A Night at the Opera

With some trepidation we headed off to Spoleto to see a performance of The Masked Ball by Verdi. The trepidation came from us never having been to a full opera before, but we knew a weekend away in a lovely Italian town is always a Good Thing.

The road to Spoleto

Spoleto is a small city of around 40,000 nestled in the hills close to the centre of Italy. It has a long, long history which has left it with a large and beautiful historic centre surrounded by the modern town. It is built on a hill at the end of a valley with views all around, so as you approach there is a castle and a huge aqueduct to see.

Happy concert-goer with tickets

As we had arrived in the afternoon there was only time to dress for the Opera (for me that just meant putting on shoes) and heading out to meet a group of ex-pats in time for a 5pm start. We were very lucky to get seats in a box with a perfect view. The opera house (Teatro Nuovo) is as gorgeous as the photos should attest to. The show took nearly three hours with a couple of breaks - somewhat hard going at the start but it warmed up towards the end with a dramatic finale.

The ceiling of the theatre

As it was a Sunday night and not many restaurants were open we had booked a nearby family restaurant which the (now) elderly owners had been running for 51 years! Sadly it told as we didn’t think the homemade food was particularly good nor good value. Nice but not as good as we’re used to here.

The following morning we spent wandering around this gorgeous town. And we’d have to say it is our new favourite place in our Large Town category. So many interesting buildings and little lanes. The Duomo was certainly a highlight as was the 13^th C aqueduct. Unfortunately due to the recent nearby earthquake, at Armatrice, it had been shut for inspection and we couldn’t walk across it.

Saw my favourite car in a model shop
(on the right, though I'd be happy with either)

Detail of ceiling in the Duomo

13th C aqueduct

Duomo interior

English friends Mary Jane, Jeff, [Vicki], and our friend and host Pauline

a delicious lunch

Final reminder of why we were there!

Rome Revisited

Our third trip to Rome was the most relaxed. This was helped by being accompanied by friends who weren’t into 8 hours of fast-paced walking, especially Jeff whose knees are packing up. So it was a gentle wander with plenty of stops for coffee. And even the transport was easy as we drove to a train station on the outskirts and took a local train in, figuring that we’d avoid the rush hour traffic on the way out too.

Pauline was keen to explore an area she hadn’t spent much time in and this suited us as well as we’ve been to the major tourist areas already. However we seemed to finish up in the Forum/Colosseum area anyway.

Rome is a big and busy city and you do have to be careful of pickpockets. We were in the metro and just after a stop where some people got off our carriage a chap started yelling at me. Luckily another person translated and said he was telling me the girl who just got off past me was a pickpocket. Luckily I don’t carry anything in my pockets and keep it all in my Pacsafe man-bag. But it was a timely reminder as often I’ll have my wallet or phone out and just put it back in a pocket temporarily.

Fort of Sant'Angelo

We started with a walk along the Tiber (not as impressive a river as the Thames or Seine) past the Castel Sant'Angelo, also known as Hadrian’s Tomb. For once it wasn’t too hot nor too crowded and we survived till revitalised by coffee and pastries.

The Tiber

Fountain detail, Piazza Navona

The streets towards the main historic area are full of interesting and very colourful old buildings, piazzas and markets. Very photogenic. After lunch we arrived at my favourite piazza – Piazza Navona. As mentioned in a previous post, this is dominated by three large and detailed fountains.

At the flower an vege market

We eventually found ourselves in the heart of the tourist area walking back towards the Colosseum past the various Roman buildings and statues. For the first time we got to see the Colosseum without scaffolding! So much better, so we had to spend some time contemplating the view over a glass of prosecco. An end to a very good day out.

 Because you can never have too many pictures of the Colosseum ...

And a bit of Italian style ...

Third Time in Sabina

As we head south after two weeks in Sabina (an area about an hour north of Rome in the province of Lazio), it is time for a review of our break in paradise. After an initial few days of thunderstorms and occasional torrential rain it has been dry, hot and sunny every day. Perfect weather. Our biggest disappointment was that we didn’t get enough work done (!), just mowed some lawns (which stopped when I hit the mains water pipe which is plastic and only half buried in the long grass), collected and burnt some olive tree prunings, tidied up the carport (including discovering and re-housing a couple of black scorpions, spray-painted some huge metal rings we'd discovered in the 'jurassic' brambles on our last visit here, rescued a small snake from the swimming pool, picked spoilt olives from the trees, did some strimming, removed a small patch of brambles from a near vertical slope, and did some work on Pauline’s iMac and iPad (why do people buy Apples??).

