2geonomads

Saturday 24 th May 2014.

A fairly early start as Andy and Mo have to get their rental car back to Florence by early afternoon.

Mo Andy David Gail Maureen John

Breakfast is basic but probably quite welcome after the gluttony of the past few weeks. We see A and M off up the ‘ road from hell and then check out of Pietra Rosa before setting off to the epitome of a Renaissance city, Urbino which truly does deserve all the superlatives  seen in so many guide books. Federico Da Montefeltro, was the ruler of this city during the 1400’s and has left many legacies of his reign, including the huge, imposing Palazzo Ducale, which has been described as one of the finest buildings of the Renaissance era.  Whilst the Duomo is often described as a ‘ pompous Neoclassical ‘ cathedral  its less ornate interior in fact came as a refreshing change after so many overly ornate churches that we had visited over recent weeks.

As impressive as the buildings are it is Urbino’s fantastic hilltop location that lives long in the memory and after a short walk up Via Raffaello to the Fortress Albornoz we are rewarded with unforgettable views over the surrounding countryside.

Urbino

Overlooking beautiful Urnbino

After Urbino any city will suffer by comparison but the medieval town of Gubbio is still well worth a visit and this is our afternoon stopping place before driving to our villa in Umbria. By this stage we are all fairly tired after our long walks around Urbino so we take a lift up to the centre from the car park.   Gubbio’s main claim to fame is that its Museo Archeologico houses the famous Eugubine Tablets. These were we lookdiscovered by an illiterate shepherd who was later conned into swapping his priceless find for a worthless piece of land. The seven bronze tablets are the only extant record of the ancient Umbrian language , a vernacular tongue without written characters.

The Fontana del Matti ( Fountain of the mad ) is only noteworthy for the tradition  that anyone walking round it three times will end up mad. As we all appear to have reached this state without any help we save our energy and just give it a cursory glance.

In order to arrive at our villa, La Torretta, near to Umbertide, Umbria we move on after a relatively short stay in Gubbio but John provides us  with an amusing moment when we return to the car park. This is located next to an unremarkable Teatro Romano so we were surprised when J expressed interest in taking a closer look. I follow J out of interest, only to find him in the middle of the ruins of the amphitheatre  attending to his bladder problem, after having climbed over the entry turnstile. Ever the exhibitionist!

We are met at La Torretta by the owners, Barry and Beaulah Bower who show us round their beautiful property. It has all that we could wish for and we are all looking forward to our week here.

A quick drive into Umbertide to stock up on provisions and then it’s back to the villa where John cooks  dinner on the BBQ. Barry and Beaulah have given us a very fine bottle of Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano and this goes down a treat with the steak and sausages.

I see Jonny Wilkinson’ s Toulon win the European rugby championship in his last game before retiring. He looks as though he could still play for England. I also settle down to watch the European Champions final between Athletico Madrid and Real Madrid but fall asleep with the scores at 1-1. Eventually wake up to see Real celebrating so off to bed after a surprisingly demanding day of driving. The far heavier volume of traffic in Italy , compared with the Balkan area, makes it a more tiring exercise.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.