Day 7: Assisi Basilica, Umbrian Winery, and Rome Arrival

 Made it to English Mass at 9 am in the upper part of the Basilica of Saint Frances, and while I didn't recognize a few of the hymns that a guitar trio led us through, I did happily recognize the Creation Mass (Foley) and "One Bread, One Body".    So special to be there - maybe it is an inclination on my part to be enchanted with the place, but there is an overflowing feeling of serenity in the way both the hosts and the visitors to this place conduct themselves, and the views out into the valley are just exquisite.

Back to the hotel, where the very sweet attendant gave us extra time to get out due to Paul being a little under the weather, and then a taxi fortunately got closer and spared us a long trip down with the bags.  Into the car, out of the parking lot, and on our way to the next stop, Madonna de Latte winery in the countryside outside Orvieto.

We were doing great and on a nice stretch of back roads thru the country, with the most amazing views as we wound our way up and down the Umbrian hills.  My unspoken plan was to get Paul to lunch inside the hilltop town of Orvieto, which has a magnificent cathedral and town center perched on top of a mesa, spectacular to see as one arrives, but unfortunately another "act of GPS" rerouted us due to heavy traffic, so we were taking back roads, some no better quality than our own Pequest Rd, thru little towns surrounding Orvieto. It might have been divine providence at work:   I remember driving thru Porano and thinking: "A villa here for a week would be just the thing".  

Ultimately we got to Sugano and found the Madonna del Latte winery, a small family-owned/operated establishment.   Started by an Austrian husband and Italian wife back in the early 2000s, their then teenage son switched career interests to winemaking, and now he and his family manage the 10-acre farm and its vineyards.   He is very intense and passionate about his winemaking, and has been around, interning in California and New Zealand, before returning home.   He has established relationships with local farmers to showcase their bread, cheese and salami alongside his wines, and walking thru the vineyard, sitting under the pergola and enjoying a beautiful location, sampling wine, delicious cheese and salamis -- it was a pretty potent combination of good things.

After taking our leave of our host, we began the drive to the Rome airport to drop the car off and grab a taxi into Rome.  In true Jim fashion, our route took more local roads and avoided the autostrade, and we were rewarded with some amazing views of Lake Bolsena from the hilltops surrounding the lake as we headed south.   We certainly added time to our drive since we had to go thru several small towns along the way, but ultimately we did get on the highway that goes alongside Civitivecchia and points south and west of Rome, and with little drama we arrived at the airport and dropped the car.   Then a wait to get a taxi, but eventually off we went and ultimately arrived at our hotel, right adjacent to the Pantheon.  Our fellow travelers were all in bed by this time (given they just arrived in the morning and were operating on zilch sleep), so we found dinner for two (Pasta Carbonara for me) and then called it a night.

Day 6: Assisi - Calendimaggio

 We had a relatively easy time picking up our rental car - a little Fiat that *just* fit our luggage.  The drive out of Florence was a bit nerve-wracking just due to the traffic on the road and risks of making a wrong turn, but once we were on the autostrade heading towards Arezzo and Assisi, it was smooth sailing.   A little worry about not having cash to pay tolls with proved groundless - credit card was fine.  It gave us a reason to stock up on some essentials:  water, Pringles and peanut M&Ms, not necessarily in that order.

It was about a 2.5 hr drive to Assisi and we didn't get underway until 11 am, so our ability to get into the B& B, have a proper lunch and make a leisurely way to a 3 pm seating for Calendimaggio flew out the window.  Worse, the GPS did not take us a good way and streets were closed due to Calendimaggio, so we had to dump the car at a further parking lot.   We tried to get a taxi to take us to the B&B but the driver dropped us off at the base of a stairway a quarter mile into town and indicated we'd have to go up a steep staircase and then walk a bit to get to our B&B.   Worse, due to GPS mishaps and some well-meaning helpers, we got a bit misdirected and wound up dragging the bags up another steep street, and then having to walk back down an equally steep street to get to our B&B.  By this time, we were hot, stressed and tired, and entered the B&B in not-so-gracious manner.  The attendant could not have been more adept at soothing our stress and getting us into the spirit of St. Francis.  Soon we were in the room, and learned that our 3 pm Calendimaggio seats were actually for 4 pm, so some time to rest (but no lunch).

