The usual suspects

On Friday, with the English teacher and his wife again -- now at Pizzeria San Leonardo.

Getting ready for the holiday

September 3 in Viterbo is the day of the patron saint Santa Rosa. This is like Thanksgiving, 4th of July and Memorial Day combined. The main event is carrying the so called "Macchina di Santa Rosa" -- a 32 meter high 5000 kg tower, decorated with gold and lights etc. ("Macchina," pronounced 'mak-kina -- is this the origin of the Russian word "mah-'ina"?). The "macchina" is carried around town at night by 100 "facchini"(carriers). There are also several "mini-macchini" carried by "mini-facchini" (young boys) on the previous days. This is a whole separate business -- let's wait and see.

Meanwhile, the streets are being swept and decorated, the trees are being trimmed, etc.

Nothing can help much via Marconi above: it is built in Mussolini style with ugly fascist buildings on the sides and it leads to the banal Union Theater.

White, red, and blue flags of the Brotherhood of the Facchini of Santa Rosa are all over town.

The "macchina" makes several stops at piazzas, where stands with chairs are set up. This one is on the central square, Piazza del Plebiscito. The rumor has it that Berlusconi is scheduled to attend.

Sunday

A leisurely morning walk in town. Il Archetto looks like a nice place to go for dinner one day.



At the same little piazza is the house called Casa Poscia. It is just a few steps from the school. The protruding balcony and steps are called "profferlo"; it served to protect the house and provided sheltered space underneath (e.g., for business). This one houses a touristy "wine and jam" store.

According to the legend, in this house lived Bella Galiana --
http://www.elegantetruria.com/fount.htm (search for "beautiful women").




Instead of rings to tie horses, there are now hooks for dog leashes with cute signs "I prefer to wait here":

The destination: Soriano nel Cimino

We left Viterbo at 9:30, after a brief speech and prayers at the church of San Francisco, and arrived to Soriano by 4 pm, with an hour stop for lunch. Gained about 400 meters in altitude. Not exactly Kilimanjaro, but pretty tiring, if you ask me.

Soriano is a quiet little town on the hill. The main square and the gate to the old town:



I hoped to see Castello Orsini, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPZFtbnTDE), which now houses a university campus, but it was closed "per motivi technici."



Luigi Pirandello spent several summers in Soriano in 1908-10 and later, after the WWI, escaping from the summer heat in Rome. "Citizens of Soriano in memory of his stays "nella perla dei Cimini" (in the "pearl" of the Cimini mountains).

Repercorrendo le vie dell'esilio di Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is the beloved patron Saint of Viterbo. as a young girl, she became a kind of dissident against Emperor Federico II in the 13th century, going around and preaching in favor of the church. As it happens, she was sent in exile for that, but after the premature death of Federico in a few days, presumably predicted by Rosa, che returned to Viterbo. She died herself only after a few months. Eventually she was raised to sainthood for her virtuous life, a few miracles, and poor health. The church movedg her body three times, to more and more prestigious places. It can still be seen on display ("like Lenin"?) around Santa Rosa days (the week of September 3).

For the past several years the Commune di Viterbo sponsors a three-day walk along the road of exile of Rosa ("po mestam boyevoi slavy"). I decided to join the first day, on Saturday, (while M was busy greeting arriving students).

Luckily, Rosa's exile was not very far: first day from Viterbo to Soriano nel Cimino (24 km), second day to Vitorchiano (22 km), third day back to Viterbo (16 km).



Some pretty views, some dusty trails, not much conversation.



And a certificate!

S. Maria del Paradiso

Th Friday night walk took us outside the walls. This is the cloister of the church S. Maria del Paradiso on a hill above the old town. The building now houses a school. A paradise?

Est! Est! Est!

The winery on via del Meone, around the corner from the school, sells white and red wines from around the region, and also from Abruzzo, Tuscany, etc. We came prepared with two empty bottles (we've found two 5-liter bottles in the apartment). Tried a few first... and left with some Est! Est! Est! (1.90 euro / liter) and some red Tuscan table wine (1.50 euro / liter).

