camanoescape – The Wagnerson's Travel Adventures

Today was a day of exploration.  I think I found the village of Civitella to be the most interesting of all of the places we visited today.  This place has a stronghold fortress that was first built in the year 1182.  The village had outside walls and inner walls.  Moving forward in history there is a World War 2 memorial commemorating 176 villagers who were taken into the town square outside the church in 5’s and executed at the direction of Nazi commander Hermann Goring.  This was very sobering indeed and reminded us of how blessed we are.  Here’s a picture of the remains of the Stronghold in Civitella first built in 1182 and then the outside wall of the stronghold and the valley that the stronghold overlooks.

The outer walls of the city look like this

I will add the rest of the post later since I am getting bounced out of this site right now

Today when the Thief of Venezia and the Scofflaw of Bologna attempted the daring task of filling water carriers at the town facility, we were assisted by a VERY nice local woman, who patiently pantomimed how to put a coin in the dispenser and then PUSH A BUTTON to get the water to flow. Amazing how kind and patient the locals are with incredibly stupid Americanos! We toasted her with water at dinner.

After our long ride yesterday we were glad to arrive at our villa.  Our landlord met us at the door and showed around our home for the next week.  Wow, it’s so cool!  She walked us around the neighborhood and introduced us to the shop owners where we’ll be getting our supplies; butcher, baker, fruit and vegetable stand.  Before the guys even had the car unloaded, we were visiting with the neighbors. Everyone is so friendly.  We are now just sitting around our kitchen table, drinking a real cup of coffee, washing machine is running and we are skyping our peeps.  Just like at home.  We are looking forward to exploring Tuscany!  The countryside we have seen so far is so beautiful.  The colors are amazing with the lush green fields with the contrasting red tile roofs.  Just the scene I had been imagining and now it’s a reality,  Absolutely amazing!!

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After getting ripped off from our hotel in Bologna and WAITING for the cab that my hotel desk clerk buddy allegedly called……..watching cab after cab after cab arrive and leave without the high sign him, we were finally able to get a cab to take us to the rental car place.  There were no Lancia cars available so we were offered a choice between a BMW or an Alpha Romeo.   Hmmmmm, we chose a BMW.  With Doug salivating at the prospect of tearing up the Italian countryside in a BMW, we set off on our quest to get out of Bologna and head to Tuscany.  Easier said than done.  We entered the road that was to be our way out of Bologna, noting the IKEA store as we passed by.  We drove a few miles only to be routed at a slight angle and finally back on our way…..the happy vehicle occupants anticipating the trip ahead.  We soon found ourselves taking another road…..and who’da thunk it, there’s the IKEA store.  We set our jaw and make another attempt to get out of Bologna…..again past the IKEA store and off on our way.  We won’t make that mistake again.  Doug shifts through the 6 speed Beemer and off we go again.  Yay, we made it to an autostrada (freeway) entrance.  There were lines for those who had telepasses (not us), for those who needed to buy a ticket, and then for those confused sorts like us, an information line.  We pull up to the gate and nothing happens.  There is only one button to push and Doug the Beemer driver pushes it.  No response.  Doug pushes the button again.  We wait.  In a little bit, an Italian voice in rapid fire fashion speaks to us telling us who knows what.  Doug says to the unknown voice do you speak English?  No response.  Doug looks to me, the Italian Rosetta Stone learner of the group to make my presence known to the unknown voice.  With the pressure on, my Italian mind goes blank and I offer weakly in English……”Ughhhhhhh, We’ve never done this before.”  (Good comeback Dale)  Nevertheless whatever the rating of the response, the bar in front of our car magically lifts allowing us to enter the autostrada.  OKAY!!!!! 

The happy occupants are now singing the Puff and Toot song, “We’re off to the country, off to the country, off to the countryside.  We’re off to the country, off to the country oh what a lovely ride!”  We drive on for 5 minutes and then we are soon routed off to a toll booth.  As we arrive, the Italian likeness of Attila the Hun is demanding a ticket.  Doug explains that we don’t have one.  You must have one she retorts…..how did you get on?  We attempt to explain that the bar magically lifted in front of us but she was having none of it.  From her toll booth perch, she looks on in disgust at the scofflaw Beemer driver.  She rings up a fine of 50 euros ($65 dollars).  You will need to pay this on Monday she says.  Point Blu, point blu she kept repeating.  Doug and I are trying to get an explanation from her.  We didn’t know if she was calling Code Blue and all of the poliziotti were heading our way or what.  She again gives the stink eye to Doug and turns away saying, “Bye bye!”  We try again and get the same response, “Bye bye”!  We head on and soon we arrive at ……..you guessed it, the IKEA store.  This is starting to take on the feel of the movie Groundhog Day. 