Calendimaggio is a traditional multi-day May Day festival that takes the form of a series of contents between the "Magnificent Lower Part of the City" ("Red team" / S"otto") and the "Noble Upper Part of the City" ("Blue team"/"Sopra").   Several contests (i.e. tug of war, archery contest) and parades were already completed the days prior, but Saturday's contests were a challenge and a singing contest, both held in the town square.  Thanks to some regular checking on my part, we were able to get reserved seats in the stands for both events.    The challenge turned out to be townspeople dressed in medieval garb and other costumes acting out a story.  The red team's story as much as we could follow in Italian, was how the god or angel of love designated a fair maiden for his protection, how stregas (witches) and winter/death were finally able to gain access to her against the protection of the town, but how the valor of a red team knight was able to rejuvenate her and bring about spring in the city, with the requisite celebration/pageantry.  It was a great spectacle, fun to see people putting heart and soul into their parts, musicians playing period instruments accompanying the singing and dancing, etc.   We found lunch after the red team (first group) finished, and made it back for the second half of team blue, whose performance was equally spirited.   Full and tired (and hot), we went back to the hotel for a rest and to cool off.  The singing contest was at 9:30 and we were hoping that bars or restaurants would stay open late to accomodate a later dinner.   The singing contest was fantastic.  "Sotto" in particular was just excellent.  The teams each took the stands one song at a time, singing three each.  The middle one for "Sotto" was an all-male ensemble that featured a great performance by a counter-tenor who just floated the high notes in a pure, effortless way, well supported by the rest of the ensemble.   Paul and I both agreed that "Sotto" deserved the win after that, and sure enough we learned later that they did win that portion of the contest, as well as the whole shebang.  Two very nice sisters from the US, one of whom moved to Assisi and has lived here since 2004, were next to us and provided a lot of helpful insights into what was going on.  Whistling, we learned, was the opposite of applause.  Lots of whistling from each side when the other team was doing their processions on/off the stage.

Anyway, our worries about dinner proved to be right.  We fortunately had a few protein bars and those pringles/M&Ms, and primarily our memories of a good night sustained us.

Day 5: Florence

 Another easy train booking and we were on our way to Florence, going thru lots of tunnels.  We pulled into the train station and immediately felt an increase in temperature and humidity.   A short taxi ride later and we were at the Residenza Epoca, quickly checked in and back out the door to rush to the Ufizi Galleries, where we had a 15-minute window to get a “skip the line” ticket we reserved.   May is not yet full tourism season in Florence but it seemed very crowded to us as we wove our way thru the crowds.

We made it to the museum in time, and we basically got the history of modern painting laid out as we started with 13th century Florentine church art and went forward from there.  Not too many rooms til we hit Botticelli, then da Vinci, then Michaelangelo and Raphael, then Titian and on to Caravaggio.  Mixed in were paintings from the Flemish schools, culminating in Rembrandt.  A much needed lunch and break for our weary feet, and then on to more exploration of the museum.  Four hours later, we felt we earned a gelato, then back to freshen up for dinner.

And what a dinner!  The restaurant next door, Konnubio, was highly rated on Trip Advisor and it is owned/managed by the same company as our B&B.  We were lucky with our choice.  Our appetizer (octopus sliced with breaded celeriac cubes and radicchio slaw, topped with spicy mayonnaise), two primi (nettle gnocchi with a smoked bean and asparagus sauce, small pea pasta with a vegetable minestrone and dollops of a creamy cheese) and a spectacular red snapper with alternating spoonfuls of a red pepper sauce and a mussels/hazelnut sauce, were high craftsmanship and some bold flavor choices, and completely different from elegant Venice and homey Bologna restaurants we tried.

