As we were headed to what we'd thought would be our first destination today, I noticed on the map that we'd be passing right by Acquasparta, another of Italy's "most beautiful" towns, so of course, we detoured off the highway and took a walk around. It was another quiet village, narrow lanes, house numbers all painted on matching ceramic tiles, small piazzas -- lovely, of course.
You knew that if there were some ruins in the vicinity, we'd find them, and so we spent quite a bit of time exploring Carsuale, which was founded early in the 4th century BC, but really took off when the Romans connected it to Rome via the via Flaminia. It's a little-visited site, or at least that was true today, as dark clouds and thunderstorms threatened. We enjoyed poking around all the usual components of a Roman town, though the setting was quite different from the ancient towns we've visited before. Nestled among the rolling green hills of southern Umbria, Carsulae's extensive excavations have every chance to be a visual knockout. Sadly, though, lack of funds for basic maintenance of the site has resulted in overgrown grass that has engulfed some of the paths, and the ruins themselves. Signage, too, has deteriorated and is in need of replacing, but the map of the complex had good explanations of each site. Those thunderclouds eventually released some of their rain, and we waited that out in the small 5th-century church dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damien. The tiny, dark church, built from "recycled" materials from the adjacent ancient site, had some lovely frescoes and an 11th-centuary portico; it made a fine place to wait out the quickly passing storm.
Yet another "most beautiful" honoree village was just up the road, so we had to stop to see San Gemini. We parked in the large and empty central piazza and saw that a church dedicated to St. Francis was open, even in the early afternoon. This is pretty unusual for Italy, where most "ordinary" churches close from about noon to mid or late afternoon. In lovely San Gemini, however, we were able to visit several this afternoon, including the small St John the Baptist, which had some fragments of frescoes and also a wonderful location in a tiny piazza with a fine view out over the countryside.
By the time we made it to Narni, the wind was howling enough to make the town's pennants and banners whip fiercely. We had a quick look around at the Piazza dei Priori before heading down the hill and our next planned stop.
But, as often happens with best-laid plans -- not to mention our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants plans -- there was a change in store. Today, that change came in the form of the Giro d'Italia, the BIG bike race that is Italy's Tour de France (or vice versa, but we won't go there right now.) In any case, as we were en route to the remote Abbey of St. Peter in the Valley, we found access to the main route there blocked at many points, as we'd chosen to pass through the town of Terni at the same time as the racers. We were much delayed, and when we finally reached the Abbey, the necessary hike from the parking lot would have left us with too little time to visit the Abbey, so we contented ourselves instead with the amazing scenery -- mountains covered in deep green, promontories topped by small villages, each with a Romanesque church or Norman tower -- or both. It was stunning!
Dinner tonight was at a restaurant we found on Trip Advisor -- well reviewed, and a block from our apartment. We had one of those meals that will live on in our memories -- as long as our memories work, that is! The owner, Daniele Gaetano, engaged us in conversation immediately and continued to stop by our table, even as the restaurant grew very busy. He had worked all over the world, including a stint in Washington, DC, and as soon as he learned we were from the States, he offered us some Prosecco and a little lagniappe, for "while we wait." Dinner was out of this world -- Daniele's dog is a very good truffle hunter! -- and there was a final gift of grappa and amaro to go with our espresso. It was a VERY good thing we didn't have to drive home, but we probably could have used a longer after-dinner walk!
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