Our confidence now clearly shaken, we pull over and ponder our next move.  We expect to see Amanda Knox’s prosecutor pulling up behind us at any moment.  He did not arrive and we garner our strength for one more attempt to exit the city of Bologna.  Soon we find ourselves at another entrance to the autostrada.  Hoo boy….here we go again.  We choose to pull way off to the side and attempt to locate a real live person to ask questions of the process we just experienced and were about to go through.  We found a very nice man……however, he did not speak English.  I attempt to speak Italian but a few Spanish words escaped from my lips.  He smiled and asked if I spoke Spanish.  Yes, I tell him and we proceed to have a conversation in Spanish.  Before we enter the autostrada, we always need to go to a booth with a red button where we can punch it and be delivered a ticket.  OKAY.  What about this that Attila gave us?  He took it and asked where we got on…..heck we don’t know except…….by the IKEA store.  He writes something on the ticket and tells us to find a Point Blue office after the weekend.  We thanked our new friend and backed up and drove through a line with a red button.  Taking the ticket the red button offered us, we entered the autostrada legally and were really on our way out of Bologna.

With the female voice of Gina, or Diane or Stacy telling us where to go from the Garmin GPS device, we head off for northern Tuscany and a side trip to the Devil’s Bridge or Ponte di Diavolo…..the coolest bridge in Italy.  The bridge construction started in 1046.  According to legend, the bridge was built by St. Julian.  Being unable to accomplish the work because of the enormous engineering difficulty, the saint asked for help from the Devil, promising to give him the soul of the first living thing crossing the bridge. Once the bridge was completed, St. Julian threw out a piece of focaccia bread drawing a dog out to cross the bridge and thus making fun of the devil.  Not sure how the dog felt about that turn of events.

The water under the bridge was not still enough to be able to see the arch angles reflecting down on the water creating a circle for each arch, but it is still quite beautiful.

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We enter the town of Pergine Valdarno in the Arezzo province of Tuscany into our Garmin device and head off back down the road our side trip took us on and back into open country for our next stop, what affectionately became known to us as the “rubble pile”.  We arrive at our designated time and enter with the owner’s daughter who is taking over her father’s business.  She shows us through this ancient villa and then takes us for a walk around the town.  None of the townspeople speak English she tells us but encourages us to use the international waving and gesturing to get our point across.  We are greeted warmly in Italian with big smiles by everyone we meet.  This place is something out of the story books.  Since tomorrow is Sunday and everything will be closed, we visit the butcher shop and buy supplies, the bakery for bread and pastries and the little market for coffee and eggs.  Very tired by now from a long day, we take off in our Beemer about a mile down the road for dinner in an even smaller town.  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING FOOD!  Ciao for now!

We set off this morning after our Italian breakfast in search of the Chiesa di San Sigismundo.  We found it situated next to the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, founded in 1088.  An awfully busy location, with noisy construction and restoration going on all around, we stepped inside the church and it grew immediately quiet……not sure if that was from the shock of the Italian people seeing me stepping into a church and they were aghast, or whether the walls and doors of the church were so thick they were quite sound proof.  A beautiful church inside, it also houses the body of 11 year old Saint Imelda Lambertini, a young girl who upon taking her first communion passed away on May 12, 1333.  Her young body is literally on display inside the church in a tasteful way if that can be said.

Consulting our map, we set off in search of St. Catherine whose body is housed in the Sanctuary of the Corpus Domini.  We arrived at the convent and went inside.  The inside of this place was again so very beautiful.  We didn’t find the body of St Catherine here, but we did see a photograph taken from inside the cathedral on October 5, 1943 and another one taken from the same perspective later in the day on October 5, 1943 after the Cathedral had been bombed during the war.  Wow, the beautiful dome gone and you looked up into the sky.  It was rather sobering.

