Saturday, September 25, 2010

SEPTEMBER 25 - ORVIETO AND CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO

Our morning assignment was to go to the town plaza and purchase some foods at the outdoor market for a picnic lunch for the tour group . Tricia had given us Italian lessons specifically designed to make our purchases go smoothly. Our contribution to the picnic: melone, provolone, and cioccolati. Because it looked like rain, we had our picnic indoors. One of the items that Tricia, our tour guide, encouraged us to taste was porchetta slices on bread. Porchetta, herb-stuffed roasted pork, is a common street food in central Italy.


We walked around the walls of the city after lunch.

A small church on the walk.

The view down the side of the walls.

CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO
In the afternoon, we drove to Civita di Bagnoregio, population 13.
Cars cannot cross the bridge into the tiny hilltown, so we had to walk across the canyon bridge to get there. During WWII, the allies bombed out the land mass that linked this part of the city to the main center of town because there were rumors that the Germans were hiding supplies there.
Maria is one of the tiny town's inhabitants, No one is really sure of her age, but it is definitely over 100. She is blind, and each day she sits outside her home asking for money if you want to stand in her gardens where you can access a beautiful view of the valley. Harry and I are standing behind an ancient plow in her garden.
A typical street in Civita

We returned to Orvieto and had dinner at "Trattoria del Moro Aronne" where Harry ordered "nidi". It was an odd pasta dish made with different cheeses and honey. It received rave reviews from everyone who tried it for dinner.
Posted by Picasa

No comments: