Late Saturday morning we walked Daisy and wondered about making a short trip somewhere. Having stopped off for a coffee and cornetto (an Italian version of a croissant) even later than usual, we thought about heading south a little bit further than Monteleone di Orvieto, to a hill town called Ficulle and maybe find somewhere to have lunch when we got there. Ficulle was particularly uninteresting and sadly, so was lunch. The town has a tower, a very dramatic war memorial and a great view across the valley. And some decorative clay plaques done, presumably, by the local children. But that was it. We chose a simple restaurant but were the only customers; we should have wondered why before sitting down.
Anyway, enough said, we headed back to Monteleone di Orvieto and stopped at our favourite pizzeria and bar there, called Seven, for a coffee. The son of the lady owner was behind the bar and we got chatting about pizza toppings and explained some of the horrors to be found back in the UK, but also some rather good examples which he was interested in adding to the list. The list includes a pizza with my name; haven’t had one yet.
When we got back home, in one of the bars was a copy of the local regional newspaper. Inside I noticed that in Citta del Castello there was to be a retro, antique and memorabilia fair in the main square, held on the third Sunday of every month. Maybe this would be a good excursion for Sunday and we could also stop in Arezzo, which is on the way home. It is quite a drive, maybe just over an hour away but if the weather is good it will be a good day out.
Later in the evening our friends A and A told us that the local youth club was having a bit of a St Patricks day celebration with Irish beer and a band, all of which sounded like it might be fun. We arrived to find the bar populated by lads in joke emerald green top hats and hats in the shape of glasses of Guinness. They must have all been on a school trip to Dublin or something. A trio of accordion, guitar and fiddle were playing a selection of tunes, mainly Italian ballads with the occasional Dylan, and so not very Gaelic but fun enough, they were good musicians and the beer was cheap.
Just in passing, something that you can see in all Italian towns on council notice boards or on walls, are the death notifications printed out by families and friends of the deceased, sometimes with a photo. In Monteleone there was one and we have our own here in Citta too. These small posters usually thank everyone who knew the deceased and acknowledges their life, which is a rather nice and public way of dealing with mourning.
Sunflowers and Saffron 