With another 2 miles or more of walking under our belts…..we were ready for some lunch.  And lunch we had!  Only primi — the pasta course, and of course dessert of moscarpone with ciaccolato.  I was thinking we were going to have to walk some more to get ourselves prepped for our dinner reservations tonight, but not to worry.  Barb and Lynda had some shopping in store for us.  Doug and I made it clear we would not be involved in any “shopping”…..we would just tail them as their security detail and wait outside each store.  Two and half hours and 23 stores later, our ladies noticed that their security personnel were still smiling.  Of course, we’re in ITALY!

We walked to the Piazza Maggiore to try and go into the Basilica…the 15th largest cathedral in the world.  There was a Lamborghini display in the main piazza.  We paid our money to get into the Basilic, but soon learned that we only paid to hike another 22 meters up the construction scaffolding placed in the front of the Basilica so we could……I guess, look out on all the Lamborghinis in the piazza below.  Oh well…..it was quite a site and a view.  Since we did such a good job in the protection detail, everyone was rewarded with another round of gelato!  Now back to the hotel to get ready for our final dinner in Bologna and then off tomorrow for 7 days in Tuscany!

We were picked up at our hotel at 7 am here in Bologna to start our Italian Days Food Experience…..(that would be 10 pm back home).  We went south of Modena to a cheese factory where they make these massive blocks of Parmegiano Reggiano cheese.  We had to put on these doctor suits and I must say we all looked quite fetching!  Extremely interesting as we were able to see the cheese form before our eyes.

We also went to a place where they make prosciutto ham.  Walking through the factory we observed all of the steps required to make the ham….including salting, curing, aging and more aging.  I know what you’re thinking…..what in the world do 2,200 pig legs look like in this process?  Well, they kind of look like little people or gnomes…..Here check it out:

We also visited a place where they make Modena basalmic vinegar.  We saw the process and the aging……at least 12 years and also 25 years.  The four of us bought some 15 year and 45 year old vinegar.  It was so sweet that we actually sampled it on ice cream.  Seriously, it was amazing and if you haven’t sampled it, that is hard to believe!  Leaving those factories the entire food tour group stopped at a trattoria and ate everything we wanted, plus some we didn’t want to and had all of the different types of wine and beverages we wanted……It was like we went into a food coma.  They dropped us back at our hotel and we finally emerged from the coma about 9:45 tonight.  We had only gelato for dinner!  It was lovely!!!!   Driving back from the food tour, we saw the hill we walked up yesterday through the 666 porticos.  Ciao!

With our destination looming before us, we march forward with determination to meet the challenge. We were almost sidetracked by a demonstration in the street that was on our same route.  Doug needed a little restraining to keep from joining the vociferous throng.  I think he thought he could practice his Spanish swearwords and fit right in.  As we reach the narrow door that leads up the tower (maybe 2 feet wide) we proceed up the stairs.  A circular stairway for the first few minutes until we reach the pay station.  Paying 3 euros each for the privilege of tackling this tower we move on upward.  Climbing the 320 feet, those 498 steps seemed…………..well, they seemed like they just kept going!  Finally we reached the top and we were greeted with a spectacular 360 degree view of the City of Bologna.  Getting back down was also a challenge.  The narrow steps going up were not so noticeable since your toes could slide underneath the step above.  However going down, in some sections the steps were so steep and narrow, there was no room for your foot, simply your heel.  Turning sideways or going down backwards was the preferred method of descent.  Finally reaching the bottom, we rested for a while and then set off for our next climbing adventure…..the 3.5 kilometer hike up through the 666 arches of the Portico of San Luca which starts at the old Saragozza gate of the city and up to the top of Guardia Hill to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca.  Wowie….that was a climb on top of the climb up the tower earlier.  Barb insisted that we have music for the climb when we were only half way up so it would be more like her Thrive Excercise Class.  I think that’s why they make i-phones.  “Eye of the Tiger” propelled us the rest of the way….although if Doug could have caught me, he would have propelled my phone and its music all the way back down Guardia Hill.  Walking back down, my wonderful wife hailed a cab and we all piled in for a much quicker covering of the 3.5 kilometers down than we experienced going up!  Gelato for a pick me up snack and then back to the hotel to rest up for tonight’s adventure!