Corrado serving his squid-ink pasta

Gelato by the kilo

Eating, drinking, socialising and playing cards occupied most after-dark hours, with eating, drinking and sightseeing occupying the daylight hours. See what I mean about paradise? Of the former here is an example of a typical night: Our friend Corrado decided to cook so he brought over all the food and the local plumber (who also helped with the cooking), though his main role was to be a blind date for our other friend Gabby who was also present. Clearly a success as we’re expecting naming rights on their first children. Anyway, sitting outside on a balmy evening, the first course consisted of mussels along with an octopus side dish and a tuna and barley salad. The mains were “black pasta” – squid ink. Dessert was gelato – bought by the kilo. And finished off with Pauline's homemade limoncello (lemon liquer).

I read in a NZ travel article recently that Italian food is very regional and you shouldn’t expect to find pizza everywhere. Rubbish! Everywhere we’ve been from the north to both coasts and Sicily there are pizza restaurants. The style does change a little, sometimes thicker crusts, other times very thin bases. Top tip: cut them with scissors like the locals. So much easier that trying to hack through with a knife.

takeaways - too big for the box

yes - there is a dinner plate under there!

The church floor

A few good days out to report. The first being to Civita Castellano, a large nearby town we’ve been to before. It dates from Etruscan times (the major tribe in the region prior to when Rome became all-powerful). Lots of old buildings and ruins and a wonderful cathedral.

Church (steps) mouse

More floor

Very small bar in Civita Castellano

Calcata

Calcata is an interesting little town. It was virtually abandoned until the hippies moved in a few decades ago. Now it is full of restaurants and art and craft shops. Very pretty. We spent some time with one lady who had been there for 30 years making puppets. Her workshop is delightful as is her nativity scene – each puppet represents a  villager and includes a piece of fabric from their clothing.

Puppet workshop

Village nativity scene featuring "real" villagers

More doors

Bedroom at left of chapel, cave at right.

Where the monks ate in the 13th century

On our way to Spoleto (this will be the subject of another post) we stopped at a remote sanctuary - Speco di San Francesco. Three or four monks and nuns live here permanently and, as it was a Sunday, there were lots of walkers there for a service. Just above the church was another much older one, this was around to host St. Francis of Assisi who lived near there in a cave until they built a room onto the back of the church for him. It is all still there including, in a glass case, his original bed (possibly). Plus the well where a miracle occurred when the monks brought him water which turned into wine. Sadly there was no way of testing if this was still working. But there is a real sense of history given he died in the early 13^th century.

view from the sanctuary

Beats sandy sandwiches!

And last, but not least, was our visit to the beach on the day before our departure. It doesn’t look far on the map but is still nearly 2 hours away. Partly that is due to the very hilly nature of the area and the badly maintained roads, but there are worthy distractions like driving alongside the well preserved remains of a Roman aqueduct. The beach was quiet and it felt very end-of-season though the temperature was in the mid-20s and the water nice and warm. Like most beaches in Italy it is often better to go to the private ones as they offer loungers and umbrellas, keep the beach clean, and have toilets and showers. And, in this case, a great little restaurant run by a friendly family. More mussels, large prawns, pasta, ice cream and litres of wine. Perfect.

Random Italian loveliness

Pauline writes a regular blog and this recent one covers a little more about what we've been up to ..... Casale Benedetti News

Berkshire to Sabina

The garden at Kings Copse

I am writing this at the end of a sunny day in Italy sitting at a desk trying not to be distracted by the glorious view of the ancient town of Tarano. A view I can’t get tired of even now on our third visit here. But first rewind …

Misty morning across our paddocks (with deer)

Our last few days at Kings Copse in Berkshire were tinged with sadness as we have really, really enjoyed living in a beautiful piece of English countryside. Being almost neighbour-less, with vistas of the garden and woods from every window, and all the wildlife close by: squirrels, badgers, deer, moles (not so sure about this one!), red kites, woodpeckers, robins, and, and, and … So it is farewell to this stage of our lives (almost two years) and on to a transition to whatever happens next. But first a roll-call:

"Vicki's" chooks get a last treat (raspberries!)·   

• The Boot
• The Queens Head “lounge”
• Anne and Alain
• The “Kiwi Group”
• Gail and Janos
• Tim and Linda
• Jane and Neil
• Andy and Fiona
• The lanes, hedges, fields, public footpaths and copses that make the countryside so attractive
• All those beautiful old villages and towns
• All those charity shops, especially Marlow
• And a special mention to the chocolate brownies at The Pantry in Yttendon.

