiked back into the old city and asked a police officer, who told us that the bus drivers had gone on strike since the morning.

This is one of those things you hear about Italy, and we had been quick to dismiss that it would happen to us! We kind of hoped that she could take us back to the car, but no. We caught the lady at the Tourism office just as she was closing up and she graciously called a taxi to pick us up. So our departure from Orvieto was 90 minutes delayed. We stopped to pick up some easy food and cold drinks on the way home, and were happy to cool off in the pool.

July 8 In Piegaro

Gillian was suffering an earache from attempting to swim the length of the pool underwater, so I trekked to the pharmacy and got her ear drops and pain medicine. She slept for a few hours in the afternoon. Everyone had an easy day.

Before dinner Colleen took us to see the second glass factory in town, which has been recently opened as a museum.  We learned so much about the art and got to see how our factory used to be used.  We are signed up for classes there next week.

Piegaro - July 7

Today was one of our planned days “a casa.” Ward returned the car and we visited the tiny Piegaro market in the piazza adjacent to L’Antica Vetreria. Just three vendors, all with clothing. We slowly walked around town, taking in the architecture. Later we went below our property to dig for glass where it has been thrown out the windows for centuries. During WWII our factory was occupied by the Germans who chipped all the slag out of the ovens (and tossed it out the windows) so that they could be used for munitions storage. You can find all manner of glass, from hunks to shards. Gillian found an intact bottle, but we think it is modern trash, rather than archaeological in nature. Tomorrow we will visit the other glass factory in town which has been opened as a museum.

We planned to eat at the new restaurant in town, Osteria Juni which opened at the beginning of June. But when we arrived, we found it closed. Colleen suggested eating at the restaurant in the hotel, but when we poked our heads in there we thought they were closed too. The owners were sitting in the darkened dining room, but when we asked for pranzo they jumped up, turned on the lights and seated us in a room with a fabulous brick rib-vaulted ceiling.

We had the most amazing meal. The girls started with crostini, and Ward and I shared salumi misti. The primo was pici pasta (with tomato & garlic for Holly, and much to the owner’s chagrin, burro (butter) for Gillian). I had pici with sugo bianco Chinani which was a sauce of ground beef and white wine. Ward had pumpkin gnocchi. For secondi, Ward and I shared the most absolutely delicious cinghiale casserole; small chunks of meat in a brown sauce to be eaten over bread. The flavors were so complex and the meat so tender. Holly liked it very much and even Gillian tasted and said “hmm…not bad.”

Another afternoon that our neighbors were out and about and we had the pool to ourselves. Colleen asked if we would like to accompany her to a tasting that her friend was hosting at his agritourismo in Cittia della Pieve, one town west. They brought in all local products for their guests (plus us) to sample including local wines, meats and cheeses and honey. A homemade ginger & fruit tart finished off the evening.

We returned to Piegaro and wandered out to the caffé with Colleen and found that the young men of the village had set up a TV outside the Osteria to watch the Spain-Germany World Cup game. The ladies were nearby, in their usual positions keeping watch over Piegaro. Several of our neighbors were in attendance and we ordered gelato for the girls and a birra spina for us. The girls disappeared back into Caffé Roma with the other kids to play foosball and video soccer. We stayed until Spain scored and won the game, assuring their place in the finals.

We are so fortunate to have found this wonderful place.

Perugia & Deruta - July 6

We set out for Perugia to visit the Perugina factory where they make Baci. We got turned around and had trouble finding the factory, but eventually came across it. The last English tour of the day had just concluded, but the staff said that we could taste and show ourselves around the museum. We did get an English brochure and managed to understand most of the displays. We learned that they are not actually touring the factory itself until August. Disappointed, but having had our fill of Nestle products, we bought a large box of Baci and headed on.

The heat was worse, up to 34C today and we decided to abandon our exploration of Perugia and our picnic lunch and head home to eat our panini and go back out in the late afternoon. We had the pool to ourselves for hours and as the sky darkened and thunder rumbled, we headed out to Deruta.

