ST. TRAVELS

On Tuesday, we drove to the southern Tuscany region to spend four nights near Orvieto in an agriturismo called Locanda Rosati.  We planned this to be an excellent way to relax in the country-side at a place about 8 km from Orvieto.  It had air conditioning for this hot-spell in Italy, wifi, and a nice big pool so Ted could swim laps – 8 strokes after a big push-off! ; )

Orvieto – City On a Hill:  During the first of our three full days here, we visited Orvieto and it’s magnificent Duomo church.  This city was a major centre of pre-Roman Etruscan civilization.  It is built on almost vertical walls of tufa, a volcanic rock, so the city was nearly impregnable as it watched over the road to Rome.  We rode the old, now practically un-used, back-road into the city and witnessed ancient gate after gate protecting it.  Orvieto, with close ties to many Popes, became a major cultural center in mid-1200s when Thomas Aquinas taught at the stadium here, before being called to Rome in 1265 to be the papal theologian.  The monumental cathedral of Orvieto was commissioned to be build in 1290 and is striped in white travertine and greenish-black basaltin narrow bands, similar to the cathedral in Siena.  We most enjoyed the frescos on the walls and ceilings along with Luca Signorelli’s masterpiece, his Last Judgement, painted in 1449-51, and admired by Michelangelo before he painted the Sistine Chapel.  One can see that Michelangelo borrowed some of Signorellli’s figures from the Orvieto cathedral!  I loved this painting because it is filled with guitar players!  Guitar players in church are much more traditional than organs and pianos!!!  Yea baby!!!  

Lago di Bolsema:  On our second day here, Sue hired a photography consultant from Orvieto to tweak her skills in landscape photography, as most of her work is portrait and wedding photography.  He drove us to Lago di Bolsema where we first talked theory, over a lunch of tasty cod, about photography skills, filters, best practices (like “Sunny 16”) and rules to break while searching for unique shots.   We then explored Lago di Bolsema, stopping at several “locals only” type of hangouts on the far side of the lake to put the theory into practice.  The photo of the lake and tree was taken with special filters using a 15 second open shutter at 5 pm! The “neutral density filter” allowed the lake to shimmer.  Look at the left side – there were three girls splashing in the water and are barely ghosts because they moved around so much!   We also learned a lot from him about how the Etruscans pre-Roman civilization (750-400 BC) came to settle in this area.

Civita di Bagnoregio: On day three we drove 20 km on beautiful country roads to the Etruscan walled town, Civita di Bagnoregio, and walked the famous pedestrian bridge which is the only way into this vacant city.  Wow!  It is, of course, noted for its now-feeble position on top of a plateau of volcanic tuff overlooking the Tiber river valley.  For hundreds of years houses and buildings have been falling off as the edges crumble.  Imagine walking a thousand steps across a narrow pedestrian bridge hundreds of feet over a canyon – it’s like something out of a fictional wizard film trilogy!

This agriturismo was the best!  We’d come back here in a second, and many people here have been here before.  We were able to rest up and really enjoy the tail end of our vacation, rejuvenated, and almost ready to come home.  We can’t believe we are on our final three nights in Italy.