A bit of walking, streets and restaurants and bars loud with the hum of people talking and laughing, and we were happily set for the night.

 

Day 4: Bologna Centrale

 We woke a bit early so we could be ready for our 10 am “Cesarine” cooking class.  “Cesarine” was the term used for the servant who directed the cooking and domestic affairs of the household, and is the name of a cooperative of homecooks who offer classes on local cooking to visitors.  Each is certified and a central organizing team handles the scheduling and matching of clients to chef.

Our cesarine, Martina, lived just 10 minutes walk from our hotel, and it was just Paulie and me as students.  Our class was tiramisu and tortelloni making, starting by making pasta from scratch.  We then ate what we made and the real fun began: swapping stories over wine and learning more about the country, her upbringing and the situations of the different regions of Italy, etc.   Wonderful experiencs   We are hoping she will look us up on a future trip to NJ that she and a friend will be making.

After freshening up at the hotel, we grabbed a taxi into the town center and explored the Quadrilatero, full of little shops selling cheese, charcuterie, fresh fish, vegetables, etc, along with lots of cafes, bars and pizzerias.  We admired a landmark, the two towers (“Due Torri”), and then wanted to find a taxi back but ultimately got close enough to the hotel that we walked the rest of the way.

While we were tempted to try a new restaurant for dinner, we decided to not mess with success and just did a repeat vsit to Trattoria Bolognese.  And finished up the evening with a “spritz royal” (Campari and prosecco) that sent us to bed and sweet dreams.   

Day 3: Bologna bound

 No rain this morning, so we had a early morning walk to the Rialto bridge to say goodbye to Venice before returning to the hotel for breakfast, packing and checkout.

We decided to use the Vaporetto (public transit) to go to the train station, a total of 10 stops along thr main canal, which was full of boats carrying goods to and fro, taxi boats, gondolas crossing the canal, and the occasional law enforcement.  Got to the train station, and all was easy. We found our platform, got our assigned seats, sat down and plugged in our devices and off we went.  The train was high-speed and modern, our seats confortable and the spring countryside fresh and green.  Soon enough we were in Bologna and it was easy to find a taxi, not outrageous fare to the hotel, and easy checkin to the Royal Carlton Hotel, which is space and roomy heaven after our more cramped experience in Venice.

First order of business was checking out the Tagliavini collection of antique keyboard instruments at the San Colombano museum.    Harpsichords and organs back to the 1500s, clavichords, dulcimers, early fortepianos and the pianofortes that evolved.   Beautiful old church restored to house the collection.  My only criticism: it would have been great to have pieces recorded on the instruments that were still playable as part of the audioguide.

We subsequently grabbed a piadina lunch at the local bar, a delicious Montepulciano wine, and off for a little nap followed by an evening stroll and late dinner at a happy discovery: Traittoria Bolognese, an unassuming little place that served up a delicious pasta with sausage ragu and out of this world “cotolette di Bologna” and some of the best spinach I have ever eaten.  We needed no dessert and slept the sleep of those whose minds, senses and bodies had all been stimulated.  

It was a great first impression — Bologna is much more a living, wotking city than the “tourist central” parts of Venice we saw.  Much to like.

Day 2: Rainy San Marco and Doge, evening concert

 We had a wonderfully long sleep — over 10 hours! Woke up to rain, breakfasted in our hotel’s “American Bar” to the unexpected sound of the Eagles, 

Our tour was the Basilica San Marco and the Doge’s Palace.  Fortunately they were mostly indoor tours, so a good choice for a rainy day.   The Piazza San Marco is enormous with a nice long portico to stay out of the rain, and we got a few good shots of the exterior.

The basilica is an overwhelming onslaught of gold, mosaics, paintings, sculpture, and intricately detailed craftsmanship on the walls, the floors, the ceilings.  Such a display of wealth, craftsmanship and sustainment!  Apparently Venice removed St Mark’s remains around the time Constantinople was sacked and buried them under the altar of the basilica.  A team recently confirmed there are indeed human remains under the altar! 

