Thirty Minutes

Day 13 - Gubbio and Perugia

Big day today, we are going to Gubbio and Perugia!! On the bus at 8.30!!

First stop Gubbio.  What a beautiful and ancient town this is, sort of built on a hill, and with a grand palace and large piazza dominating the view, to impress the enemies.

The building in front is a fabric stretching hall, the only one of its kind in Italy. 17thC.

Our first stop was to a church, St Francis and the wolf. A wolf is supposed to have been interred in the altar, but offical inspection reveals it was a bandit, also known as wolves.

Next we went up the hill to the Palazzo dei Consuli, a ducal palace and now a museum, holding the 7 Iguvine tablets, bronze tablets that constitute the largest surviving text in the Umbrian Language. 

One of the most interesting things about this town is the presence of the 'door of the dead', a small door near the main door, which was supposed to be where anyone who had died within the house was carried out.  Apparently this is not true, but the real purpose of these doors is not known.  Another supposition is that they were used when someone unknown came calling at night - because they are slightly higher than street level they gave the homeowner an advantage.

There is a cablecar in Gubbio that takes you to the top of the mountain, and from where you get a fantastic view of the city.  Not your usual cable car - this is a metal cage that holds 2!!

It really is a lovely town, of narrow lanes and grey stone.

and of course the lovely castle!

One other iinteresting piece of history befor we leave Gubbio - it was a town that supported the Guelph side in the guelph/ghiberlline wars.  You can tell this because in a town that supports the Guelphs, the parapets have 2 horns on them instead of one (Ghibellines).  In most of the past posts you can see the 2-horned parapets, as so far I haven't been in a town that supported the Ghibellines. Since this castle was built in 1332, it pre-dates the Gueloh/Ghibelline contest.  Recanati has the 2-horned parapets too!!

On to Perugia!!

What a lovely city this is!  We parked in the bus station way outside the city, but Perugia has a minimetro, an automated small railway that picks people up from the parking stations and takes them into town!

We went straight to the main square, the Piazza 4 Novembre. But there was a medieval spectacle happening in Perugia, so everywhere we looked there were people in costume.

More on this later.  First we walked throgh the piazza and past the beautiful Fontana Maggiore, mde in 1277 by the Pisano brothers.

We then walked through some of the oldest part of the town 

where buildings run into each other and parts of one intersect with parts of others, to the old acquaduct, now a walking path

We kept on walking, past the original Etruscan walls

to the Etruscan Arch

The water in this fountain is delightfully clear and cool on this very hot day!!

Back to the main square again, and the Palazzo del Priori

This is only the end of the rectangular building, but in here is the Sala dei Notari.

whose walls and ceilings are highly decorated

and now back to the medieval festival.  There are 5 distinct areas of the city, belonging to different saints/lords/colours whatever. These are the sun yelloe and white), feathers (red, black and white), crossed keys (black and yellow), elephant and castle (green and white), blue chain (blue and black).  Their flags are hanging on the wall of the Palazzo dei Priori (which incidentally holds one of the most outstanding provincial collections of art), but today is full of people in costume.

 

 

More costumed folks

The next thing that happened was that these fantastically costumed people took off to the other side of the square and began to throw flags to music!!!

It was just amazing!!

Then everyone came out of the building and went down to anotgher square, the piazza Giacomo Matteotti, and set themselves up in teams for a tug of war.  The aim was to move the 'castle tower' towards the winning side.

Here is a video..

Yay!! The blue team won!!

Home to Recanati and of course the fiesta for San Vito was still in full swing! Even more people than had been here on Friday!!!!

Day 12 - Camerano, Recanati

After school today and a lunch break I went on an optional excursion to Camerano. The first stop was to a vineyard owned by the Silvano Strologo family.  They produce Rosso Cornero wine using Montelpulciano grapes, and were awarded a DOCG certificate for one of their wines in 2004.  Rosso Cornero is a wine region on the hills along the coast between Ancona and Sirolo.  One of my favourite wines ever, Cacciatore dei Sogni, is a Rosso Cornero and comes from this area, and I have found it here in Recanati!

We were taken iinto the maturation room and saw the steel tanks for the initial fermentation, then into the next room where the wine is stored in carriques of french oak.  This is soooo fascinating and informative when it's all in Italian! 

Then we had a wine tasting.  We were seated at tales of 10, and plates of mortadella, salami, cheese and bread were brought out.  This feast continued while we tasted 5 of their wines.  The best was the reserve aged Rosso Cornero, but I didn't buy any.

Then we got back on the bus and went into the town of Camerano. Camerano's interesting thing is that it has miles of tunnels and grottos under the city.  Most are under private houses and thus unavailable, but a lot of it is under streets and publicly owned land and buildings, so these are open to the public, guided tours only.  We divided into 2 groups and set off.  Italian guided tour though!

It was absolutely fascinating!  No wonder you need a guide, as there are miles of tunnels twisting around.  Here's the map....

We started in the yellow area at the bottom and went to the first green spoke.  The history is that no-one knnows exactly how old the tunnels are, but the belief is thousands of years, and that they were first used by early tribes for living then safety.  As buidings grew, the areas were used as storage, and by the 1refuges 8thC the large houses above were using gthem as refuges for people holding anti-government/church sentiments.  The tunnels did not connect by then as they show on the map, as each family walled off the bit that belonged to them.  One of the families was a significant member of a revolutionary group and the held secret meetings in these rooms.  There's also a couple of churches down here.

This is a stairway leadng to a private house, and is the usual way that the families would access their section of the tunnels

In this section a walkway has been built arund this central column.  The floor slopes slightly up from left to right the whole way around, so that water seeping through the rocks could be collected easily and used by the family.

They think that a some time a chamber near here was used as prison cells, as there is only one entrance/exit. On the map this is the bit that looks like a kids drawing of a man.  The central column is the empty bit in the head. 

We walked along to the end of the tunnel system, probably where it is a lighter brown at the bottom of the map on the left.  There is another circular area where water was collected, and the gates from the house where they would come down and collect it.  Also wine was stored here, as it is quite cool, like the Frassassi caves.

We then went back a differe t way, up lots of stairs, and came out on the street. We walked through the square and to what is left of a very old church that has been incorporated into the local council chambers. We wnet into the building and down into the remains of an even older church.  The sign says:
"... make it possible to compare it with other ancient hypogeums in the Mediterranean area and above all with the hermitage of the St Basilio monks. A bas relief Greek cross on the vault confirms this."

and there are fossilised shells in the roof from the days when this area was covered by the sea.  I hadn't expected anything like this, and was completely enthralled!

We returned to Recanati about 9, and I was still so full from the plates of 'produci tipici della regione' that I wandered around the tow, which was FULL of people that had come in for the festival of San Vito. Stalls everywhere selling the strangest things - vacuum cleaners and window washers and fridge magnets and lots and lots of food stalls with long queues.  Sweets and fairy floss and huge balloons, saucepans and indoor furniture, handbags and toys. Very colourful and noisy!

Day 11 - Recanati (13/6)

Slow day today. A free morning then lessons in the afternoon. I had some drinks in the square with some of the students.  Tomorrow a festival begins.  It is for St Vito, the patron saint of the town.  Tonight there was a procession of priests in long brown robes, the sort worn by the saint,  followed by a troop of young people clothed in white, then the saint and many townspeople. There were fireworks later (which I missed but which were apparently very good).

I have a small video but I don't know how to insert it.....

Day 10 - Villa Bounaccorsi, continued

I realised I hadn't finished talkinng about the Villa Buonaccorsi, so here's an additional post.

After we went through the house, we went into the gardens.  These are maintained beautifully.

And of course, since it is on a hill, the beautiful views of the surounding countryside.

After we had explored the garden we went to dinner.  The tables were set up beside the garden, so we ate outside.  There was music, singing by all the students from an italian song book, drinking games from the teachers, lots and lots of dancing and free flowing wine!  It was a terrific fun night, but I only have videos of the evening and I don't know how to embed them!

 

Day 10 - Recanati, Villa Buonaccorsi

This morning we finished school at the break and the teacher took us to the Museum of Emigration.  It was extremely interesting, even though I could not understand the guide.  Luckily there were stories on the walls which I could read.  Italy has had a lot of emigration, mostly to the US and South America, though after WW2 Australia and Canada became destinations. This museum has collected stories, photos, all sorts of memorabilia that the emigres sent home. It was fascinating.

Upstairs they have 2 paintings by another favourite son of Recanati, the renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto.  These are actually lovely.

The Anunciation

(sorry, a bit blurry).  Mary's eyes really do see you wherever you are in the room.  It's a lovely painting. 

After this, and a lunch at the local cafe, Cafe13 which does a good deal with cheap meals for students we had a break.  At 5.30 we got dressed in out sort-of-best and went to a dinner and dancing night at Villa Buonaccorsi.  It is about 20km away, on the top of a hill, and old palazzo which has been let go to ruin but with magnificent gardens that are available for weddings and parties.  Randi (Norwegian) and Ryogi (Japanese), who have been at the school before, said it was an event not to be missed, so most of the school went.

The descendents of the final countess stripped the house of everything excet the wallpaper and sold it, as there was no money left in the estate.  I am not sure who wons the house now, but the gardens are still kept up beautifully, perhaps with the money from events. This was the summer home of the family Buonaccorsi, whose Palazzo is in Macerata.

