Italy 2012 part 4

To get to Spoleto from Siena by train would have required a taxi on each end , a bus, and two trains with tight connections on a Sunday. We opted to be driven by one of the hotel's staff. It was pretty exciting as he checked his cell phone, fooled with a hand held GPS, and drove down the middle of the two lanes, at the same time.   The train was starting to look like the right choice, but we arrived safely.

Another great hotel in Spoleto.  We had a great room with a wonderful view. The staff were very friendly, but we need to learn a bit more Italian to take full advantage of the opportunities to converse with these nice people.

We were among the very few tourists in Spoleto, a town with bronze age roots, Roman ruins, and largely medieval and early renaissance structures. It is set at the western edge of the Apennine mountains, with lots of great walks in the town and on the surrounding hills. I was too busy enjoying the beauty of this town to take pictures so I've pinched these from the internet. I suggest you search for larger versions.

The duomo is charming and set in a peaceful piazza, complete with a cafe/restaurant.

 This bridge ( Punta Dei Torrei) started life as a Roman aqueduct and is 285 feet above the stream it crosses. The views from the bridge are exquisite.

 The town has a large fertile valley to the west and forested hills and mountains laced with deep valleys to the east

 Above the town is a fortress built in just a few years at the order of a pope out to regain the papal lands from the  rulers of the Holy Roman Empire ( neither  Holy, nor Roman, nor an empire) in the mid 1300s.

The hill immediately to the east of the town is Monte Lucce. A nice , if steep walk to an old convent and charming little town with a population of 100. Thus it only has two hotels, three restaurants, a pizzeria, and a refreshment stand. All closed ( like most of Italy  between 2:30 and 7 PM) when I got there, thirsty and hungry.  On one day I went for a long walk, sixteen miles, and climbed two modest mountains. I saw three people on this walk, a few cars, lots of cows, horses, and sheep as well as three overly protective and large sheep dogs. The dogs have to be large enough to discourage the wolves that still live in the Apennines. I also saw some great scenery, ranging from rolling grasslands, to gentle hills to majestic peaks and frowning cliffs. If you get to Spoleto, and you should, try the walks to Monte Castlemont and Monte Fionchi.

The town was occupied by Italians not tourists, and on Sunday night the market square was loud with the cheers, groans, and songs, of the local soccer fans as their team played a neighboring rival. Restaurant meals were good to great, with friends and family of the cook and staff stopping by to say hello, show off babies, etc.

We were in Spoleto for four days and after just two we were semi seriously pricing apartments.

We did a one day trip to Assisi which is another wonderful Umbrian hill town, with the added element of being home to the Basilica of Saint Francis. I took some pictures here, and again, if you can view them in full screen mode you can see some impressive details. The basilica is a wonderful blend of gothic restraint and Italian artistry. It is comprised of a lower church, completed just ten years or so after Francis died in about 1226 and an upper one built on top of the earlier, about 50 years later.

The lower one is particularly inspiring. The town is charming, full of medieval domestic and religious architecture and some Roman remnants as well. It is overlooked by a fortress even more forbidding and older than Spoleto's.

The next day we started our trip home, which despite some very tight connection we completed successfully. Our luggage arrived two days later, but that was okay since we were home.