Fagins' Travels: Casentino, with a little Umbria and Tuscany

After three days of eye-opening tours of Florence and surrounds with Lise, we set out on our 9 day hiking trip with Mario. This year he took us to the village in the Casentinos where he lived as a young boy, the church where he was an alter and choir boy, the mountains where he hiked, and the house where he was born.

Then to Stia, a medieval village. (Paul has a particular fascination for old stone buildings, castles and arches and this trip was just full of them; unfortunately a scratched lens caused various problems when there was a bright light source in part of the picture.)

where Mario's sisters Alba, below,

and Anna made us another unforgettable lunch.

Perfect capelletti waiting to be served with a great ragu - too busy eating to take a picture

Food like theirs is not in restaurants, and certainly not served with the happy generosity they exude.

Although we were on a hiking trip, and we hiked up very steep hills, 6-8 miles/day, none of us could stay ahead of the fantastic calories in the "pica-nica" (Italian DNA prevents them from ending a word in a consonant) lunches Mario and Vittorio continued to lay before us. Wonderfully seasoned salads, cured meats and cheeses, and pastas with great sauces produced from the fresh local ingredients they purchased each day.

Around Stia we visited castles dating back to 1007 where Dante put pen to paper after being exiled from Florence.

This is another Castello where Dante did not stay. It had many lovely stone walls that showed really well with the bright blue sky that we are sparing you.

As is often the case, we were alone in a beautiful 12th century Romanesque church,

We love the capitals on the columns and apparently they are the originals, over a 1000 years old.

with the cellar open to show the Etruscan foundations on which it had been built.

Two hikes were in a magical forest planted by Franciscan monks.

We could have seen far north into Emilio Romagno, however, the clouds obscured the view - yet created a nice effect.

We found small caves in the woods where monks lived and meditated, and visited a Benedictine monastery in the forest. Another day we hiked through misty woods with vivid green moss,

then up to a monastery built to honor St. Francis who received his stigmata (one wonders how that happened) here.

The monastery grew large over the years, especially in the 1400's when Andrea della Robbia did a series of enameled terracotta alter pieces that still draw crowds. We saw many della Robbias, generally scenes from the bible; they were a very busy clan for about 100 years. Paul, generally prefers to take pictures of details of art works as this vase with lilies from a della Robbia at this monastery

The weather was slightly cool and great for hiking, but we generally put on another layer to have lunch. Rain jackets were occasionally required.

Generally the rain was light except for one picnic when a sudden downpour saved us all from going back for seconds.

We stayed two nights in Montone, a perfectly preserved medieval village.

On our first hike from Montone Mario told us to go up the long road to Pieve del Saddi where we would see Vittorio. While many were photographing the vistas,

Tom set off on his mission down the road. Thus in the lead, he read a trail marker that directed him to our destination via the woods instead of the road. Once in the dark woods there were no further markers, and the trail was too steep to turn back so Tom ended up far from our destination. A combination of Tom's telephone compass, Verizon roaming, Jim's Wind Sim Card, and Laura's good GPS finally found him. That night we were a bit late to dinner at the Montone home of Jeff and Judith who have a beautiful old 4 story home in the center of Montone where they stay 6 months/year, offer cooking events and take active roles in the community. Winters are spent in the USA. Paul was quite taken with the sconces that Jeff designed to create the shadows on the wall. We "helped" prepare and eat a delightful dinner, then walked back through the town to our hotel.

On to Gubbio, a beautiful, fascinating old Umbrian town built long before Rome on a steep hillside. It shows off the amazing capability of tall arches, which support a Grand Piazza above them. We toured the town and took

the cable car up Monte Ingino, then a short hike to a picnic lunch. We stayed in a charming Ducal Palazzo with tall stone walls, stairways and connections that took a day or so to decipher.

Stopping on the trip back to Florence in Sansepolcro (gasp, Paul lost the pictures of this town), we saw the town and famous paintings by Piero della Francesca. It escaped destruction in WWII because the Captain ordered to blow up the town had read an essay by the painter. Then a farewell picnic in a small vineyard behind a churchyard. Millie and Laura had come through once again with modified English lyrics and music to an old Italian song, Viene, that invites you to a long walk in the woods. Jim hung his music on a grape vine and played accompanying flute.

Mario was dropped at the Dentist office and Vittorio took us to our hotel in Florence. The others stayed near the airport: Jim and Laura to fly on to Greece, and Tom and Millie to return to Sausalito. We had a few hours to walk all over Florence again, this time feeling comfortable with all the familiar Piazzas and buildings. We found a good restaurant, Osteria Pepo, for a final Florence dinner - where Lise had taken us for lunch 10 days before.

Next morning, an easy train ride to Rome, about 2 hours via high speed rail.

And here are some more pictures we like: