Trips

Tues., 10/11/16 – Trevi, Assisi, & Pettino

        Today was a very long day.  Our tour of Assisi was moved from Sunday when the church is closed to tourists to this morning and our farm visit with a “truffle hunt” was moved to the evening.              
        In Assisi we repeated our tour of last year.  We walked up the hill to the Church of St. Francis and had a tour guide and “whispers” for a trip through the lower church and crypt to the cloister and then the upper church (no photos).  We were then on our own to walk up to the Temple of Minerva in the main square.  Marge and I walked to the north end of town and the viewpoint of the “Umbrian Valley” and the minor castle and the major castle.  We looked into the Church of S. Rufino and then ate a slice of pizza for our lunch “on our own.”
            It rained lightly all day.

Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi	Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi	Temple of Minerva
Temple of Minerva	Street scene
San Rufino Cathedral	Castle of Rocca Minore
Castle of Rocca Maggiore	Street scene
After an hour and a half bus ride up a country lane to the hamlet of Pettino, we arrived at 3,000 feet in the mountains.  This was our “home-hosted” visit.  We sat in Francesca’s (Italian) and Mac’s (from New Zealand) home and had a welcome drink and cake while their two children (5 and 7) ran around seeking attention.  Then we were driven higher up the mountain to “hunt for truffles.”  They use dogs to sniff out the ugly blobs.  (Some people use pigs but the pigs tend to eat the truffles before they can be picked out of the ground.)  We never did see a truffle still in the ground.  The dogs ran around and then the owner would show us a truffle.  We think he just pulled one out of his pocket.  Truffles are ugly.  They look like rotten wrinkled potatoes.  Anyway, we were then treated to proseca and scrambled eggs with grated truffle on top.  I ate my share because the eggs were fresh from their hens.  The truffles tasted like dry dirt.  We did this while standing under our umbrellas.  We were also entertained by the herd of sheep the Shepard was bringing down the mountain to the barn for the night
Truffle hunting dogs	Truffle
Truffles	Sheep
Preparing eggs and truffles	We were driven back down to the farm and sat inside another building they used for making and storing pecorino cheese.  Francesca mixed, rolled, and cut fettuccine while the men served us more wine and brochettes with garlic and olive oil, tomatoes and olive oil, and then truffles cooked in olive oil.   Then we went to a third building and sat down for dinner.  The fettuccine was served with broccoli sauce, then homemade sausage and pork chop with some vegetables and more wine.  Dessert was a fruit tart.
Making pasta for dinner	Making pasta for dinner
Making pasta for dinner	Making pasta for dinner
Making pasta for dinner	Making pasta for dinner
Dinner	We had an hour and 20 minute ride back to the hotel.  A very long day.

 

Wed., 10/12/16 – Trevi to Narni to Ostia

        Today the sun came out again for our visit to the hill town of Narni that was once a Roman town after the indigenous people and then a medieval town and even a Papal State in the mid 1850’s.  We had a local guide and visited the main square and the small (360 seat) opera theater built in 1856. 
        

Town of Narni	Cathedral of St. Giovenale
Porta Superior - Roman gate	Porta Superior - Roman gate
Street scene
Teatro Comunale	Teatro Comunale
St. Cassius Monastery	The main attraction in Narni is the Narni Sotterranea or underground ruins that consist of a church, prison, and torture chamber used during the Inquisition. The most interesting thing was that a student from Trinity College in Dublin visited and said there was a chest of documents at the College that referred to these caves and that was how the history of the caves was uncovered.         One room of interest displayed a Roman Groma, five plumb-bobs suspended from a hanger that allowed the construction of straight walls or tunnels and a wooden spirit level also used in tunneling and grading aqueducts by the Romans.  The torture machines used in the prison were inhuman and the prison cells had a lot of graffiti drawn and written by the prisoners.
Narni Sotterranea or underground - Chapel	Skeletal remains
Roman Groma or plumb bob	Writing on cell walls
Writing on cell walls	We had free time for 20 minutes and so we stopped at a bar (bar means a coffee shop in Italy) for the best “long coffee” we have had in three weeks.  Buying a coffee let us use their bathroom legally.         Lunch was at a 3,000-foot high mountaintop restaurant in a beech tree reserve.  The trees prevented any view but there was snow at the top of the Apennines in the distance.  This area around Soriano grows hazelnuts.         We finally arrived in Ostia, which served as the ancient port for Rome and checked into the Barcelo Blu right on the beach and next to a marina of sailboats on the Mediterranean.  We got reorganized and then had our Farewell briefing and Dinner at the hotel.
Sunset at Ostia

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