The family crest is a crowned cat, which features in many of the painted ceilings and walls

All the floors are stunning, each one with different tiles. 

Day 9 - Recanati, Grotte di Frasassi

After school this morning and lunch we caught the bus to the Grotte di Frasassi  It's about 85km away, so we got there about 4.  We had a cold drink, as it was over 33C, and at 5 our party of about 40 went into the Grotto (there were other parties of students).  We had been advised to bring a coat, as it is always 14C in the caves, so quite a temperature difference!

Our guide led us through a long tunnel, about 200m.  The temperature was cool, but the humidity was 95%. The caves are AMAZING! The first cave we went into, the Ancona Abyss, is 180m long, 120m wide and 200m high and could contain the Milan Cathedral!  The rock formations are just unbelievable, so thick and deep, when you consider that stalactites/stalagmites form at about 35mm a year!  New caves are always being discovered, and so far they have discovered over 30km of caves.  The fast (75 minutes) guided tour takes in 1.6km of caves.  Starting in the Ancona Abyss we see stalactites, stalagmites, shawl formations and others whose names I don't know.

but these are huge, at least 8 metres high and 3 or 4 around. Everywhere you look there are formations, it is just staggering.

We went into 7 caves altogether, connected by walkways and paths though these amazing formations.  One cave is called the Cave of the Candles, because the whole cave is just full of connected stalac-things.  Then we came to the lake...

To give you some idea of the scale, here is the walking path and some students

It was breathtaking, and if you are ever in this part of Italy you should not miss these caves, the largest in Europe.

 

Day 8 - Recanati and Porto Recanati

Monday, and we have school later this afternoon, from 2.30 to 6.30.  School has advised us to go to the market at Macerata, the nearest large town.  However, we went to the wrong bus stop and missed the one to Macerata.  Instead, Daniella and some Argentinian women she has met here and I all went to Port Reconati, as that was where the bus was going.

We had a geat time.  They are all lovely women, and they insisted we speak italian as the one language we have in common.  We had coffee and cakes at a beachside cafe,  then walked through the town. The sea was really calm and I wished I'd brought my costume. But I got a new sim card as the Australian one is pretty bad out here in the country.

We went back and had afternoon school. After school some of us went to the Piazza L for aperol spritz and snacks, then home.  We have a test on Friday so need to start studying.

Day 7 - Recanati

Today a lot of the students went off to Florence. The bus left at 5am, so I had decided not to go.  It was going to be 35 in Flrence, lots of tourists, 4 hours there on the bus and 4 hours back.  So.....

Slept in, went to a friend's house and used her waching machine, then hung about while it dried.  On my way back to the apartment I met Sylvia, who has an apartment next door to me, so we stopped in for lunch at the closest restaurant and had a very very nice meal indeed. It was about 4pm when we got home, so after a rest I went down to Piazza Leopardi and met up with Marcella and we had a couple of drinks, then home.  No need to eat again when the free snacks are like this!!!

This is a good time to tell you about the town, the students and my apartment.

In one of the earlier posts I posted a map of the town.  I'm at the residential end of town, where Casa Leopardi is.  All the shops and bars are at the other end of town, so it's a walk for me to get anywhere.  Piazza Leopardi is about halfway, in the middle of town.  The school is slightly on my side of Piaza Leopardi. It's apparently 2km to walk from one side of town to the other, and its a 6km circumference walk.  So I am certainly doiing my 10,000 steps per day!!  

Recanati is a very clean, rather bourgeois town, as I've said before.  The centro storico,which is within the walls and is where I live, the whole area that I am talking about, has narrow lanes and the buildings are about 3 stories high.  Outside the walls the buildings are modern.  This is where the supermarket is, a 12 miniute walk down the hill and then another 12 minute walk, with shopping, back up. There is as little supermarket within the walls, at the other end of town, and there are delis with fresh bread and yoghurt and cold meat etc for daily living. There is one near me, about 400m away.

On onee side of the little square I live in is Casa Leopardi, a fabulous 16thC palace of the Leopardi family.  On the ohter short side of the rectangle is achurch, and I'm still rying to work out the pattern of the bells, which luckily don't start until 7.30 in the morning, and end about the same time in the evening.  I am on the other side of the rectangle, opposite Casa Leopardi, and the 4th side has asmall restauant that seems to keep the strangest hours, and a couple of streets out of town.  The square, Piazza Sabato del Villagio, is a favourite spot for young people meeting at night, so despite the heat in the apartment I have to close the windows tight in order to get to sleep.  

