| Italy - 2006 - Tuscany Florence |
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Our trip began in Florence, where we spent the night. Fortunately for us, we had been there before. Next day, we stopped at Piazzale Michelangelo overlook that offers a spectacular view of the city, with the Duomo and the town hall and the bridge over the Arno where there are shops selling mostly gold and leathers. |
On the way to our home for 5 days, Chianciano, we stopped at the American Cemetery, where soldiers who fought and died on their way through Tuscany during WWII are buried. It is a beautiful place, with a huge wall at the top of the hill showing the battle areas where fighting took place. |
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| Chianciano |
| Chianciano-Old Town overlooks the Val d' Orcia and Amalia Mountain. Dick, Bette Anne and Brown (not in picture) stopped for a brief refresher. We walked around the old town and listened to an organ concert by the local cathedral organist who played an ancient organ and then a more modern one. The newer part of town is built around hot water spas. |
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Our friends Amanda and Charles on the same balcony. (Picture courtesy of Dick.) |
Here is a picture of the gate to the old town. |
One evening we all stopped for dinner at an outdoor pizzaria. The waitress spoke excellent English! (Picture courtesy of Dick.) |
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We visited the Etruscan Museum in Chianciano, which was an excellent explanation of the Etruscan settlements that predated the Greeks and Romans in the area. |
Here we are at the La Foce Cypress Lined Road, which is a "poster view" for many calendars, brochures about Italy, etc., and is able to be viewed from the La Foce Gardens. It is said to have been planted so that the view would be good. |
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| The Giardino La Foce, established by Iris Origo, who, during WWII, sheltered Italian orphans and Italian partisans.. It has many formal gardens around the palace that are planted for color year round. Concert series are held here during the summer. | 
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| Radicofani |
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| The hilltop town of Radicofani and its medieval fortress was a taste of small Italian towns that were really beautiful. The gray buildings are enlivened by the beautiful flowers. The church is graced by Della Robbia ceramics, and reproductions appear at shrines on the walls of houses. We were driven up as far as possible, then the bus drove around to meet us as we walked down. The city park overlooks the valley, and it was full of women visiting and talking in the stereotypical Italian style, complete with hand gestures. | |
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| Assisi |
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| We went to the town of Assisi, which is most famous for the 13th Century Basilica of St. Francis. This picture is of the upper cathedral. There is a lower cathedral underneath it, and below that, the tomb of St. Francis. We also walked uphill (everything in Italy seems to be uphill!) to the town square, and then down again where we had a wonderful lunch. | About 3 miles from Assisi is Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels that is built over and around the original Shrine of the Porziuncola --quite a unique arrangement! The shrine is where St. Francis lived after founding his brotherhood, and where he died. |
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| Cortona |
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| Cortona is the setting for Francis Mayes' book, Under the Tuscan Sun, which was then made into a movie. The movie had a fountain in the main square which was built just for the movie--it's not there, but the charming town is, as you can see. There were a couple of downpours while we were there, and the first view is of an alley where we took refuge for about 10 minutes. We had a delightful lunch at the back of a bar/restaurant where we could see out to the neighbor's house--they watched us, and we, them. | |
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This is Cortona's cathedral with it's unusual altar. And the view out over the valley around the town is spectacular. |
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