Our departure through the ever-present Porta Perlici went as smooth as bechemel sauce yesterday morning. It's amazing what good planning and a little bit of good, old-fashioned strategy can do.
We have a lot of heavy baggage with us and making more than one trip up to where our car was parked, was not an option. But, we pulled it all off and hit the road, stopping off in the town of Rivororto for our cappuccino. We found a local bar (no, a "bar" is not a "bar" in Italy) which was filled with locals of course - all men. Where are the women in the mornings? A quick coffee, a panino (more than one would be "panini") then a brief conversation with a gentleman who was terribly interested in who I was an where I came from, and what I thought about the surrounding fog. Umbria is famous for it and this time of year is conducive to the beautiful show that the white layers topping the valley provide. I am starting to believe that I live in Boston. It's so much easier to explain in Italian than Cape Cod. New York, Boston.....
Our next stop was to the Assisi War Cemetery which is located on the border between Santa Maria degli Angeli and Rivortorto. Here's a little explanation of this beautifully maintained place of rest:
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but the advance was checked for some months at the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line. The line eventually fell in May 1944 and as the Germans withdrew, Rome was taken by the Allies on 3 June. Many of the burials in this cemetery date from June and July 1944, when the Germans were making their first attempts to stop the Allied advance north of Rome in this region. The site for the cemetery was selected in September 1944 and burials were brought in from the surrounding battlefields. Assisi War Cemetery contains 945 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
I have never considered myself a "history buff" but find details of the Second World War to hold my interest and of course, Italy's involvement and, narrowing it down to Assisi's involvement, really fascinates me so this stop off was a must on our to-do-with-a-car list.
After paying our respects, we hit the road for a long-anticipated lunch with our friends Giselle and Mark Stafford. It was her birthday party that started our Umbrian holiday and we were booked for a lunch at a country osteria that was on the way to our final destination near Orvieto. Mark and Giselle have been our dear friends for almost ten years. After ex-patriating from the U.K., they opened "Gusto! Umbrian Wine Tours", a business that has become, as Trip Advisor will attest, the most successful wine tour businesses in Umbria. We love spending time with them and will always consider them our nearest and dearest friends in Italy. We had a great fish meal and of course, a very decent bottle of vino bianco.
Our promises of a return visit as soon as possible,kisses and hugs,and we were back on the road towards Orvieto and after getting lost, we arrived at our sanctuary for the next few days, the lovely Locanda Rosati in the area of Veterbo,
We have a lot of heavy baggage with us and making more than one trip up to where our car was parked, was not an option. But, we pulled it all off and hit the road, stopping off in the town of Rivororto for our cappuccino. We found a local bar (no, a "bar" is not a "bar" in Italy) which was filled with locals of course - all men. Where are the women in the mornings? A quick coffee, a panino (more than one would be "panini") then a brief conversation with a gentleman who was terribly interested in who I was an where I came from, and what I thought about the surrounding fog. Umbria is famous for it and this time of year is conducive to the beautiful show that the white layers topping the valley provide. I am starting to believe that I live in Boston. It's so much easier to explain in Italian than Cape Cod. New York, Boston.....
Our next stop was to the Assisi War Cemetery which is located on the border between Santa Maria degli Angeli and Rivortorto. Here's a little explanation of this beautifully maintained place of rest:
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance, but the advance was checked for some months at the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line. The line eventually fell in May 1944 and as the Germans withdrew, Rome was taken by the Allies on 3 June. Many of the burials in this cemetery date from June and July 1944, when the Germans were making their first attempts to stop the Allied advance north of Rome in this region. The site for the cemetery was selected in September 1944 and burials were brought in from the surrounding battlefields. Assisi War Cemetery contains 945 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.
I have never considered myself a "history buff" but find details of the Second World War to hold my interest and of course, Italy's involvement and, narrowing it down to Assisi's involvement, really fascinates me so this stop off was a must on our to-do-with-a-car list.
After paying our respects, we hit the road for a long-anticipated lunch with our friends Giselle and Mark Stafford. It was her birthday party that started our Umbrian holiday and we were booked for a lunch at a country osteria that was on the way to our final destination near Orvieto. Mark and Giselle have been our dear friends for almost ten years. After ex-patriating from the U.K., they opened "Gusto! Umbrian Wine Tours", a business that has become, as Trip Advisor will attest, the most successful wine tour businesses in Umbria. We love spending time with them and will always consider them our nearest and dearest friends in Italy. We had a great fish meal and of course, a very decent bottle of vino bianco.
Our promises of a return visit as soon as possible,kisses and hugs,and we were back on the road towards Orvieto and after getting lost, we arrived at our sanctuary for the next few days, the lovely Locanda Rosati in the area of Veterbo,
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