I am in an old apartment with a stingy owner.  Everything is very basic, but the bed is comfortable and the fridge works etc etc.  I hate the shower, which I have to turn on about 3 minutes before I want to get in for the water to heat up.  It's a continual effort to turn up/down the hot and up/down the cold to avoid freezing or burning.  Also, the showr is so small that I have to wash my  hair standing in one position and turning the shower head to the wall, as there's almost no room for me and the taps in the same space. Sigh.

My kitchen is very strange too.  Daniella, my left hand neighbour, and Sylvia on my right, have kitchen areas that are tiny but manageable, Daniella even has a table in hers!.  My kitchen is in the hallway, so it has a sink and a tiny burner, and that is all that fits in the bench space.  I use the top of my fridge to dry the dishes and also to prepare my cooking, as there is no other space at all.  My bathroom is a large room off the kitchen, and my quite large bedroom has the only table in the apartment, seating 2. I have terra cotta tiled floor throughout, no iron, no vacuum cleaner, no fan, but a mop and broom. So very basic.  I have had to buy almost everything, as there was absolutely nothing but a couple of plates, some cutlery, a frypan and a saucepan here. A fan would be great, as there's only one window, and the apartment gets very hot.  I am on the 1st floor, where there are 3 apartments.  There's also one on the ground floor, but we don't know who lives there - maybe the landlord!!

My class - there are 16 of us in my class, B1, which is Intermediate. There are 2 american girls and me who are native english speakers, a japanese boy and a norwegian woman, and 3 mexicans, 3 argentinians, 4 brasilians and 1 columbian. Sounds like the 12 days of Christmas!!  This is the 2nd month for the columbian and the 3rd for the japanese boy, who has an internship in an Italian engineering company starting next month.  Everyone speaks great italian - I think the spanish speakers have an advantage! The brasilians also seem pretty fluent. The japanese biy is very good too.  The norwegian woman, Randi, seems to sruggle, though this is her 3rd year at the school. Luckily for me she loves to talk in English so we are spending some time together outside class.  Danialla my next door neighbour is also on my class - she is Argentinian.  Also Marcella, the Argentinian woman I met earlier.  There is trouble in pardise, however, as no-one likes Marcella and she has caused trouble with the teachers. She is vry negative and interrupts all the time because she does not pay attention and knows very little grammar.  Her spoken italian is very good, however. But it is becoming very difficult as people ignore her and then complain to me about her, and she complains to me about them.  Sigh.  People will not go to dinner or drinks if she is there, so it is a nasty situation. 

Enough now,I am about to go to the laundry!! Yay, the exciting life of a student!!

 

Day 6, Recanati - San Marino and the Riviera Romagnola

Saturday morning we left at 7am (no breakfast!) to drive to San Marino and the Riviera Romagnola. Early mist on the fields...

We did stop on the way and I had something to eat.  We arrived at San Marino around 10.  It is 145km from Recanati.  Unbeknownst to me, San Marino is an independent country within Italy.  Its independence was recognised by the Papal State in 1631.  It managed to survive Napoleon and WW1 and 2 unaided, no doubt due to its extremely hilly nature, though the British bombed it by mistake in WW11. It's a nice old town, with lots of castles and palazzos and 3 towers.  I walked to 2 of them, but did not pay the entrance fee to go in and look around.

The main square, where in the summer tourist season the world's smallest army changes the guard...

Hilly....?

But as it's so high it has magnificent views...

There's actually a cable car from the valley up to the town.

This is tower 1, very impressive

And this is the hilly walk with tower 2 at the end of it

Tower 2

The local cross-bow yard where the army practice

We left the lovely town of San Marino, and also the country of San Marino, and headed into Emilia-Romagna to the Riviera Romagnola, the Italian Riviera.  Beautiful beaches with SAND!!!!

We had a lovely lunch in a beachside cafe, I had the local specialty which is called Piadina, and is a folded round bread rather like lebanese bread but finer, filled with good things - mine had marinated anchovies and rocket. Yummmmm.  Had a swim, water cool but good, then went for a walk. Very nice sophisticated beachside town.

A water feature at the beach

Decorated streets...

 

An aside - Giacomo Leopardi

Giacomo Leopardi is the famous son of Recanati, along with the composer Rossini.  This year marks the 200th anniversary of his poem, L'Infinito.  Recanati is situated on Il Colle del'Infinito, the hill of Infinity.  The main square, Piazza Leopardi, has a nice brooding statue of him, and there are so many references to Leopardi one begins to get tired of them.  But to mark the occasion there are a couple of things happening in the town.  The first is the infinity sign as art.

Along the street I live in, Via Roma, are many infinity signs, with lines from Leopardi's inexpressibly beautiful poem, L'Infinito, on the wooden frames.  There are versions of the poem attached to the frames - in English, French, Bulgarian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and some of them have lost their translation.