A beautiful walk today, although 20kms, we enjoyed the flat walking through towns, country roads and olive groves.
Pistachio croissants for breakfast at a cafe in the little piazza in Spello.
Leaving Spello
After 7 kms we arrived at Foligno. A modern town with a historic centre - rebuilt after heavy bombing in WW2.
The twelfth century Cattedrale San Feliciano
Cafes in the main piazza
I found sandwiches for lunch, wrapped like a present. They looked interesting but we only discovered how interesting later on - tuna, artichoke and mayonnaise.
Lots of families out and about
The rather impressive war memorial gates as we exited the town. Foligno suffered great losses in property and population through the Allied bombardment in WW2.
Walking out of Foligno with impressive properties and gardens.
At about 10km we walked through an archway...
only to discover on the other side it was a tiny castle, Sant’Eraclio.
Then up into the hills, with villages scattered up high.
Olive harvest time. Parents working while children play.
Trees planted for truffle harvest with video surveillance
While checking our bearings a fellow came to the fence to chat. The family were having lunch in the garden. Maximiliano then asked his son, Filipo, to bring us bread, sausage and Prosecco. All passed over the fence and very gratefully received.
Little hamlets. We had quite a lot of shade along the way.
Then we realised our walking track was also doubling as a cycle race.
More small communities as we climbed. Beautiful pomegranates.
In one of the community washing areas there were photos of days gone by.
Our first full view of the hilltop town of Trevi. The oldest part of the walls date back to the 1st century BC.
The last section was a steep stony path to the top. We realised something special was happening with all the cars and people in costume.
A medieval festival
Teams pushed this cart from the bottom of the mountain. Only 4 team members could touch the cart at a time, so the team of 20 were staggered up the route to take over the run.
The red team doing their pre-match stretches - very serious business with the minder standing guard
They then entered the main piazza to thunderous applause.
Afterwards the heavens opened and there was a tremendous thunderstorm and so the evening celebrations were abandoned.
Our accommodation, Residence San’Emiliano. €60 for a generous double room.
It feels a bit like a film set for an Italian period drama
Dinner tonight with John, a Kiwi from Auckland.
Trout the specialty.
M&M
mm_smith@bigpond.net.au
2 comments:
Your timing is excellent. Very special experiencing the local pageantry.....JulieJ
What a wonderful day. I definitely want to do this part.
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