Cortona

The owner of our apartment stopped by to welcome us and see how we were doing earlier in our trip.  We got to speaking about the countryside and the things he liked about the region.  He mentioned a nice little town about 20 mins away called Cortona that was beautiful and well preserved.  He also said Americans loved it because a movie called "Under the Tuscan Sun" was filmed there.

We had a few hours after our trip to Assisi, so we decided to swing by.  Here's what we found.

Not Shown: The Outdoor Escalators we used to get up the hill.  La Dolce Vita!

Original city walls.

Parking: Even harder than NYC.

One of the many squares in Cortona.

Storm approaching the Church of Santa Maria Nuova outside the city walls. 

Afterwards, we headed back to our tower in the olive orchard for a little R&R:

Life is hard.

- B

Road Trip to Assisi

One of our "must" visit places during our trip to Italy was Assisi.  It was the birthplace of St. Francis and St. Clare who found the Franciscan Order and the Poor Sisters (later: Poor Clares) respectively.  The town itself sits high upon a hill with a commanding view of the valley below.

We left our tower in the olive orchard early that morning.  Do you have any idea how difficult it is to say goodbye to this??

The drive was quick and we were soon greeted by views of the city, which was much larger than I had envisioned. That's the Basilica di San Francesco all the way on the left.

Once we parked and entered the city walls, we found an ancient city dominated by churches and beautiful views.

Our first real stop was the Basilica of San Francesco, but we were unable to take photographs of the inside. We did, however, go a little crazy with the photos of the exterior of the upper church.  Here are a few:

Sculpture in the large grassy area immediately in front of the Basilica.

Afterwards, we headed across the town the Basilica di Santa Chiara (St. Clare).  She founded the Poor Clares, an organization very similar to the Franciscan monks (but for ladies, of course).  Her Basilica was much simpler than St. Francis's, but equally impressive on the inside.  Unfortunately, we were again unable to take photographs of the inside.

And finally, we headed back home (but not before taking a few more photos):

- B

All That For A Panino?

The next day, we saw a sign for a grape festival in the nearby town of Scansano and decided to wake up early and take a road trip across Tuscany.  The festival had almost nothing to do with wine (or grapes for that matter), but getting there was more than worth it.

It was our first clear day in Tuscany, and I wanted to get a few photos of the church near our apartment in Roccatederighi.

Small statue at the edge of the Church's front courtyard.

Looking north from the church.

Then we hit the road.

What I expected from the "grape" festival.  Maybe my translation was off.

This could not be more Tuscan.

When we finally got to Scansano, what we found seemed more like a harvest festival than anything else.  Still, I got a pretty awesome panino out of it.

Mean Streets of Tuscany.

- B

Scenes from Roccatederighi

Some scenes from our time in the Tuscan hill country town of Roccatederighi.

The hills of Roccatederighi

Cara walking away.

Roccatederighi as seen from the valley floor below.

Catholic iconography above someone's front door in Roccatederighi.

This tiny one lane path was used by 2 cars in either direction.  It was ... interesting. 

As close as I could get to the rebuilt tower. 

Villa on a nearby hill.

Pizza place near apartment that was never open.

- B

Hello David, Goodbye Florence

On our last day in Florence, the museum worker's strike had been lifted and we decided to see Michelangelo's statue of David instead of the Uffizi, as we were short on time.  After two and a half hours in line, the guards let us into the Accademia di Belle Arti to see the extraordinary works.

I was only able to take one photograph before the guards asked me to put my camera away, but I think it was totally worth it.

Some things I found interesting about the statue:

1. During Renaissance Florence, it was all the rage to have art (especially sculpture) be as close to "scale" as possible.  David was not done to scale, as it was originally supposed to be placed on top of the Duomo, but everyone still loved it, and the movement away from everything being perfectly to scale began to wane.

2. Michelangelo started it when he was 26 years old.

3. He was given a piece of marble that had been "ruined" by another artist and still managed to create this.

Afterwards, we had some gelato and an espresso, then proceeded to pack up and head to the airport to rent our car (a Citroen C4).  We soon headed down the Autostrade towards our next destination, Roccatederighi.

Somewhere on the highway.

Roccatederighi is a tiny town built in the middle ages on a rock outcropping at the end of one of the mountains in the area.  As you can see, things don't really change much here:

This photo was taken outside the door to our apartment.  This is how most of the town looks, and the streets are just wide enough for two people (or one of these awesome things).  There was a small rock outcropping before the church tower in the photo above that offered unbelievable views of the town and surrounding land.

Finally, we headed to our apartment (booked through the awesomeness that is airbnb) and settled in for the incoming rain.

The view out of the kitchen window.

- B