Ahhhh, Umbria - the Green Heart of Italy. Umbria is a region in central Italy, just to the east of Tuscany. While it's sometimes overshadowed by its neighbor, it is a beautiful region dotted with charming hill towns and Etruscan and Roman ruins. As I mentioned before, we stayed at
Brigolante Guest Apartments, just outside of Assisi. It's a 16th century stone farmhouse, once part of a larger castle, that has been carefully remodeled into apartment rentals and is owned by the Bagnoli family. Here I am outside of our apartment - Il Focolare. Mommy's locked me out again.
Since it's a working farm, there are olive groves, chickens and cows wandering about and a yummy vegetable garden.
I was excited to dig in, get my hands dirty and help out in any way that I could.
Daddy and I liked to wander the trails and explore the land.
I had lots of fun meeting the family - Rebecca, Stefano and their two sons Nicolo and Leonardo. Nonna (grandma) took a special liking to me. I think it was the cheeks so I decided to share some of my books with her and the boys.
Best of all, Mommy cooked up some yummy food for us for dinner.
From our base at Brigolante, we explored many of the nearby towns. First - off to
Assisi, one of Italy's most important spiritual centers and home to St. Francis, a patron saint of Italy and the founder of the Franciscan monastic order. One of the most important sights in town is the Basilica di San Francesco. It was built to honor St. Francis after his death and actually consists of two churches - an Upper Church and a Lower Church. Both churches are covered with important frescoes attributed to Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. I enjoyed looking at all the art and wandering the narrow cobblestone streets.
The next morning, we were off to Spoleto about 45 km south of Assisi.
Spoleto is best known for the Festival dei Due Mondi, an extravaganza of theater, opera, music and art during the summer. But it is also a well preserved city with lots of Roman and Medieval sights to see. Here's Mommy and my little brother, who is apparently hiding somewhere in Mommy's tummy.
Here we are in the Piazza del Duomo. Inside the Duomo are the final frescoes of Filippo Lippi, an important Renaissance master.
Inside the cathedral, I lit a candle, made my first offering and said a prayer.
We continued to walk up and down the hilly streets until we reached La Rocca, a large fortress overlooking the city. Isn't it pretty up here?
Just past La Rocca is Il Ponte delle Torri which spans the deep gorge that separates Spoleto from Monteluco. It is a 14th c bridge built over the foundations of a Roman era aqueduct. While the bridge was cool, I was more interested in playing with the dirt and pebbles along the road.
The last stop on our tour of Umbria was
Perugia, the capital of Umbria. Since the town is quite hilly and it can be a long and arduous climb up, the Perugians have installed a series of escalators that help bring people into the center of town. I loved riding up and down the escalators. Since I'm getting to be a big boy now, I insisted on getting on and off all by myself.
When we got to the top, I pointed out where I wanted to go. To the Corso Vannucci for a stroll!
We also explored La Rocca Paolina, an underground maze of little streets, alleys and arches. This underground city was originally part of a fortress but is now used for various other things. When we visited, there was a natural sciences exhibit on view. Forget about science, I was excited because I spotted a R choo-choo on the floor!
Alas, our time in Umbria had come to an end. I wish that we had time to explore many other parts of the region but we were off to Firenze!!
Ahhhh, Umbria - the Green Heart of Italy. Umbria is a region in central Italy, just to the east of Tuscany. While it's sometimes overshadowed by its neighbor, it is a beautiful region dotted with charming hill towns and Etruscan and Roman ruins. As I mentioned before, we stayed at Brigolante Guest Apartments, just outside of Assisi. It's a 16th century stone farmhouse, once part of a larger castle, that has been carefully remodeled into apartment rentals and is owned by the Bagnoli family. Here I am outside of our apartment - Il Focolare. Mommy's locked me out again.
Since it's a working farm, there are olive groves, chickens and cows wandering about and a yummy vegetable garden.
I was excited to dig in, get my hands dirty and help out in any way that I could.
Daddy and I liked to wander the trails and explore the land.
I had lots of fun meeting the family - Rebecca, Stefano and their two sons Nicolo and Leonardo. Nonna (grandma) took a special liking to me. I think it was the cheeks so I decided to share some of my books with her and the boys.
Best of all, Mommy cooked up some yummy food for us for dinner.
From our base at Brigolante, we explored many of the nearby towns. First - off to Assisi, one of Italy's most important spiritual centers and home to St. Francis, a patron saint of Italy and the founder of the Franciscan monastic order. One of the most important sights in town is the Basilica di San Francesco. It was built to honor St. Francis after his death and actually consists of two churches - an Upper Church and a Lower Church. Both churches are covered with important frescoes attributed to Giotto, Cimabue, Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti. I enjoyed looking at all the art and wandering the narrow cobblestone streets.
The next morning, we were off to Spoleto about 45 km south of Assisi. Spoleto is best known for the Festival dei Due Mondi, an extravaganza of theater, opera, music and art during the summer. But it is also a well preserved city with lots of Roman and Medieval sights to see. Here's Mommy and my little brother, who is apparently hiding somewhere in Mommy's tummy.
Here we are in the Piazza del Duomo. Inside the Duomo are the final frescoes of Filippo Lippi, an important Renaissance master.
Inside the cathedral, I lit a candle, made my first offering and said a prayer.
We continued to walk up and down the hilly streets until we reached La Rocca, a large fortress overlooking the city. Isn't it pretty up here?
Just past La Rocca is Il Ponte delle Torri which spans the deep gorge that separates Spoleto from Monteluco. It is a 14th c bridge built over the foundations of a Roman era aqueduct. While the bridge was cool, I was more interested in playing with the dirt and pebbles along the road.
The last stop on our tour of Umbria was Perugia, the capital of Umbria. Since the town is quite hilly and it can be a long and arduous climb up, the Perugians have installed a series of escalators that help bring people into the center of town. I loved riding up and down the escalators. Since I'm getting to be a big boy now, I insisted on getting on and off all by myself.
When we got to the top, I pointed out where I wanted to go. To the Corso Vannucci for a stroll!
We also explored La Rocca Paolina, an underground maze of little streets, alleys and arches. This underground city was originally part of a fortress but is now used for various other things. When we visited, there was a natural sciences exhibit on view. Forget about science, I was excited because I spotted a R choo-choo on the floor!
Alas, our time in Umbria had come to an end. I wish that we had time to explore many other parts of the region but we were off to Firenze!!
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