Saturday, September 22, 2018

Spoleto

 
Perugini Madonna and Child Trevi
How wonderful to be back in Spoleto at lovely La Licina, which feels like home away from home.  After a torrid four hour drive from Ferrara keeping up with other traffic at 140 k per hour and then negotiating endless road works it was fantastic to arrive and settle in after picking up my friend Abbie from the train station in Spoleto. Our hosts Francesca and Ludovico had kindly invited us to a welcome dinner at their gorgeous 17C villa adjacent to our apartment and what a delightful start to our stay to catch up on the changes they had made and share news of family.
 
Morning walk to Spoleto
On our first morning we enjoyed a walk into the historical centre of the town, particularly the Duomo with its glittering gold mosaic façade and the exquisite Fillippo Lippi frescoed apse. We also downloaded the excellent cathedral app which describes in both text and audio each aspect of the building with sufficient detail for a guided tour and a good overview.
 
Facade mosaic

Duomo Facade

In the afternoon we drove to nearby Montefalco to the very good museum of San Francesco, formerly a church, where in addition to the picture collection and exquisite frescoed apse by Benozzo Gozzoli is an exhibition of 13C religious art including sculpture. This is part of a regional exhibition, Masterpieces of the Fourteenth Century, which highlights the work of artists in the region, particularly the towns of Spoleto, Montefalco , Trevi and Sceggino. This really is very fine and well curated and Abbie and I observed how even small towns in Italy manage to develop such excellent small museums.
 
Exorcism! Museum of San Francesco Montefalco
As we were in Montefalco a winery visit was essential as the town is the centre of the Sagrantino wine region. We called in at Montioni wines and spent an enjoyable hour tasting and talking with Paolo the winemaker. Vintage had officially begun that very day and Paolo was upbeat about the quality of the fruit. This is a family concern with all hands on deck during the harvest, even the quite elderly mother who stands is co-opted tothe tasting room when Paolo is busy in the winery. The wine was of exceptional quality and of course we bought a selection; greccheto, Montefalco Rosso and the king, Sagrantino.

Returning to La Licina we sat in the garden outside our apartment and just soaked up the peace and beauty of the late afternoon light over mountains and olive groves. This really is a slice of heaven!

Trevi-
view of olive groves Trevi

With Abbie recovering from bronchitis we eased into our program of walking with one of the less demanding legs of the Via San Francesco between Trevi and Foligno. Trevi is a stunningly beautiful small hill town which has surprisingly few tourists for all that it offers; incredible views over the valley, ancient and well preserved houses, several excellent cafes and restaurants, an excellent museum and a number of lovely churches. Trevi is also the centre for olive oil production in the region with an interesting interpretative museum where you learn about the history of olive production in the area, the process of producing oil and stories about the families who till the terraced olive groves covering the hillsides between Spoleto and Trevi.


Overlooking the valley, Trevi

We left our car at the Trevi train station, 3 kilometres down hill from the old town so our day began with a very strenuous walk up a winding road to the historical centre. We couldn’t help stopping every few minutes to admire particular views or darling small colourful courtyard gardens. Trevi also seems a paradise for cats with trays of food available at various spots, thus the creatures are numerous, sleek and healthy.
Old town san Eraclio
 
Leaving Trevi
Finally in the upper piazza, we treated ourselves to  cappuccino and warm pastry at Café Roma before beginning the walk in earnest. Fortunately the trail markers have been freshened recently so even with the many turns and crossings we managed to stay on course on the largely downhill trail through forest, little villages and olive groves. Another reviving coffee at a bar on the edge of Foligno in the ancient walled town of San Eraclio steeled us for the last few kilometres through urban Foligno to  the lovely medieval historical centre.
 
On the trail!
At the tourist centre we inquired about a trail map to Colfiorito National Park, which is reasonably close to Foligno where we planned to walk but discovered that one needs to actually visit the park office in Colfiorito to get the map! After a short wander; the town was in full preparation for their annual food and wine festival with accompanying horse race through the streets, it was off to the train station for the short journey back to Trevi to collect the car, or so we thought! 

What should have been a straightforward mission turned into a saga when we couldn’t open the train door Trevi station and the train driver unaware of our predicament continued on to Spoleto with us still aboard! The conductor merely shrugged and advised us to wait for the next train back. A very kind man opened the door for us at Spoleto where we learned that the next train was 90 minutes away. We retrieved the situation with a very pleasant impromptu picnic on the platform with proscuito and mozzarella panini and a glass of white wine. The very lovely bar lady even brought out a little wicker table and cloth to formally anoint our picnic.
 
picnic

Finally the train arrived and in less than 10 minutes we arrived at Trevi, this time leaving door opening to a capable high school student who immediately released us to the freedom of our car.  On the agenda was a visit to the next station of the 14C Masterpieces in the Museum of San Francesco ( a deconsecrated church as in Montefalco)and on the way back to Trevi Centro stopped at the little church of Madonna delle Lacrime  to once again visit the marvelous Perugini and Lo Spagna frescoes. As this church is usually closed we were in luck and had the freedom to admire the fine detail and emotion of the paintings, which have retained their soft and luscious colour for more than 500 years!
 
Sculpture Madomma and child
Onto the museum and the exhibition which particularly focused on the works of important local artists from the 14C and again they were quite marvelous, both the works and their curation. These delights in beautiful little towns, the ability to walk in spectacular and pristine environments to places where can be found wonderful art, so ubiquitous here, with a sense of continuity between past and present, culture and agriculture are the draw cards for my repeat visits.
 
Hercules, Museum Trevi 1C AC
We returned home quite late and decided to cook for ourselves, rather Abbie prepared exceptional grilled salmon and salad accompanied by a bottle of our Montefalco grechetto. Another varied and wonderful day in Umbria. 

 
Umbria

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