We left Venice early on Tuesday morning, and arrived in Gubbio, in the North East of Italy, early in the afternoon. Here, we found that the locals had rolled out the red carpet for our visit! Either for us or the truffle convention that was on in town (I like to think that it was for us). In the afternoon, Stefan took us on an orientation walk of the town, and did a very good job, seeing as he'd never been to the town before (he only had to consult his cue-cards once or twice!). He showed us the main sights of the town, which we could visit the following day, if we wished, including a fountain, which legend says if you circle it 3 times while a local splashed water at you, you will become crazy. Stefan was keen to try it, but we couldn't find a local to splash the water at him. 
The next morning we took a cable-car up to the top of a hill where a church, Basilica Sant Ubaldo, is located. I say cable-car, but it was really more like a bird cage. It was quite an exhillarating experience to jump into the cage and trust that the attendant has closed the gate properly so that you won't fall out, and ride it up to the top of the hill. It was so much fun!
Inside the Basilica is the body of Saint Ubaldo, the patron saint of Gubbio who saved the city from being sacked in the 12th Century. There are also 3 large wooden candles, each weighing about 400 kg each, and every year on the 15th of May, there is a race where these candles are carried from another church at the bottom of the hill, up through the town, to the basilica, by teams of 12 young men. 
We visited a few other sights in town, including the Palazzo Ducale, which had an exhibition of photos of Pope John Paul the II which was really interesting. We also went to the Palazzo Dei Consoli, which used to be the Palace for the council but is now a museum which houses the Eugubian Tablets. These are bronze plates which have some writing in the Umbrian language engraved in them. They were found in 1444 by a farmer near the Roman Theatre (which we also visited) and are really important historical artefacts. They were inscribed sometime between 200 and 70 BC.
We had dinner that night at the restaurant at the hotel that we stayed at. I had a pasta and porcini mushroom dish, which was very tasty, while Elise had the Truffle Lasagne. Truffles are a speciality in the Gubbio area. This was an interesting tasting dish and a bit suprising too- I expected that it would have been a traditional, meat lasagne with some truffles mixed into the filling, but the filling was just a truffle cream. It was quite nice to try, although Elise said that towards the end of the dish she was starting to get a bit sick of it.
The next day we caught 2 buses to San Maria Degli Angeli, a town located just outside of Assisi. After checking into our hotel, we then caught another bus up to Assisi, which is located on a hill. Here, we visited the many churches of the town. We picked a good day for it, as it was All Saints' Day, and so many of the churches had services going on inside. Assisi was the home to Saint Francis (who I think is the patron saint of animals?), and Saint Claire (who Stefan tells us was the patron saint of television!) and their tombs are located in their respective churches.
After lunch, Bruno, Elise and I walked up to the Rocca Maggiore, a castle at the top of the hill, from where we had a great view over the town and Basilica San Francesco.The next day, we caught a train to the nearby town of Spello, where we were booked for a wine-tasting and degustation at 12 o'clock. We arrived at the Enoteca to find a table for six set up outside the front of the bar, under a tree in the sunshine. There were three wine glasses at each place, and our hostess, Domenica, brought us all out a fourth when we sat down.
We started by tasting a dry white wine, called Grechetto. We then had two pieces of bruschetta, each with a different olive oil drizzled over it. This was followed by a red wine and with this we had bread with four different toppings: black truffle and mushroom; white truffle and almond; rucola (rocket) pesto; and sundried tomato pesto. After this, we were served a salad plate with a tomato and caper salsa, tuna, rocket and buffalo mozzerella (made with real buffalo milk). On top of this salad was drizzled some of the olive oil and some 40 year old balsamic vinegar from Modena. Elise and I were interested in buying some of this balsamic vinegar to take home with us and after our lunch inquired as to how much it cost. We hadn't drunk enough wine to pay the 120 euro asking price!
The next wine was another red and this we drank while enjoying a cheese and meat platter. This was made up of two different salamis, two different porciuttos and five different cheeses; a black truffle cheese, 3 different pecorino cheeses- each aged differently, and a red chilli cheese. We had to eat the cheeses in that particular order. There was also a piece of bread and some Acacia honey which went well with the pecorino cheese.
For dessert we had a sultana and chocolate strudel with a red dessert wine. This was all followed by espresso.
We were all feeling pretty mellow and chilled out after lunch, and I could finally appreciate the concept of "Italian time", as I didn't feel like I had a care in the world, or that there was something else that I should be doing or somewhere else that I should be. Ahhh...La Dolce Vita!
When we got back to Assisi, Elise and I had the best afternoon- we did our laundry! This may sound pretty boring, but to two people who hadn't washed their clothes in 10 days and had been alternating the same two pairs of trousers and wearing the same jumper everyday for that time, it was a great way to spend the afternoon!
