Afternoon in Bevagna - a regular town sort of like Rumford, Maine. Love the way the bars put their picnic tables on the street to annoy the drivers. Neighborhood social life is on the streets, which I think is a wonderful thing.
If you are a stranger in a non-tourist town, they watch you a little to make sure you aren't up to no good. It's their town, and they feel protective.
Lots of pics below the fold -
Early each morning, men with sturdy twig brooms walk down the streets in town, sweeping any detritus and dust from the curbs further into the streets. Nobody litters, it's just cleanliness. Then they come through with their narrow little street sweepers and clean the centers of the streets and squares.
It's difficult to see, but the doorway of San Silvestro (1195) is decorated with some recycled Roman carvings of Egyptian design -
I forgot, earlier, to post this pic of one of the private dining rooms in our quiet Bevagna hotel, L'Orto. Classic northern Italian simplicity:
One of the gates of Brevagna. We had to park the car outside the gates, but could come in and out of town to load and unload.
This little old chapel had a play rehearsal going on inside, at night
Neighborhood "bar." These places are neighborhood hang-outs, and you can get everything you need there: snacks, amazing fresh pastries, cigars, cigarettes, beer, wine, gelato, candy, caffe, etc. Everybody knows everybody in a town of 4000.
A nice restaurant near the wall
We had a nice supper there: We shared a primi of Potato Ravioli with a ground pork white wine sauce. Our secondi was grilled pork braciole kebab with laurel and onion (we weren't sure what we were ordering, but it was good), and a side of spinach in oil.
Our waitress was a Chinese gal with perfect Brit-accented English who had just gotten married to an Italian who was working on an internet start-up.
Driving around the countryside. It's sort of fun to get lost on country roads.
A visit to Spello. Uphill, in Spello - the jewel of Umbria. Most of Italy is uphill. The downhill must be in some other country.
We loved little Spello. The doors on the right are doctor's offices.
Most of Spello looks like this:
One of the old gates of Spello, undergoing renovation:
Spent a little time in an olio shop in Spello. People bring in their oil jugs, and she gives them the blend of oils they want. She has tiny tasting cups.
We had lunch in this place, a ristorante panoramica with views west over the Valle Umbri:\
We shared their Stringozzi with Fava Bean sauce - an Umbrian specialty which is not too exciting - and a delicious and tender Bocconcini di Cinghiale (didn't know what a Bocconcini was, but decided to try it). Spinach in oil on the side, of course.
We also went up to Assisi to see the frescoes in the Basilica di San Francesco (c 1252), built after St. Francis' canonization. Many of them are not Giottos. I think the simple and unworldly Francis would be appalled by the grandeur constructed in his name. The repairs from the '97 earthquake are mostly done.
There are two churches - and numerous chapels - in this two-story building - the older lower church which is architecturally complex, and a more typical Italian Romanesque upper church. Many tourists attend Mass - in Italian of course - in the chapels in the lower church.
Assisi is, of course, a major pilgrimage and tourist site but it lacks the charm of the little towns.
A pic of the cloister of the Franciscan monastery attached to the basilica:
I liked this outdoor fresco of Francis following Christ:
The Basilica is so full of art that an art student could spend a semester in there.
The real duomo of Assisi, where Francis himself was baptised (and St. Clare) is this one, the Cathedral of San Rufino (begun 1140, and built on the foundations of earlier churches):
St. Clare's Gate to Assisi
Just to make sure we were not short-changed in the exercise department, we climbed up the the old Papal rocca on the top of the hill, and walked around inside it.
The Popes who owned the Papal States had serious armies.
I had a beer up there.
If you wonder why the Roman Temple of Minerva on the town square managed to survive, just look inside
We had lunch in Assisi in this nice place. Their outdoor tables were full.
We shared a Risotto al Sagrantino with apple and gorgonzola (amazing) and we each had a salato misto. Why does a simple salato misto taste so good in Italy?
A caffe in Assisi at the end of the day
