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The punch line for Peroni beer is "Tradizione e qualita". They might as well be describing Italy.
One of my detours from Perugia was Orvieto which is (yet another!) pretty hill-top medieval Umbrian town. It is well-known(!) for 2 things -
1. Its Duomo which is one of the finest examples of Romanesque-Gothic Cathedrals (oh, don't I sound like a guide book)
2. A well.
Well? Well, I'll get to the well later on. First the House of God. The 13th century Duomo is really oversized for the town of Orvieto. And is also more beautiful than what it should be. It has an extremely colourful facade (making it seem like an open air painting) with detailed carvings. But what the church is known for are the frescoes in one of its chapels (Nuova Cappella), the walls of which are adorned by early-16th century frescoes by Luca Signorelli. With whirling colours and swirls of human figures, these depict the Last Judgement cycle. These are apparently supposed to have inspired Raphael and Michelangelo (no surprises there). If asked to rate Michelangelo's last judgement with Signorelli's creation, I wouldn't vote for Michelangelo everytime.
The other attraction in town is 'St. Patrick's Well' which is a 16th C 60-metre deep well with two sets of stairs (in a double helix form so that those ascending dont bump into those going down) which are wide enough for a man and his donkey! I was all alone braving it in that well that day. No donkeys or other companions. And when I finally reached the bottom of the seemingly bottom-less well, it was quite dark and I could hear nothing but dripping water. That Horror-film-scenario was enough to send me scuppering back up the 248 steps.
I also visited Spoleto, which is known, apart from its medieval streets, beautiful vistas and the church with the lovely frescoes (you begin to see the trend, right?), for its arts festival in june-july, which I, in my usual lack of timing, missed by a day!. I spent the day with a German girl I met on the train who is in Perugia to learn Italian and we practiced our broken and grammatically incorrect Italian much to the amusement of those around us.
The weather, knock on wood, has been perfetto so far. It has been sunny mainly with temperatures ranging from 20-22 C, making it ideal to drink birra / vino alfresco. Well, I can go on and on about the food but I won't. There is so much to be said about the pleasures of a tasty Italian meal (and such choice!) consumed in the usual Italian way with a total disrespect for time. But isn't that how it should be? Don't we all do what we do to be able to put food on the table at the end of the day? Everything else is secondary. Oh well, this meal in non-McDonalds style (which I'm happy to report has not made many inroads into Italy) is accompanied by Wine / beer, conversation, and followed by a cafe (espresso only please!) and then topped up with a gelato. What more would you want?
In my previous two visits to Firenze, I waxed lyrical about it. But this time I'm going to complain! Actually it's the fault of the tourists who come here by the millions (oh well, I am guilty too so I shouldn't say too much). There is an amazing amount to see here - the Uffizi (with its more-than-stunning art), churches on every corner with Art that would put most museums in the world to shame, the Duomo and the Campanile that manage to peep through on every street, and of course Ponte Vechhio. This time I did climb the 463 steps to the top of Brunelleschi's Dome to admire the views of cobbled and tile-roofed Firenze. The best profile of this city continues to be from the Piazzale Michelangelo from where you can see the Campanile, the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, the Uffizi and the Arno in one sweep. Sigh!
But tourists apart, I did discover the secret of Firenze this time. It is to be found early in the morning when the British and American tourists are in bed nursing their hangovers. That is when the trendy Florentines come out of their houses and offices and do their chores before the tourists hit the street. No better time to laze about in a cafe over an Cappucino (yes, you can have one this time of the morning!) and observe the locals chatting and catching up on their newspaper reading.
I mainly used Firenze to explore some bits of Tuscany - as I cleverly assumed that I could avoid the tourists that throng the city. Or so I thought!
San Gimignano and Lucca, pretty Tuscan towns, are again over-run by visitors. Where does one go to avoid them?. San Gimignano has a fascinating skyline - it has numerous tall towers which the rich families built for themselves to protect themselves from marauding enemies. Only 13 remain of the original 60 but it is makes for an interesting manhattan-esque skyline (with medieval towers instead of concrete and glass). Lucca has a unique feature too - the town is surrounded by ramparts (3 kilometres) but what makes these ramparts different are that they are wide - wide enough for a six-lane road on them. Obviiously now people use it for walking, jogging, and cycling!
Everything in Lucca is Puccini - it is his hometown. So I treated myself to a performance of La Tosca there (didn't understand what went on but thoroughly enjoyed it).
Have now reached Ravenna which is a rather pretty town where I am, finally, rid of the tourists. So will spend a couple of days here before heading on.
Cliches: In Italy cliches reinforced themselves, or maybe I saw them because I was expecting to see them:
1. At the Lucca Train Station, I saw a family drop their son who was taking the train to Firenze (less than 50 miles away) and he was probably not going for long (given the amount of luggage he had with him), but he couldn't hold back his tears when he hugged his Mamma! He was in his mid-20s btw.
2. on the train between Bologna and Firenze, a family wasn't able to get seats together. The son, predictably called Paolo, plonked himself in a seat and started texting (his ragazza?). The poor father was running from pillar to post to make sure the dispersed family members were comfortable. He went to the dining carriage and brought food and bibite (drinks) for everyone. The son, his eye still on his mobile, happily took a sandwich and started munching it. He wanted water so the father went to the dining car and brought him water and then this lazy fellow asked, "You didn't bring sparkling water?". Mid 20s again!
3. There is a ridiculously high per capita prevalence of perfectly-cut suits and bold-coloured ties.
4. People will just stop and talk across the street, from the balcony, across the railway platform. Conservations are not privy - but for all to hear and enjoy (as I did when I was standing behind 2 ladies in a post-office queue in Spoleto - they had probably met for the first time and were discussing diseases in their respective families - my dictionary was being used overtime).
5. Style is never out of fashion - the most common sight in the non-touristy towns is to see a perfectly-coiffed signorina in a rather expensive dress riding her bicycle with a LV bag dangling from one arm, a perfectly placed cigarette dangling from her lips, carrying out a conversation on her mobile.
6. When an attractive woman (no matter what age) crosses the street, all male eyes (no matter what age) will follow her and actually help her cross the street. Beauty continues to be unashamedly appreciated here.
7. As I was looking for the Funicular station in Perugia, I asked an old shopkeeper the way. Slowly, and with deliberate care, he put on his 'distance' glasses, pointed the way and said, "Guardi la bella ragazza? Segui la" (See the beautiful girl? follow her) (he probably couldn't even, despite his glasses, make out her features). When I smiled and thanked him, he dropped a pearl of wisdom, "Quando sei perduto, sempre segui la bella ragazza" (Whenever you're lost, just follow the beautiful girl).
You've got to love the Italians.
(June, 2009)
