ITALY, July 16, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2001
We were still based in Assisi today, but were slated for an excursion to Perugia. After an excellent breakfast and a look over the valley, which was bathed in a kind of mellow, hazy light that has been a source of interest and inspiration to Umbrian painters throughout the centuries, we proceeded by bus to Perugia. A local guide introduced us to the streets and landmarks of this medieval city.
Perugia is considered to be the most obvious place to kick off a tour of Umbria. Umbria is a predominantly beautiful and largely unspoiled region of rolling hills, woods, streams, and valleys. Within its borders, it contains a dozen or so classic hill towns, each crammed with artistic and architectural treasures.
Medieval Perugia, however, was considered to be the most warlike of the Italian cities. Male citizens played a game in which two teams, thickly padded in clothes stuffed with deer hair and wearing beaked hats, stoned each other mercilessly until the majority of the other side were dead or wounded. Children were also encouraged to participate in order to become aggressive. In 1295, Perugia was also the birthplace of the Flagellants, who had half of Europe whipping itself into a frenzy before the movement was declared heretical. In addition to scourging, they took to the streets on moonlit nights, groaning and wailing, dancing in white sheets, singing dirges and clattering human bones together, all as expiation for sin and the wrongs of the world. Then there were also the infamous Baglionis, a medieval family who misruled the city for several generations. Their history was full of vendetta, incest and mass slaughter.
Bloody rivalry between independent city-states was also a common feature during the Medieval Ages, and Perugia was just as bloodthirsty as any of the other city-states, Weakened by constant warfare, most towns, including Perugia, eventually fell prey to the papacy, entering a period of economic stagnation that continued until the recent past. With our guide, we visited the Porta Marzia, a subterranean road of medieval housese called Via Baglioni Sotterranea, which leads under the ruins of the Rocca Paolina, a once-enormous papal fortress destroyed by the Perugians at Italian Reunification in 1861. We accessed the labyrinth from the escalators to the bus station, where the bus parked.
From there we went down the main drag, the Corso Vannucci, to the Duomo, with a vast Baroque interior. Afterwards, I was going to go to the National Gallery of Umbria to see some of the Umbrian masters, but instead the time was too short, and it was too tight a fit for the upcoming wine tasting and lunch. The Jazz Festival was going on, and a band was coming down the street, so we hastened to join a burgeoning crowd to listen to about 12 young men, in a band called “Funk Off,” performing jazz. They were marvelously energetic, and really whipped the crowd into enthusiastic acceptance. We were all “rocking” and enjoying ourselves immensely.
We had lunch at a little restaurant close to the Duomo and called Wine Bartolo Hosteria, where we had the following for lunch: pasta salad with zucchini; green salad with shredded carrots, and biscotti and a little vial of dessert wine, plus two different red wines. Afterwards, we went back down Corso Vannucci in order to hear more street performers, playing cembalom, didgeridoo, guitar, and wood whistles, train whistles, horn, etc. They were all marvelous, and we joined the crowds in enjoying them. Little children were listening to them, seated on the ground and petting large and small dogs; people were enjoying lunch or gelato, and the weather, so terribly hot only two days before, was quite mild in comparison. At about 3:00 we walked back to the bus and went back to the hotel high above the Umbrian valley, where lots of people enjoyed the pool. I decided to read, and enjoyed my new David McCullough book on Americans traveling abroad and specifically to Paris so very much.
Dinner was at 7:30, and we went deep into the countryside around Assisi, by bus. We stopped at a place that really could not be classified as a restaurant, but instead as a place to host rather large gatherings of people for reception or mass dinners. “Mama” would be cooking for us that evening, and so we sat down to the following courses: pecorino and ricotta cheeses as well as salami and prosciutto; bruschetta with chopped mushrooms; fettucine with tomator sauce (to die for); a variety of meats (chicken, pork loin, sausage); a green salad, and finally zuppa inglese (a more creamy version of a tiramisu), along with various wines and still and fizzy waters. Limoncello and espresso finished the meal, which was copious. At the end, “Mama” came out and demonstrated how to make handmade fettucine, and several people tried their hand at it. Family members appeared and disappeared, including little children entering and exiting with balloons. We drove back by full moon, and our bus driver Francesco turned the bus into a disco bus by flashing the interior lights and playing the Italian version of the Macarena! A good time was had by all!
