Trips

Tues., 6/30/15 - Chianciano and Assisi
            On the way from Chianciano to Assisi we passed more fields of mowed hay, sunflowers in bloom, corn in tassel and, of course, olive groves and vineyards.  The landscape has been beautiful all week. 
            Assisi is a walled city with four km of walls and seven gates.  We met our local guide and took a tour of the church, which was built with a church below and a second church on top of it.  We entered the lower church first (no photos inside).  The frescos on the left sidewalls depict the life of St. Francis and the right side, the life of Christ.  According to our guide, St. Francis is believed by some to be the second coming of Christ.  He was born in a stable, pulled people up out of purgatory, healed the sick, etc.  The pictures are painted in the Gothic style with flat expressionless faces and plain blue or gold background.
            We walked down to see the tomb of St. Francis who was reburied in this church along with three of his original followers.  Franciscan friars wear plain brown or black robes with a rope belt with three knots that stand for chastity, poverty, and obedience. 

Field of sunflowers below Assisi	Franciscan Monastery and the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi
Assisi city gate	Assisi - Street scene
Assisi - Entrance to the Monastery and Basilica	Assisi - Entrance to the Monastery and Basilica
Assisi - Monks and layman	Assisi - Interior courtyard
Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi	Rose window of the Basilica
Garden in front of the Basilica	Statue of St. Francis of Assisi
Sculpture by Renzo Garibaldi in the plaza outside the church	We walked a little in town. Fernando keeps saying “Culture is Torture”.  It was another very hot day. and we did walk up and down hill a lot in Assisi. The hill towns are all beginning to look the same to us now. We went into the Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Comune - another pretty church. Almost everything is up, or down
Street scene	Street scene
Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Comune	Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Comune
Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Comune	Umbrian countryside from Assisi
On the way back to Chianciano, we stopped at Rivotorto to look at the 1200’s church/house built by St. Francis and two companions.  The original building had an open center area for prayer and contemplation, a sleeping room and a sitting/eating room.  The preserve this original structure, a church was built above it – rather different!
Church of Santa Maria of Rivotorto	On the bus Fernando gave us each an Italian version of a Hershey’s Kiss.  It had a romantic saying inside written in three languages.             We also stopped at a supermarket and mall to buy something for dinner.  We ate a big lunch near Assisi and dinner was “on our own.”  We had a picnic on our balcony at our hotel.              At 8 PM many of us watched the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun,” that was filmed in Cortona where we will go tomorrow.
Wed., 7/1/15 - Chianciano and Cortona             We began the day at the Etruscan Museum in Chianciano.  It is sponsored by the Grand Circle Foundation.  There are eight archeological sites currently being investigated.  Several tombs have provided an historical picture of life in the 6th c. BC before the Greeks and then the Romans arrived and conquered the area.  The museum has four floors of 250-year-old farmhouse.  It is a wonderful museum.
Chianciano Archeological Museum	Chianciano Archeological Museum
Etruscan vase	Etruscan remains
Etruscan sculpture	Etruscan sculpture
After our museum stop, we drove on to Cortona where the streets are so narrow and steep that the bus left us off for a steep walk up to the main plaza.  Some of our group rode a taxi to the top.  The City Hall, from the 1500’s, and many shops line the plaza.  The town was originally Etruscan but nothing remains from that time.  We wandered on up to the Church of San Francesco.  The church has a relic (a small piece of wood) from the Holy Cross in a tabernacle above the high altar and a tunic/robe worn by St. Francis.  There were several paintings and frescoes from the 16th c., two of which were done by Raphael.
Cortona - steep streets	Cortona City Hall
Cortona - wall plaques	Cortona - water department
Cortona - typical roof	Cortona town square
Cortona - Bell tower	Gale enjoying an espresso - note the mild mustache
We bought Panini’s and chips for lunch and had a cappuccino and lime tea at a cafe.  We took our lunch up, by bus, to the Church of St. Margarita and had a picnic under the trees.  It was peaceful and quiet.  We looked down at the views of Tuscany and looked inside another church.
Church of St. Margarita	Church of St. Margarita
Church of St. Margarita	Tuscan countryside from the Church of St. Margarita
To cap off the day's events, we played a game of Fernando’s design.  We got two tries at tossing a stone into a circle drown on the ground.  The two players with stones closest to the middle of the circle won a bottle of wine.  Marge won the white wine!  I was a judge.	Judge Gale

           Back at our hotel we all met at 6:20 for our Welcome cocktail party that became a Farewell toast to Tuscany.  We were served Champagne, or wine, with snacks on the patio outside of our lobby.  Then we had a banquet at our hotel with a lady singer and dancing.  Our wait-staff and chef brought in a side of “wild bore” enhanced with two sparkler flares.  The meal was again the best we have eaten.

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