It’s nearby, but you have to travel by little unmarked roads. We mistakenly drove into the small village of Castello del Forme, where a villager sitting on a bench actually had to pull in her legs so that we could pass! Then to get out of town we had to take a tight left through an arch and there was literally less than two inches of clearance from the side-view mirrors of our little car. We took a wrong turn coming out of town and wound up tracing a large circle back toward where we came. When we came back to the turn for Castello del Forme everyone was laughing hysterically at the thought of going past the lady again (a la ‘European Vacation:’ “Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!” This time we turned the other way and got back on track.

Deruta reminded me of the potteries in Stoke-on-Trent. They have been making majolica here for centuries. Factory after factory is located on the outskirts of town and the showrooms are up in the old town. We walked into the first shop and found so much that we loved. The shopkeeper showed us over a dozen patterns, and we decided that our favorites were the geometric designs. The peacock style in particular appealed to us all. Afraid to commit to buy in the first shop, we continued on. In one small place a woman showed us where her husband threw the clay and the hand-painting that she did, as well as the stages of firing. Understanding her Italian was not a problem as she was so demonstrative that even the girls understood the process. Alas, her styles were lovely, but not our taste.

The Rafaelesco design is most typical of Deruta pottery. Almost every shop features this pattern. Others are more religious in design; one shop has produced the same patterns of saints and popes since the 15th century. We decided that the first shop was our favorite, but when we got back there at 6:30 they had closed early. So we bought the girls gelati and resolved to return.

We had grilled fillet and a bottle of Monte Vibbiano MontVi (a blended red with 80% Sangiovese) for dinner on the terrace.

Tavernelle, Castiglione del Lago & Cortona - July 5

We walked with our American neighbors into the “new” part of Piegaro to the bakery. We bought bread, sfogliatella filled with Nutella and biscotti.

This morning we had the car for the first time, a little white Fiat Punto. We headed out to the next town over which is Tavernelle to stop at the grocery store and see if we could find the Monday market. Luckily we found the market across from the grocery store. It is quite a big market with perhaps six long aisles with everything from clothing and shoes to dry goods and produce. The first produce vendor called us over to give us slices of watermelon that were some of the sweetest I’ve had. The produce was beautiful and much of it double the size of what we get at home. We bought a red pepper that was larger than a softball, and it was the smallest one they had! We also chose peaches and apples.

At another stall we picked out some dishtowels. Gillian spotted some soccer jerseys and she desperately wanted a black and white one. We went around a second time and acquiesced.

The grocery store was bright, clean and modern. Nicely sized, more like a Trader Joe’s than a mega mart. We stocked up on non-perishables, and marveled at the low prices.

Then it was off to Castiglione del Lago, on the west shore of Lago Trasimeno (the fourth-largest in Italy). It is a nice old town with many food shops, all offering tastes of salumi and formaggio. We bought a cinghiale (wild boar) sausage and a bottle of Vin Santo from one shop and a lovely olive wood cutting board from another. The town has a nice little church and a fantastic view overlooking the lake from a park along the village wall.

We enjoyed a light lunch of pizzas on the terrace of a restaurant called La Cantina. Gillian had margherita, of course, but Holly had olive. I had buffala with olives and Ward had tuna with carciofi (artichoke) and capers.

After lunch we drove further north into Tuscany to Cortona, which of course was made famous by Frances Mayes in her book “Under the Tuscan Sun” (and its two sequels). You can see the town for miles as you approach from the south, terraced into the hillside. The colors of the buildings, all yellows and oranges are a perfect complement against the deep blue sky. The fluffy white clouds made the whole scene almost surreal.

The town was very crowded with American tourists. The church and theater were particularly beautiful, but ducking others stopping and pointing quickly grew tiresome. We encountered Colleen lunching with a friend in the main street. She recommended a leather shop (Nobile) for their quality work and Italian design. I chose a purse for a birthday gift to myself. We walked around some more and thought we would head back home and have a swim.

We had some rumbles of thunder to the northwest, but the storm passed us by. We did get a cooler breeze but not enough to break the heat, which has been holding steady at a high of 33 degrees Celsius – 92 F. We checked the computer and see it’s been over 100 at home, so we really can’t complain!

