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.
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