The doge’s palace is impressive in two ways: each room successively grows grander, more opulent, and more full of detailed trim, paintings and square footage.  Venice in its heyday was a republic — the doge was elected to a fixed term by the nobility.  In most of the paintings in the palace, the doge is portrayed kneeling — one exception: in paintings where the doge meets the pope - he is standing! No submission to the pope here!!!

After the tour, a little cold and wet, we found lunch and a few glasses of wine at a local bistro and a nap.  Then an amusing venture to a post office to mail a postcard.  It turns out Italians do a lot more at the post office then just send and receive mail and packages.  They pay bills, send money, get cell service, and handle ID cards apparently.  Anyway, to be serviced you need to get a ticket, but the categories for the tickets were completely nonintuitive.  I wound up, in desperation, getting a ticket of each type as I wIted (over 30 minutes!!) for service.  Time dragged on so much I wondered if people were going over their wills or something.  In the meantime, people were coming in after me and going to the window but it turns out they had made advance reservations!   Finally my turn came on the wrong type of transaction but after getting scolded and playing dumb, i got my postcard mailed.  45 minutes!

Back to the hotel then out to dinner (a delicate white fish braised “in paper” with a delicious white wine butter rosemary sauce.  Mmmmm.   Then off to a performance by a string ensemble named Interpreti Veneziani.  We heard Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons and a Vivaldi cello piece, finished with a violin showcase piece by Paganini.  We thoroughly enjoyed the performance   The cellist, in particular, was not only a technically good player, he was also an emotive performer.  I’ve seen people overdo it — imagine trying to swoon in ecstasy playing “3 Blind Mice” — but while this guy PERFORMED, what he did made sense in the moment, definitely enhanced the music and … worked.   He was complimented by the violaist and the principal violinist, so the interplay of those instruments realky came thru.  Well done!

Italy Adventure: Day 1 Transit

Man plans, God laughs.  Divine intervention certainly made the day confusing but ultimately satisfying and a bit ironic.  

The irony:  back when we first made plans, we booked a 5:30 flight with SAS via Royal Caribbean that got to Venice thru Copenhagen at 10 am saving several hundred quid over a direct United flight leaving roughly the same time  A month ago, SAS canceled our flight and rebooked us to leave for a Newark-Boston-Copenhagen-Venice marathon departing 2:38 pm.  No changes were possible that didn’t involve major cash or major delays, so we rushed to the airport directly after Paul’s Mass completed.  Upon getting to the airport (courtesy of the Ashmuns who let us park the car at their house), we got to the airport at about 1:15, praying our bags would make all the connections with us.  Here is the irony: there was a cancellation and magically we were rebooked on United’s direct flight!!!  

God still had a few more laughs:  our 5:30 departure got delayed eventually to 8:30 by rain and equipment issues and ultimately we landed in Venice at 11 am.  

Worries about finding the Alilaguna waterbus were for nought — all was easy peasy.   It was a 1 hour boat ride to the Giglio stop, and after a little confusion finding our hotel, we got settled.  Rather than napping, we found lunch at the Tavernetta Maurizio and shared a bacalo (creamed cod with crostini) mmmmmm.   Pasta with zucchini pesto followed for me along with the regional Venetian white wine, Lugana.  Then over the Accademia bridge to Santa Maria del Salute for organ music Vespers service (we thought)

Again divine sense of humor:  we walked into the (spectacular) church and made our way to the chapel where a small group was seated and organ music was filling the space.  The priest started a Mass while looking at us oddly.  All in Italian so only comprehending snatches of words.  We sang the Alleluia enthusiastically.  A sermon full of Marias, Guiseppes, familias.  Then the priest invited a couple to stand — Good Lord it was a wedding!!!

We made as gracious an exit as we could and found a bar for our first negroni, then home and to bed as quickly as we could, which was about 7 pm.  Blissful to sleep!