We are finding ourselves very full after lunch, even after a light meal of pizza. But at about 8:30 I made orecchiette with salsa tartufata (truffle sauce) for Ward and rigatoni alla pesto for myself.

Monte Vibbiano Vecchio & Panicale - Sunday July 4

We departed Piegaro in Colleen’s car at 9:30 for the drive to Castello Monte Vibbiano Vecchio. We passed the modern glass factory, the largest in Europe which produces 3.5 million bottles each day! In Umbria the “green hills” are much more mountainous than we expected. So you wind up, up, up, and then back down again past field after field of sunflowers, hay and tobacco. Olive trees and grapes are growing everywhere. It is again hot and sunny.

On the way, Colleen told us about Lorenzo’s vision for zero-emission production and his philosophy about wine and olive oil. The vineyard has been in the family for generations (Lorenzo Fasolo Bologna is actually a count who lives in a castle on the land!), but under his direction it has grown into a VERY successful business.

His thoughts on olive oil are particularly unique; Lorenzo believes that the oil oxidizes when you open it and you lost the anti-oxidant properties. Thus Monte Vibbiano Vecchio picks, presses, bottles and freezes the oil in one day. In SINGLE-SERVING bottles of just a few milliliters!

We arrive at the newly built cantina and meet Lorenzo and his beautiful wife Mary Am. They introduce us to Walter who will take us to tour the vineyard while they prepare a tasting for us. We board two electric carts and drive up Monte Vibbiano. Among the olive groves we stop for a view of Castello Monte Vibbiano, Lorenzo’s home.

At the top of the property are the merlot vineyards, where we go off-road and drive through the rows of grapes. An absolutely amazing, beautiful, unique experience. Ward is completely entranced. Even the girls keep saying how fantastic everything is.

We return to the Cantina and are shown the tanks and the barrels where the wine ages before bottling. Their top wine is five years from picking to bottling. As we re-enter the cantina we see that they are ready to present the olive oil. It is delicious, and the concept of freshness is intriguing. I don’t know that it tastes better because of the packaging, but extra-virgin Italian olive oil consumed in Italy is nothing like even the best oils we have tasted at home. The girls are licking the oil from their fingers!

The wines are tasty, and we buy a selection. We expected that the prices would be higher, but even the top red is about 20 euro. The “everyday” white and red are less than 5 euro.

Our neighbors head back to Piegaro and we go to Panicale for lunch with Colleen.

Panicale is the next hill town north of us and where Colleen stays when she is fully booked. It has some beautiful streets and a central piazza with a fountain surrounded by four restaurants. We sit outside at her favorite and enjoy a lunch of salads and panini. After lunch it’s back to Piegaro for a swim. We are too full for dinner, but enjoy cheese and cinghale salumi and a bottle of vino bianco from Monte Vibbiano Vecchio.

Our first day in Umbria is, quite simply, perfect.

En Transito - Saturday July 3

We were all in bed last night by 7:30, but the adjustment to Italian time is still underway. Everyone woke at midnight; Gillian couldn’t get over how loud and bright the city was at night and was convinced it must be time to get up. Around 3 everyone finally got back to sleep. I awoke suddenly and checked my watch and was horrified to realize it was 9:10 AM!

We had pre-arranged with Colleen (who owns L’Antica Vetreria) that we would be picked up in Chuisi on a train leaving Rome at 10:36. I hit all the lights and dragged everyone out of bed and send them toward the breakfast room while I hurriedly packed our bags and backpacks. I had just sat down to a cappuccino when I heard “I don’t feel so good” and Holly got sick. Ward took her back to the room to clean up while Gillian and I took care of the table.

We checked out and dashed to the train station dragging the girls and our luggage. It was perhaps a 10-minute walk, but at 10AM it was already 86 degrees, and it was a struggle for the girls. We made it to the train with minutes to spare. Thankfully we got first-class tickets, which gave us an air-conditioned compartment. It seemed that Holly’s illness was not the result of too much breakfast, as she continued getting sick en route to Tuscany.

We arrived and waited for our ride. When some time had passed and the car had not come, we called Colleen who immediately said she would come and get us.