So with heavy hearts but full of excitement we flew off to Rome on September 14^th. Our friend Pauline was there to meet us at Fiumicino Aeroporto and drove us to her cousin Anna’s house for dinner. Even though she had already eaten, Anna turned out five or more dishes for us plus wine and Sambuca. Sitting outside on a Roman evening soon reminded us of why we love it here.

Sant'Oreste on the slopes of Monte Soratte

We’ve now been here in Sabina (an area about an hour's drive north of Rome) for a week and here’s what we’ve been up to..... A trip to the Bunkers at Soratte. These were built by the Italians prior to WWII to protect officials and documents as it is a convenient distance away from Rome. But towards the end of the war it was taken over by the German army. Though heavily bombed, the Allies were very careful and only one person in the neighbouring village was killed, though the caution was as likely to do with an English spy in town. Later in the 1960s it was redeveloped to house government officials in the advent of a nuclear war. The bunkers have remnants from each of these eras and are fascinating, whether WWII German army memorabilia or 1960’s era control rooms. They are immense and housed over a 1000 at their peak. Their location, high on the slopes of the mountain, also provides wonderful views over the surrounding countryside.

You can squeeze one in anywhere

More Italian loveliness

There have been many thunderstorms lately with a lot of rain which has, unfortunately, cooled down the water in the swimming pool. At least the temperatures are in the low to mid-20s so, after doing some outside work (mowing and burning off olive cuttings), a cool swim is still worth it. Luckily on my first few laps Vicki pulled me up when she spotted a small snake in the pool! We rescued it and quietly deposited it next door. After Pauline bought this house the developer – despite promising not to – went and built a house in front of it which restricts views in that direction. It remains unsold after 10 years which is a good thing so we have no twinge of conscience adding further deterrents to prospective buyers!

For the record the wildlife list to date is: one snake (as discussed, in the pool), two black squirrels (spotted while having lunch at a friend's house), three big black scorpions (discovered while cleaning out the carport), and 10,000 mosquitoes. Unfortunately this rain seems to have brought the latter out.

Our days so far revolve around a few hours work, either in the garden, helping with Pauline’s iMac and iPad, and a couple of trips to the local shops to help with the shopping. The shopping trips always include coffee stops, indeed our favourite spot is Zanzi-bar at the local shopping centre. I couldn’t believe our first stop included three coffees and three pastries for only 5.40 Euros. A cappuccino or similar is only 80c.

Another shopping trip took us down to Porta di Roma – a huge mall on the outskirts of Rome.  Indeed the biggest mall I think I have been in, though Vicki has been to The Mall of America. Every Roman and her dog was there. Dogs in shops? Yep. And cafes.

As is the norm here, any work is interrupted by a big lunch that Pauline provides though - shock, horror – we’ve started turning down wine at lunch. Sometimes.  At King's Copse we had a routine of finishing work sometime after 4pm, having showers, and then wine'o'clock at about 5 (wine and nibbles).  Thanks to us finding a bottle-shaped plaque in Newbury,  at Casale Benedetti 5 O’Clock has been officially renamed “Prosecco O’Clock” and is when the nibbles and cards come out, with Prosecco or wine. Dinners have all been big affairs, usually accompanied by friends Gabby and/or Corrado, who often bring more dishes and wine. Late nights and more cards ensue. It is tough living in paradise.

Vicki and Corrado about to enjoy Pauline's world-famous macaroni cheese

Gabby, Pauline, Corrado and Vicki - playing Buraco

 All this bodily abuse has left us with bad colds. So today we’re resting at home while Pauline and Gabby have headed to the beach. We're disappointed to have missed out but we’ll see the sea again when we get down to the Amalfi Coast.