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Umbertide , Umbria Italy 27 June - 4th July
On the trip north from Rome to Umbertide we struck a huge thunderstorm - poor Vladimir looked like he was swimming at one stage. This was to be a sign of things to come for the week as I think we had thunderstorms just about every afternoon.
We found our wee town house in Umbertide it was 4 metres wide by 10 metres long and 4 stories high. and just lovely with a little verandah looking out towards Umbertide Castle. The McLeods and us soon settled in and many a wine and Bruscetta were enjoyed on the tiny verandah. We tried our best to immerse ourselves in Italian life buying our brioche for breakfast, coffee in the square late morning, and watching the men play cards in the piazza in the evenings.
The first morning was a Sunday morning and we found a whole lot of men fishing on the banks of the Tiber with huge extendable rods (up to 10 metres in length ), they had special seats and they threw out hand fulls of live maggots to attract the fish. It didn’t seem to work though as we never saw anyone catch anything.
Also that morning there was a Vespa club rally in the Piazza. What a sight ! There must have been about 150-200 of them! One was even covered completely in fur!
On Sundays in Umbertide everyone seemed to buy fancy cakes for lunch so Ju bought us some , the man wrapped them in special paper and tied a lovely red ribbon round them. What a treat!
In the afternoon we visited a lovely hilltop village nearby with great views of the countryside.
The next day we went to Sienna, stopping off on the way at another hilltop village called Cortona where there were some beautiful art shops. Parking in Sienna was a bit of a nightmare but we eventually got one. Today was the first day of Siennas famous horse race called Le Palio. This is where 10 horses are assigned to 10 different contradas (districts) of Sienna and they have 6 practices before the main race in the town square on the 4th day. The riders ride bareback and hit each other with dried bulls penises and it is a crazy 3 laps of the square and takes only about two minutes. To watch the race you have to get a standing space in the square 6 hours before the race. We hoped to watch a practice race that evening but a thunder storm rolled in and it was cancelled much to Vanessa’s disappointment how ever we went back on the morning of the big race and watched them do their last practice - it was quite a sight with all the supporters cheering and waving their scarves of their Contrada. It would be great to go to the race itself but we told Vanessa she could do it when she’s older.
Another trip from Umbertide we did was to Assissi, birthplace of St Francis and we really enjoyed learning all about him and St Clare. It was amazing that in the short time he was spreading his message he created a whole new movement in the church which has survived to this day. The town itself was lovely although somewhat dominated by the two massive churches built in his honour.
It was a .very hot day that day, and on the way home, we called in at the ancient town of Gubbio. By this time the kids had had enough of fortified towns and we found the local swimming pool for a swim, while Jen Ju and Ali explored the old town. 20 euros for the 3 of us to go swimming, no wonder the pool complex was empty on a 30 degree day !!
It was market day the next day in Umbertide, and the town centre was transformed into a huge market, selling everything from clothes to whole cooked pigs and live chooks.
We had promised Vanessa we would go back to Sienna, the day of the big horse race, so on our way to Florence the next day we left especially early and drove the hour and a half to be in the town square for the Trial run of the big race at 9a.m. It was quite an occasion with the Contradas supporters leading their horses to the ring, the police then cleared the track and the gun went, and the horses charged off and then eased back and cantered the lap.
From here it was onto Florence , after a brief but interesting side trip through the Chianti area, where we actually got lost for the first time on our trip !!. My JenNav let me down!!
Florence was well set up for tourists, with huge new underground carparks built outside the city, to stop people taking cars into the congested town.
We had a big day exploring the magnificent cathedral, climbing the hill for views of the city, and taking in all of the amazing statues and art work, especially Michaelangeloes “David”, who popped up everywhere. There is one original, but many copies planted all around the town..
All too quickly our week in Umbertide had come to an end, and we had to say a sad farewell, to our great travelling companions for the last 10 days ( Ju and Ali Mcleod).Vladimir was loaded up again and we headed off for the Adriatic coast, and a small clifftop Village called Sirrolo.
This town and the camp we stayed in proved to be one of the best spots we visited in Italy, with the camp perched halfway down the cliff and two beautiful beaches within easy walking distance.
That night Jen and I climbed back up the hill and spent the evening wandering the beautiful streets of the old town and taking in the stunning views of the Adriatic coast under moonlight.
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