L’Antica Vetreria was familiar from the pictures, but the space, the views; everything was so much more amazing. We pulled up along the pool and facing our apartment. Colleen showed us all around her converted 12th Century glass factory, including the unoccupied units. The attention to detail that she and Tom have shown in the restoration is phenomenal. Full pictures from during the building and of the finished units are on their web site. From the start we found her to be a charming and gracious lady, and a welcoming host. She promised to take us around town when everything re-opened after siesta at 5:00.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were ample pantry staples including olive oil, balsamico, salt pepper, sugar, honey and coffee. There was soap and dishwasher detergent, paper towels and even 2 bottles of unopened mineral water. We have stayed in so many places where the landlords strip the house between tenants that this was a real treat. I made a shopping list to get us through until Monday.

Holly was still under the weather, but both girls were dying to get into the pool. So they changed into swimsuits and jumped in. The change in Holly was immediate; she was revived!

At five we were dried and dressed to shop for groceries and meet the townspeople. We met the ladies of the village who sit outside and keep track of the comings and goings of Piegaro. We met Lila, who will be a key friend of the girls because she works in the caffé, where they have gelato! We met Rosa & Michele, who have the butcher shop, and Matteo the grocer across the street. Ward and I had two bags to bring back and stock the fridge!

I make orecchiette with sausage from the butcher and a little shallot, white wine and pecorino cheese for dinner.

Colleen is taking us and our upstairs neighbors tomorrow to the only carbon-neutral winery in Europe.

Giorno Primo - Roma - Friday July 2

We arrived almost 45 minutes earlier than expected and got our luggage without incident.  We kept waiting to encounter the lines for customs and were pleassantly surprised to realize that it was just stamping of our passports and took less than five minutes!

Holly and Ward slept on the plane, but Gillian just couldn't relax, nor could I, as her seatmate.  I warned her that there would be an afternoon nap, and she was not too upset about that.

Coming out of the airport you realize how totally, absolutely Italian everything is.  We managed to make eye contact with a woman taxi driver who motioned us where to stand in the line to get into her (larger, cleaner) car.  My Italian was barely sufficient to tell her where we wanted to go; my brain was not working well  after the flight.  The train for the four of us would have cost exactly the same as the taxi, so we opted for the latter.

We drove past the Forum and Palatine Hill and then RIGHT past the Colossium.  Everyone has told us that Rome is so cool in that you go around a corner and there is some ancient marvel.  Well, that's completly true, and to drive around the corner and be right on top of the Collossium was amazing.

We arrived at Hotel Nardizzi at 10AM; three hours before check-in.  So we left most of our things and headed out with the guidebook to find the Trevi Fountain, which was nearby. Amazingly we had seen the Trevi Fountain and were sitting on the Spanish Steps when the church bells struck noon.

We find Rome to be very crowded, very hot and very expensive.  But we are happy to be here!

By 12:30 we were checked in to the hotel and everyone felt better after a shower.  We napped from 1:30-4:30 (well, we had to wake Gillian up at 5:30) and found a little shop just down the road where we bought pizza, sandwiches and foccacia for dinner.  We took them back to the room and washed everything down with arranciata (the girls) and prosecco (us).

Tomorrow we catch the train to Chiusi and check in to L'Antica Vetreria for the start of our two weeks in Umbria.

Arriverderci!

Arrived easliy at the airport and easily checked our bags at the curb and quickly proceeded through security.  All flights to Eurpoe are EXTREMELY overbooked.  They are offering $675 travel credits on ours if we fly tomorrow, but we are going to decline.  The gates on either side of ours are heading to Madrid & Amsterdam and the calls for volunteers are coming from every direction.

The girls are very excited and ready to travel.

Philadelphia airport is definitely the way to go.  The airport has made an effort to keep prices in the terminals the same as the off-premises locations, so I paid $3 (total) for the two soft-serve cones the girls had before we boarded the plane.  Ice cream today, tomorrow, gelato!

More from Rome!

edited:
Final offer for volunteering to give up your seat is $675, plus overenight accommodation and business class flight from Charlotte in the AM.  We will have to see if the overbooking continues on the return flight, as this may be too good to refuse!