Arrivaderci, Italia!

Allora..... from the Wandering Berkmans! 

("Allora" ("so") started most sentences we overheard during our stay in Italy.  It became a game to listen for it!)

We bid farewell to lovely Italy on October 26 and we've missed it every day since.  In homage to our stay, this entry will be a series of photos.  

Ciao, Spoleto!  As our home base, you treated us well! 

The dancing statues overlooking Spoleto.  Don's favorite local sculpture in a city that had many. 

Felip from Caffe degli Artisti was our local eyes and ears.
He filled us in on the recent election results.   

New friends Karen and Wendy (photographer!) shared tips of their many travels in the area over an amazing meal of the best eggplant napoleon we had on this trip.

Our last dinner in Spoleto of salt encrusted sea bass, grilled squid and grilled vegetables.  In comparison, we had cereal for dinner tonight.  Things have changed since our return to the US! 

 

Our last lunch in Spoleto had to include strangozzi alla Spoletina ("strangle" as in strangle your appetite.  One legend has it that it was usually served to visiting clergy so they would be too full to eat the meat course).  This restaurant was whimsically named La Pecchiarda, which we were told means "vagina" in local parlance.  Nice!

A visit to turtle-shell structure of the winery Tenute Lunelli  in Bevagna was a visual treat. 

The stunning views of the vineyard made the Montefalco Sagrantino that much more tasty. 

We followed up with a delicious meal of fiori di zucca (stuffed and baked zucchini flowers) in the town center.  Yes, Don licked the plate afterward.  

A train to Rome from Spoleto gave us a few days to explore this city with our friends the Wornings.  

Too many Roman sites to choose from but this struck me as fascinating-- apartments built into some of the remaining walls of the Roman Forum.  Notice the curved side to the right.  

  

We were so fortunate to meet up again with wonderful Claudia and Simone (and nonna!) to watch the harvesting of olives on their land in Gianno del Umbria.  

Don even took a turn with the "tickler"-- the wand has finger-like extensions that caress the olives loose from the trees without hurting the trunk of the tree, as machine methods can do.  Insert jokes here.  

  

Here is Don (look closely) with their beloved 1000 year old tree (yes, you read that right)  on the property

We had the opportunity to visit beautiful Perugia and meet up with Sue, the college friend of Don's brother Bob, and her husband Richard.  They've made a life and career in Perugia and were a great example of what expatriate living can be like.  This is the nightly view from their terrazzo-- not too shabby!

A weekend jaunt took us to Pisa.  That tower-- it really does lean! But it was the River Arno running through the city and the university that made us consider a longer visit to Pisa in the future. 

Here's Don considering his academic aspirations at 

the U of P

 

The same week, we stayed in the walled city of Lucca and found yet another terrific town to consider for a longer visit.  Beautiful, historic, flat-- it ticked many boxes.  

Cue Madame Butterfly-- Puccini hails from Lucca.  Here is his statue in front of his childhood home (the building with the banner)

Each upper column of the basilica San Michele in Foro features a portrait.  Dante's scowl is 6th from the left, 3rd row from the top.  

This is the cafe Don wants to own.  It's right next to a school so all the parents wait here for their kids.  The current owner seems to know them all.

 

Our airbnb in Lucca was right next to this canal running through the city.

The ancient walls around this city are intact and feature a terrific elevated path where it seems everyone takes advantage of the views as they walk, ride or enjoy an espresso. 

The Piazza dell'Anfiteatro assumes the footprint of the ancient amphitheater so it's a complete oval  made up of apartment buildings, shops and restaurants.   

A visit to a beautiful Montemelino winery where the heady smell of all these grape skins can knock you out.  At another winery in Montefalco, the workers go into the fermentation cave in pairs and one stays by the door just in case the other passes out.  Who knew winemaking could be so dangerous?

The locals and one wanna-be (look right) hanging outside the local market in Cortona--waiting for a glimpse of Frances Mayes? 

 

We returned to Montepulciano to visit Ahmed, who we met at a BnB during our stay in 2017.  Ahmed worked there at the time and now runs his own boutique hotel in the center of the city.   It was a terrific reunion where we met his wonderful wife Erica and caught up with Sayeed (not pictured) who also worked at the BnB.  

Don't knock it until you've tried it-- white pizza with pears, pecorino, walnuts and honey.  Amazing.  Full stop.

Separated at birth?  Who is the real Bassem Youssef, renowned Egyptian comedian and surgeon??

 

And as an important side note, and because we've been asked a number of times, in our travels we play it safe by still only using outdoor seating in restaurants and we mask up whenever we're indoors (stores, museums, etc.). All airports and flights require face masks and recent testing/vaccines so travel itself has been safe.  We'll also be testing before we meet up with family on our various stops. 

Ok, before we're cursed for tying up everyone's internet with all these pix we'll end it here.  We hope you enjoyed our look back at our Italian adventure and maybe we  inspired you to seize the day and plan an adventure of your own... in Italy or anywhere in the world!   

Thanks for following along!  Be well! 

Don and Monica