We were still based in Assisi today, but were slated for an excursion to Perugia. After an excellent breakfast and a look over the valley, which was bathed in a kind of mellow, hazy light that has been a source of interest and inspiration to Umbrian painters throughout the centuries, we proceeded by bus to Perugia. A local guide introduced us to the streets and landmarks of this medieval city.
Perugia is considered to be the most obvious place to kick off a tour of Umbria. Umbria is a predominantly beautiful and largely unspoiled region of rolling hills, woods, streams, and valleys. Within its borders, it contains a dozen or so classic hill towns, each crammed with artistic and architectural treasures.
Medieval Perugia, however, was considered to be the most warlike of the Italian cities. Male citizens played a game in which two teams, thickly padded in clothes stuffed with deer hair and wearing beaked hats, stoned each other mercilessly until the majority of the other side were dead or wounded. Children were also encouraged to participate in order to become aggressive. In 1295, Perugia was also the birthplace of the Flagellants, who had half of Europe whipping itself into a frenzy before the movement was declared heretical. In addition to scourging, they took to the streets on moonlit nights, groaning and wailing, dancing in white sheets, singing dirges and clattering human bones together, all as expiation for sin and the wrongs of the world. Then there were also the infamous Baglionis, a medieval family who misruled the city for several generations. Their history was full of vendetta, incest and mass slaughter.
Bloody rivalry between independent city-states was also a common feature during the Medieval Ages, and Perugia was just as bloodthirsty as any of the other city-states, Weakened by constant warfare, most towns, including Perugia, eventually fell prey to the papacy, entering a period of economic stagnation that continued until the recent past. With our guide, we visited the Porta Marzia, a subterranean road of medieval housese called Via Baglioni Sotterranea, which leads under the ruins of the Rocca Paolina, a once-enormous papal fortress destroyed by the Perugians at Italian Reunification in 1861. We accessed the labyrinth from the escalators to the bus station, where the bus parked.
From there we went down the main drag, the Corso Vannucci, to the Duomo, with a vast Baroque interior. Afterwards, I was going to go to the National Gallery of Umbria to see some of the Umbrian masters, but instead the time was too short, and it was too tight a fit for the upcoming wine tasting and lunch. The Jazz Festival was going on, and a band was coming down the street, so we hastened to join a burgeoning crowd to listen to about 12 young men, in a band called “Funk Off,” performing jazz. They were marvelously energetic, and really whipped the crowd into enthusiastic acceptance. We were all “rocking” and enjoying ourselves immensely.
We had lunch at a little restaurant close to the Duomo and called Wine Bartolo Hosteria, where we had the following for lunch: pasta salad with zucchini; green salad with shredded carrots, and biscotti and a little vial of dessert wine, plus two different red wines. Afterwards, we went back down Corso Vannucci in order to hear more street performers, playing cembalom, didgeridoo, guitar, and wood whistles, train whistles, horn, etc. They were all marvelous, and we joined the crowds in enjoying them. Little children were listening to them, seated on the ground and petting large and small dogs; people were enjoying lunch or gelato, and the weather, so terribly hot only two days before, was quite mild in comparison. At about 3:00 we walked back to the bus and went back to the hotel high above the Umbrian valley, where lots of people enjoyed the pool. I decided to read, and enjoyed my new David McCullough book on Americans traveling abroad and specifically to Paris so very much.
Dinner was at 7:30, and we went deep into the countryside around Assisi, by bus. We stopped at a place that really could not be classified as a restaurant, but instead as a place to host rather large gatherings of people for reception or mass dinners. “Mama” would be cooking for us that evening, and so we sat down to the following courses: pecorino and ricotta cheeses as well as salami and prosciutto; bruschetta with chopped mushrooms; fettucine with tomator sauce (to die for); a variety of meats (chicken, pork loin, sausage); a green salad, and finally zuppa inglese (a more creamy version of a tiramisu), along with various wines and still and fizzy waters. Limoncello and espresso finished the meal, which was copious. At the end, “Mama” came out and demonstrated how to make handmade fettucine, and several people tried their hand at it. Family members appeared and disappeared, including little children entering and exiting with balloons. We drove back by full moon, and our bus driver Francesco turned the bus into a disco bus by flashing the interior lights and playing the Italian version of the Macarena! A good time was had by all!
What a great day this one sounds like! Makes me want to rewatch "Under the Tuscan Sun"! Very good that you all got to hear that funk band, that sounds like some great improvised fun :) The dinner sounds amazing too! So glad you are having such a wonderful time!
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