Durare!

To be honest, not all Viterbo is pretty. The clock tower that we see from our window is on the central post office building, which is a fine specimen of fascist architecture. The inscription under the clock says "Durare."

Gnocchi al sugo di castratto

We originally planned to go back to Viterbo on Sunday afternoon, but couldn't resist and stayed. "Castratto" is a kind of lamb, supposed to be especially tender. This is a specialty of Abruzzo; Fabrizio learned it from a local chef. Gnocchi came from a bag, of course, not from scratch.



Left for Viterbo at 7 am this morning to return the car by 10. Made a brief stop at home to unload. Driving in Viterbo is a little tricky -- it is on the hills and the streets go every which way. Besides, I haven't driven shift for 10 years. It worked out somehow.

Celano

The next stop -- Celano, with its pretty 16-th century castle: Castello Piccolomini http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_Piccolomini_(Celano).
Picnic lunch in a little park by the castle.



The castle is almost completely restored after the 1915 earthquake and decades of neglect.



There are several exhibits inside, including the one on the history of Lake Fucino (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_del_Fucino). In Julius Cesar time, the Romans built a complicated 5 km tunnel to control the floods caused by the lake and to free some land for cultivation. It sort of worked... for a few centuries. Finally, in the middle of the 19-th century, an Italian banker Alessandro Torlonia purchased controlling shares in the company set up to deal with the lake and ended up draining it completely.

Alba Fucens

On Sunday, a car trip over the Lazio border to Abruzzo.



The first stop is Alba Fucens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_Fucens), which is about 800 meters above the sea level, in the Apennines.



A 13-th century church of San Pietro





The church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1915, then restored in 1957. We didn't go to the excavations of the Roman city below -- just took a good look from above.

At the lake

Later a walk up the hill to Castel di Tora, the old village. The lake is actually an artificial lake created by a dam on Fiume Turano.



The village is cute but a little claustrophobic with one narrow main street where people walk back and forth.

To Lago del Turano

We've rented a little blue Fiat for the weekend and on Saturday morning headed for Isabella and Fabrizio's "dacha" on Lago del Turano.





We met with them at a gas station on via Salaria; here we are following them to Castel di Tora on the lake. Some of you may find this view familiar...



First things first... a dip in the lake. The lake is not very big and not very spectacular, but functional.



The "dacha" is the first floor of what is supposed to be a modest townhouse, one of a dozen built at the bottom of the hill. F&I use their carport, with the view of the lake, for hanging out and dining al fresco.

Double pizza

We spent the morning at school today, struggling with a 5 kg algebra textbook and a computer virus, an Italian variety, respectively. Both worked out, I guess. But our walk to buy local wine from a barrel failed because the place was closed for vacation.

Later we skipped "Cena con i Facchini" on Piazza di San Lorenzo. "Facchini" are the 100 men that will carry "Macchina" di Santa Rosa around town on September 3 http://www.facchinidisantarosa.it/docs/09-english.html). This was a kind of charity supper; a couple of guys singing badly. This goes on for four nights in a row.



Instead we chose pizzeria Il Monastero, nearby. The place was recommended by the school secretary, but we found it disappointing. Their gimmick is to serve large pizzas on two plates. Soon after this picture was taken, the place got really crowded, busy, and noisy, and our pizzas weren't very good.

Villa Lante at Bagnaia

Bagnaia can be reached by a 20 min bus ride from Viterbo's Sacrario bus terminal (which is 5 mins from our house). It is basically a city bus.

Villa Lante is a Renaissance villa with Italian gardens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Lante. Our own photo: Bagnaia is seen below.



A lemon tree with Fontana dei Mori in the background:



This is a detail of the Fontana.



Another fountain: Pegassus and the muses.



Walked a little in the park and woods around the villa; also a quiet cool place for lunch.

Back in Viterbo by 3:30 pm.