(April 17, 2014)

Although we had a great breakfast, the first so far this trip, it turns out that our room is somehow the source of a nearly constant stick of cigarette smoke. I suspect that the owners smoke in their apartment, and its right below us. In any case, its foul and horrible, and we decided to not stay here another day. A quick email to our place in Orvieto — yes, they can give us an additional day! — and we packed our bags and got the heck out of Perugia.

Before we left we stopped at Ipogeo, an Etruscan tomb site on the edge of town. This is a fantastic site if you are at all interested in the Etruscans. It’s not too big, but the tomb is basically intact, with a small museum just up the hill. Really lovely.

From there we went to a small ceramiche store on the edge of town, La Bottega della Ceramiche Valentina. It didn’t have a huge selection, but what was there was simply gorgeous. We made the saleswoman’s day by buying way too much, and having a huge amount of fun doing so. The pieces will be shipped direct to our home (yay), so I’ll share pictures when they arrive. (Just to maintain your anticipation, of course.)

With that we headed out into the countryside, planning on having lunch at a little place attached to a hotel near Faliero on Lake Tresimeno, Trattoria Faliero. They are known for their stuffed bread, and we were frankly hoping they would even be open. Turns out they are doing a BOOMING business, and the stuffed bread is fantastically yummy. They speak NO English, so be prepared to repeat things, ask for clarifications, and nod enthusiastically when they get your order correct. Totally worth it, as attested to by the long line of cars parked there.

The day was gorgeous, and we enjoyed our drive. (This time staying strictly at the speed limit.) Orvieto was clear to see, long before we arrived there. It’s a beautiful example of a hill town, and the last of the Etruscan towns to be destroyed by the Romans. For the first time, however, Google maps led us wrong and we ended up in the upper part of the city driving through streets that were NOT big enough for a car. We almost made it unscathed, but got caught on a nearly impossible left turn and damaged the molding of our rental. Stay tuned for details about how badly we do (or don’t) get screwed by the rental company for this mistake.

B&B Orvieto is a perfect gem of a place, really lovely inside and out. Our hostess, Giuliana, was warm and welcoming, and our room is perfect. The bathroom is HUGE, even though it only had a shower, it was a big one. YAY. (Also, the water pressure was really really good, and the hot water never ran out.) Orvieto is a lovely town, with only one drawback — there really are no restaurants open until at least 8pm.

That said, we had a lovely meal at L’Antica Rupe and fell easily into a very comfortable bed.

(April 16, 2014)

We got up pretty early and packed our bags, then left them for a quick breakfast (pastry and a hot drink) on our way to the Gallerie Academia. There was no way we were going to leave Florence without having seen David. We didn’t reserve tickets (no printer), so stood in line for about 30 minutes.

Everyone focuses on David, but there are actually some very nice things to see — paintings, a museum of musical instruments, and the like. So we looked at other art, then examined the five ‘slave’ works by Michelangelo (all the while catching glimpses of David) and made our way into his presence.

It’s quite impressive. Seen head on he is a glorious piece of sculpture, detailed and fine. But you really need to move into the side gallery and look at him that way — THEN you can see M,’s true genius clearly. The face shows tension, a bit of worry and a clear awareness that this fight might kill him, or make him king. He has begun to shift his weight in preparation for the throw, and you know that this moment has been captured, exquisitely, in stone.

On our way out we detoured to see a couple of Botticelli’s, and an exhibition of Michelangelo’s works as seen by other artists. This included Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘Slave’ and a line drawing of M’s workshop as envisioned by Matisse. Kind of cool, actually.

From there we went to get our rental car and confidently followed directions out of town . . . except that the directions given didn’t actually work, and Google maps kept wanting us to go in the opposite direction from the street signs pointing us to the autostrade. ARGH. After a very frustrating half hour, we finally made it to the autostrade and began to make some time.

We saw a Lamborghini in its element as it passed us doing at least 130 MPH (we were nearing 100 mph and it flew by like we were going slow). Scared the crap out of us, sounded like an airplane engine. We agreed that we could finally see a use for spoilers on cars if they go that fast. A stop at the Autogrill produced meat and cheese and crackers for a moveable feast and we made our way south into Tuscany with our final stop being Perugia.

Turns out that Perugia is a pretty big city now, and I was worried that I’d found us a place in the newer part. But no, we wound up, and in, and up some more and found ourselves outside Hotel Morlacchi right next to the University and deep in the heart of the oldest part of the city. After a quick pause to unpack, we went out wandering and ended up at the Etruscan Museum.

Housed in a former monastery, this is a gem of a museum. The main attraction is a re-creation of a major find of Etruscan burial urns. The urns have been cleaned and restored and then returned to the exact spot in which they were found. It’s really quite cool, especially since the inscriptions include Latin on later urns, marking the transition of the land from Etruscan to Roman.

Also on site is a HUGE collection of amulets and talismans, a curated gleaning from one man’s lifetime obsession. Sadly, non of it was in English, so I ended up taking pictures of some of the more interesting ones and then the accompanying text, which I’ll translate later. (Diana, you will also find them fascinating.)

Back to our room for some quiet time, and then out to the only restaurant in the city that opens at 7pm — XXX. Even so, we were the only people in there until 7:30. (They eat late in Italy, but we were starving.) J. had the pasta amatricia (w/ speck and tomatoes), I had a mushroom risotto; for our main, J. had steak with a balsamic sauce and shavings of a hard cheese and I had a simple grilled breast of chicken with lemon. The food was superb. Beautifully cooked, very simple, delicious.

It’s cold up here, so we are wearing the coats we brought from home for the first time . . . and cursing a bit that we didn’t keep our new jackets and send these home instead. But who knew it would be this cold???