Il Percorso Scenico: A Day with the Haerrs in Spoleto

Apologies for my absence for the last week. There has been no internet up on the farm, which makes updating a blog sort of impossible. I'm sure you have all been on pins and needles waiting to hear from me.... or not. At any rate, I promised to post about my visit to Spoleto; so I will start there before moving on to post about WWOOFing. Now, where did I leave off.....
I woke up on Thursday the 7th and was treated to coffee and breakfast, once again on the Haerr's balcony. In case you were wondering the view is amazing alll day, not just in the evening. Scrambled eggs and breakfast potatoes, my favorite.

After a leisurley morning, we headed out to see what sights Spoleto had to offer. And what glorious sights they were. We started off with a Roman amphitheater and the "new" theater, constructed in the 1800's, I believe. (But don't quote me on that.) They have a different definition of new here. Although I suppose that when you, are comparing a theater to Roman architecture and the Teatro Caio Melisso, one of Italy's oldest tiered playhouses, the 19th century seems pretty new. Speaking of the Teatro Caio Melisso, it is in the same piazza as Il Duomo, which dates back to at least the 12th century. Il Duomo is amazingly beautiful, and contains frescoes painted by Filippo Lippi, dating back to 1467-69. The Piazza del Duomo is the location of Spoleto's Festival dei Due Mondi. A large concert shell is installed in from of Il Duomo, and the entire piazza is filled woth people.

I almost forgot, before heading to the Piazza del Duomo, we visited the Spoleto library (a converted villa), a Roman arch, and grabbed my first Italian slice of pizza (Denise and I opted for margherita, Steve chose mushroom).

After seeing the town, we headed to the Ponte delle Torri and crossed over to Monteluco; where we walked along the same path as St. Francis of Assisi, and snagged some fabulous views of the bridge and La Rocca, a medieval castle constructed in the 14th century.

At this point, we headed back to the Haerr's apartment to grab some lunch and rest up a bit before heading over to the cemetery and a UNESCO World Heritage church, dating to between 774-568 BC. The church was beautiful, it is amazing to think of the craftsmanship and skill that it took to build it over 2000 years ago.
The cemetary was also very interesting. Gravestones have got nothing on the huge mausoleums that they construct over here. We found a corner of the cemetary devoted to the Templo di Cremazione. Where the ashes of individuals who chose to be cremated, long before it was acceptable in Italy, are kept. After leaving the cemetary, but before heading back to the apartment we stopped to buy a 5 liter jug of wine. (For 6 euro. Get stoked.)