Assisi and Montefalco

Semi recovered from hoofing it up and down and up and down (etc) the hills of Spoleto, David and I finally got back to our schedule and took the car on a run to Assisi.  By the way, I ate the wafer yesterday, as I said a prayer to heal my aching back. at the Duomo in Spoleto.  It worked!  All I have to do is help others and do yoga everyday, and teach yoga.  And never wear high heels again.

We have named the GPS Rue Pal for obvious reasons and she again proved her worth today by getting us out of Spoleto and to Assisi with no problem.  I begged David to get us close to the top of the hill by car and we luckily found a great parking spot very near the top.  We walked up to what we thought was the Basilica where the tomb of Saint Francis is, but soon found that it was the other way, so we walked down to it.  We got to the Piazza del Comune to have a coffee, and thats where we saw the pilgrim in sack clothes.  He was curled up in one part of the piazza, not begging, with a staff in his hands, a long beard and hair and very black feet.  He was very still, hardly moving at all and looked absolutely authentic.  We wondered who he was and why he was there.  Was he a renunciate atoning for some distant sin?  Or a pilgrim paying homage to the path of Saint Francis, giving up material possesions, taking a vow of poverty and perhaps talking to animals and birds and leaving a small footprint on the earth?  We will never know, as while we were having our coffee, he up and wandered off and we never saw him again.

After a trip to the Basilca and lunch, we took a cab back up the hill to get the car (note from David: approaching the taxi driver I said "Siamo stanco," we're tired. The response was a big grin and hearty "Hooray.") and headed for Montefalco; known as the balcony of Umbria, as it is very high up and has a splendid view of the valley and farms below, and the mountains all around.  We were there for another reason as well: Sagrantino.  A grape that only grows in that area and produces a delicious and fragrant vino rosso.  After making our customary tour of the village retail and admiring the ceramics, leather, jewellery and linens, we stopped at the Enoteca and got our wish.  Due bicchiere di vino rosso:  Sagrantino.  UMMMMMMMM. Then headed home.

Montefalco

View from Montefalco, the Balcony of Umbria.

Valerie chats with mum from the Balcony.

 

I am in love with Italy's farms!  The silvery olive trees in their rows on the hills, the grape vines heavy with deep purple grapes.  The sunflowers nodding and drooping, the high wheat and corn.  We have seen fields that are plowed and that look like they have giant rocks of earth piled in them.  Driving past fields that have been fertilised with sweet smelling manure.  Yes, I said sweet.  The smell of the earth itself.  And it hasn't rained since we got here.  They are experts at tending their farms, some in the same family for hundreds and hundreds of years.   The love shows when you see the goods in the restaurants and shops:  what a variety of beautiful produce.  Cheeses, hams, salami, prosciutto, 

olive oil, pasta, jars of salsa made from artichokes mushrooms and ...truffle oil. There it is.  I want to go to the forest with a an old truffle pig and a wise cracking woodsman with a sharp nosed dog and a big stick.  I want to find a trove of truffles and celebrate with a big bowl of pasta and parm and a glass of wine.  La Dolce Vita!!!!