Tuesday
September 30, 2008 – Sansepolcro to Anghiari and other towns
What a good day
we had today! (Map Here)
Old Sansepolcro |
Rab was as
happy as Larry to prowl through the market but in the end decided to buy the
walking shoes she had been hunting for from a local sports shop. An indication
of the Italian approach to pricing can be gained from the detail of this
transaction. The shoes were on the shelf marked at Є99 but with discount (or
‘sconti’ – another word for my vocabulary) they were reduced to Є65. when I was
summoned to pay I expressed surprise at this high price and asked for more
sconti. The saleslady pointed out that the price had been reduced from Є75 (as
shown on the box – not the Є99 on the shelf) to Є65: I offered Є60 and the deal
was done. I’d love to know what a local would have paid?
We slowly
made our way back to the car through the throng. In one area I had to laugh
because the women there were like a flock of seagulls diving on a school of
fish as they grabbed at a pile of jackets and other clothing and squabbled over them. A
couple of swarthy – possibly gypsy -
accordion players begged their way happily along the street. I
contributed a euro to their meagre takings and got a great clip as background
music for my holiday DVD. Once again dogs featured everywhere, most of them
looking very happy and well looked after.
Macelleria being a butcher! |
Because we had
a lateish start, we decided to tour the handy towns before going further afield. I intended getting some
provisions from one of the stalls – specifically porchetta which looked
delicious – but there was such a wait I gave up in the end. Little old ladies were buying a slice of this, two slices of
that…..but rather less rapidly than I have expressed their decision making
process here.
Finally
setting off at about 10.30 we were at our first stop Anghiari – only about 8 km
from Sansepolcro by 11.00. You approach the town across the Tiberina valley.
The town sits right at the top of a hill and is right out of central casting.
Towers and walls abound and from a distance it looks for all the world like a
clay relief model of itself. Tom tried a few of his tricks as we approached the
town, but we’re wise to those now and Rab took over the final entry, finding a
good parking place just outside the city walls.
It was
terrific walking around the town and very difficult to stop taking pictures at
every turn of the winding narrow paths, alleys, stairs and roadways. Old doors,
gaudy statues, glimpses of people going about their business, a fat cat sitting in a court, creepers hanging across an archway, an old man leaning out
of his window surveying the scene below – and in the distance and all around
the rolling countryside of Arezzo Region.
We stopped
off at a small shop (adding the term ‘alimentari’ – food shop to my vocabulary
where Rab admired the dog sitting comfortably outside and got into a long chat
with the owner – of the dog and the shop – who spoke excellent English having
been an international salesman for gold chain manufactured in this region. He
had even visited Melbourne a couple of times. While they were yakking I bought the lunch provisions – a nice bit of
cheese, six slices each of two salamis, a small loaf of brown bread with a
crisp crust and a small tube of enormous and delicious olives – all for a
little over Є5 or A$8.
We found a
nice spot outside a café high on the Southern wall with a view that went
forever. We bought an iced tea and a brioche from the café and settled down for
a memorable lunch in the warm autumn sun. we have been very fortunate with the
weather – very little rain, nice cool nights and temperatures in the 16°C-20°C
(61°F – 68°F) range during the day. The locals think it is rather cold but it
suits us down to the ground.
From
Anghiari we went to Arezzo,
the capital of this region – a very pleasant drive of about 45 minutes through wooded country –
and a number of hairpin bends. We got there a little after 01.00 so everything
was closed down, apart from some of the eateries. It was a bit bland after the
wonders of Anghiari so we just drove through and on to Citerna, another little
town perched high on a hill. Tom was very odd, advising me at one stage to turn
down a goat track and on another insisting that I go the wrong way up a one way
alley. But we just ignored these errors of judgement and made it to the piazza
at top of the town.
The views
from up there were tremendous – square patches of farms with olive trees and
vineyards, houses nestling into the elbow of the hills, small towns perched
here and there and in the distance the
flat Tiber valley. One thing that perplexed me
was a memorial on one of the walls of the piazza which recorded the deaths of
three members of the Indian Light Horse in
1945 who were trying to rescue some of their comrades. The odd thing was
that two of the men, including the British officer, were awarded the George
Cross posthumously. But this is a civilian honour, not a military one – hence
my puzzlement.
Having done
our sight seeing I realised that we had a problem because the entry we had made
to the piazza was a one way street and there was no obvious exit. I finally
spotted a way out. That involved two bends that were so tight that they were
beyond the capabilities of the Mercedes’ turning circle so we had to back up to
get around them and then the final hurdle was to squeeze through an arch just
wide enough to take the car with mirrors folded.
The next
port of call was on an adjoining hill top – Monterchi. Another beautiful clean
village which didn’t have quite the ambience of Citerna, but had an even better
view of the valley. There was no parking at the top so we just drove through,
stopping to take a couple of pictures. Our last stop was disappointing. Citta
Di Castello had a castle on the outskirts of the town but was all modern ugly buildings.
So back home we headed almost heading down the wrong way on the motorway. We
got the washing done at a local Laundromat and then enjoyed a beer and snacks
on our own private piazza outside our bedroom.
A good day
indeed.
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