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Buongiorno everyone,
Well after finishing the bike riding in Samoens it was off to Urbino on the east coast of Italy for a bit of culture. Anna's cousin Lorenzo had booked a lovely bed and breakfast called Fox Hill where we all stayed for 2 nights. Urbino was hosting an exhibition of early Raffaello paintings. Being the uncultered oath that I am (not including Anna) I found his work amazing. I was gob smacked by the detail in his painting, even his early pencil sketches were incrediable. We also toured the old villages surrounding Urbino visiting the odd Duomo (Cathedral) and of course partaking in the odd Un Caffe (coffee). If you take the time to investigate these little villages the history here is fascinating and of course it helps to have a knowledgeable local (Lorenzo) as a guide. This was our first taste of italian life outside the big cities and we found it thoroughly enjoyable. Everything is at a much slower pace to a point where time almost stands still. So much so that everywhere is shut between 12 and 3pm for their siesta.......I must introduce this back in Oz :-)
Another fascinating place in Urbania was the Church of the Dead that housed the mumified remains of some locals dating back to the ealry 1800's. Very interesting to see what you are going to look like after being dead for 200 years! The discovery of these bodies is due to the Napoleonic Edict of Saint Cloud in 1804 which instituted cemeteries be located out of the towns for sanitary reasons, therefore bodies buried in churches and in surrounding church grounds were exhumed. The preservation of the bodies was due to a mould called Hipha Bombicinapers which covers the corpes, sucks in their humours and dries them up..........I think I have seen this in some of the Italian cheeses and salami's
Ciao for now
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