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Marg at the top of
Cascata del Marmore
|
Driving out of Rome in our campervan, Vanni, we were looking forward
to driving through Tuscany, Italy’s famous hill-town and sunflower region. But
first, we stopped at the Cascata del Marmore, a man-made waterfall created by
the ancient Romans.
We followed endless signs to find these falls. Then the road became
very, very narrow, and we were just about to give up. Pulling over to look at
our options, we were suddenly passed by a large local bus. We figured if he
could get through, we could too! So, we immediately drove on behind him and got
to the falls without further problems.
We walked up to the top of the falls, for the view of the cascade.
The water drops 165 metres, making it one of the tallest in Europe, and the
tallest man-made waterfall in the world.
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| Bagnoregio |
We then moved on to Orvieto, a very popular ancient Tuscan hill town
with a beautiful duomo. While there, we chanced on a street parade and brass
band, which Leigh really loved. We also found their market and admired the
range and quality of the goods. We bought some local olives there,
before heading back to Vanni.
Bagnoregio, our next stop, is
a tiny ancient island of a village, atop cliffs accessible only by a 300 m long
footbridge. It has only 20 or so residents and dates back to Etruscan times –
it was spectacular.
Our plan was to then head on to Assisi, but time was against us as
we still had Spoleto and Spello that we wanted to see first, and we were
travelling in the dark and getting tired.
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| Leigh in Spoleto old
town |
Suddenly we spotted a camping sign, and after travelling along a
very narrow winding road we finally reached a lovely quiet rural campsite,
called Camping Falconi. We only stayed there one night, but it was so nice to
be in cool mountain air, and not the stifling heat of Rome.
The next morning, we headed north to Spoleto, a lovely city of about
38,000 people, on the slopes of a sacred mountain in the Apennines. We walked
around the medieval Upper Town, seeing some ancient Roman and medieval sacred
sites, and the lovely duomo.
Our next stop was at nearby Spello, it was extremely pretty and not
too touristy.
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| Quaint street in
Spello, Tuscany |
Spello is an ancient walled town. It was populated in ancient times,
and in the 1st century BC became a Roman colony under the reign of Constantine
the Great.
We wandered the tiny cobbled streets, lined with beautiful medieval
stone buildings. We also enjoyed the plethora of old stone churches and the
Roman amphitheatre ruins.
Not long after, we arrived in Assisi to find it to be the perfect
Italian hill town, and although it was very touristy, its pink and white marble
buildings are unique, and really worth seeing.
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Leigh with statue of
St Francis Assisi, in Assisi (UNESCO)
|
Assis is best known as the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, the
patron saint of Italy, and founder of the Franciscan order. Apparently, it is a
religious destination second only to Rome, and it is also a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
We explored its winding medieval streets, and saw some beautiful
palazzos and churches, including the interesting Basilica of di San Francesco
which contains sacred relics of St Francis.
After our busy day visiting these charming hill towns, we settled in
at Camping Internazionale Assisi for the night.
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| Marg outside the
cathedral in Perugia, Tuscany |
A highlight in the next leg of the trip was stopping at Perugia
which has an old town with typical alleys, huge churches and palaces, and
thousands of years of history.
We found Rocca Paolina, amazing tunnels which are right
under the main piazza, and moved on through this interesting town from there.
The 15th century Gothic Perugia Cathedral caught our imagination because of its
relatively unadorned, brick exterior. It was austere but so majestic.
Moving on, we circled Lago (Lake) Trasimeno, then drove on to
Montepulciano, a walled city built on a sloping and narrow limestone ridge.
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| Marg at Palazzo Pubblico
on Piazza del Campo, Siena (UNESCO) |
It’s another lovely historic town, with lots of wine shops. It’s known for the
wine called Vino Nobile - which we tasted, of course!
Our next stop was Siena, where we camped at Camping Colleverde.
We caught the campsite shuttle bus into Siena city, and had a great
time roaming the narrow and often steep streets, seeing all the sights.
Siena is a large walled city and classic medieval hill town. It’s
known as the most beautiful city in Italy, and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage
site. It began as an Etruscan settlement and by the 5th century, it was the
seat of a Christian bishop.
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| Relaxing at the
lovely Castello di Brolio in Chianti |
Its history shows in the architecture, and walking around Sienna’s
old town, we found the interesting fan-shaped Piazza del Campo, the 13th
century Palazzo Pubblico, the duomo, and several fountains, churches and public
buildings. It is indeed a very lovely city.
After all the sightseeing, we did a wine tasting, accompanied by lots of yummy nibbles, then managed to return to the camp ok.
From Siena, we moved through the Chianti wine region and stopped at
Castello di Brolio. This is an amazing castle that was built around 1000 AD.
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| Chianti vines |
It is owned by the family who put “Chianti” wine on the map and the
castle is still their home. We did a tasting of their wine after touring the
castle.
We liked nearby Radda in Chianti, an interesting and quaint
wine town where we tasted and bought some Chianto Classico.
After that, we drove through Pogibonsi and saw the Rimor factory
where Vanni was made.
Our next stop was Pisa. We arrived there, and found our campsite,
Torre Pendente, to be only 800 metres from the actual Torre Pendente, the Leaning
Tower of Pisa.
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| Marg at Piazza del
Duomo & the Leaning Tower of Pisa (UNESCO) |
We walked through the Piazza del Duomo, the park area in which the leaning
tower is located. There are several beautiful buildings on the Piazza; it’s
wonderful. Collectively, the four main medieval buildings there are a UNESCO
World Heritage site.
Later, we walked through Pisa township, and found it to be a lovely
unpretentious old town, with the usual narrow streets and medieval alleys. It’s
also a vibrant university town with not so many tourists away from The Tower.
It was a change to be walking in a flat town rather than a hill town
- our legs were certainly happier.
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Detail of Basilica
di San Michele in Foro, Lucca
|
Our next stop was Lucca, again, founded by the Etruscans, then
colonised by the Romans in 180 BC. Apparently, during the Roman era, Lucca
served as an important meeting place for Julius Caesar and Crassus.
Lucca is surrounded by medieval walls that have walking and cycling
paths, and gardens along the top, so we walked along them for a while. The
views were wonderful, and It gave us a great overview of Lucca’s well-preserved
historic centre.
Lucca is known as the city of 100 churches. We saw a few of them,
including the attractive duomo. But it was the Basilica di San Michele in Foro
that captured us, with its finely carved columns and ornate arches. It is quite
different.
We though Lucca to be a very lovely city behind its wonderful
medieval walls, and well-preserved towers. It was a real find and we loved its
quaint little streets and alleys.
Having had a good look through the Tuscany area, it was time to move
further north. Our next stop is on the coast at Cinque Terre.