The next morning, we left Assisi early to catch a couple of trains to Rome. Once we had checked in to our hotel, Bruno, Elise and I headed over to Piazzo Campo De Fiori where we each got a delicious foccaccia from our favourite foccaccia shop! Elise and I then got a gelati each after that from our favourite gelati shop! The three of us then walked to Saint Peter's Basilica. We lined up for about 15 minutes to get inside the Basilica. It is a HUGE cathedral (the second largest in the world) and very ornate inside, covered with marble and mosaics. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta inside, although it was behind plexiglass, and there were people crowded all around, so it was difficult to get a full appreciation of it.
After checking out the interior of the church, we then decided to climb up to the top of the cupola. We lined up outside to wait. And wait. And wait. We waited for an hour and a half before finally buying a ticket. We decided to climb all 518 stairs, and not cheat and take the elevator up the first 200 or so. There was a great view over Rome from the top, and especially over St Peter's Square.
That night was
the last night of our Essence of Italy Tour, and we had convinced Stefan to book a table for us all at our favourite Roman Restaurant: Ragno D'Oro (The Golden Spider). Here, we were again served by our favourite Roman waiter, Fabio! He even remembered us! It was the same deal as last time; we didn't see any menu, and he just told us what he would like to feed us. We had the same antipasto as our previous visit. Our primi dish was actually 2 different pastas: spinach and ricotta canneloni, and a spaghetti with calamari and tomato and chilli. For secondi, we were served mamma's meatballs, meat with some veges (in a ragu type sauce), mushrooms and artichoke. For dessert we had a selection of Creme Caramel, Tirimasu, strawberries, and a chocolate lava cake! This was a soft-centred pudding which was to die for!
We didn't live up to our reputation, however, and didn't even drink half of the 12 litres which we had managed to last time we were there!
I think we have converted Stefan, and that he is likely to return there in the future.
We said our goodbyes to the group that night, as we were all leaving at different times the next morning. Again, it was quite sad for us all to be going our separate ways, but I think I can speak for everyone who took part when I say:
"It was a brilliant trip, and while the places that we visited were amazing, and the food was delicious, it was the people that we travelled with that made it an unforgettable experience".
For dessert we had a sultana and chocolate strudel with a red dessert wine. This was all followed by espresso.
We were all feeling pretty mellow and chilled out after lunch, and I could finally appreciate the concept of "Italian time", as I didn't feel like I had a care in the world, or that there was something else that I should be doing or somewhere else that I should be. Ahhh...La Dolce Vita!
When we got back to Assisi, Elise and I had the best afternoon- we did our laundry! This may sound pretty boring, but to two people who hadn't washed their clothes in 10 days and had been alternating the same two pairs of trousers and wearing the same jumper everyday for that time, it was a great way to spend the afternoon!The next morning, we left Assisi early to catch a couple of trains to Rome. Once we had checked in to our hotel, Bruno, Elise and I headed over to Piazzo Campo De Fiori where we each got a delicious foccaccia from our favourite foccaccia shop! Elise and I then got a gelati each after that from our favourite gelati shop! The three of us then walked to Saint Peter's Basilica. We lined up for about 15 minutes to get inside the Basilica. It is a HUGE cathedral (the second largest in the world) and very ornate inside, covered with marble and mosaics. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta inside, although it was behind plexiglass, and there were people crowded all around, so it was difficult to get a full appreciation of it.
After checking out the interior of the church, we then decided to climb up to the top of the cupola. We lined up outside to wait. And wait. And wait. We waited for an hour and a half before finally buying a ticket. We decided to climb all 518 stairs, and not cheat and take the elevator up the first 200 or so. There was a great view over Rome from the top, and especially over St Peter's Square.
That night was
the last night of our Essence of Italy Tour, and we had convinced Stefan to book a table for us all at our favourite Roman Restaurant: Ragno D'Oro (The Golden Spider). Here, we were again served by our favourite Roman waiter, Fabio! He even remembered us! It was the same deal as last time; we didn't see any menu, and he just told us what he would like to feed us. We had the same antipasto as our previous visit. Our primi dish was actually 2 different pastas: spinach and ricotta canneloni, and a spaghetti with calamari and tomato and chilli. For secondi, we were served mamma's meatballs, meat with some veges (in a ragu type sauce), mushrooms and artichoke. For dessert we had a selection of Creme Caramel, Tirimasu, strawberries, and a chocolate lava cake! This was a soft-centred pudding which was to die for!We didn't live up to our reputation, however, and didn't even drink half of the 12 litres which we had managed to last time we were there!
I think we have converted Stefan, and that he is likely to return there in the future.We said our goodbyes to the group that night, as we were all leaving at different times the next morning. Again, it was quite sad for us all to be going our separate ways, but I think I can speak for everyone who took part when I say:
"It was a brilliant trip, and while the places that we visited were amazing, and the food was delicious, it was the people that we travelled with that made it an unforgettable experience".
No comments:
Post a Comment