Lago Trasimeno (Lake Trasimeno) in Umbia - still central Italy

Lovely sunset on Lake Trasimeno

We haven't moved very far since our last blog, but have been exploring the shores of Lake Trasimeno - Italy's 4th largest and supposedly oldest lake, has two small inlets,  no outlets & is totally dependant on rainfall - not very deep - only 6 meters at its greatest depth. At times it feels a bit like looking out on Lake Taupo except of course the temperature - and even in the evenings when a slight breeze always seems to come in, it is still warm.

Castiglione Del Largo

We came in from the south into Castiglione Del Lago, which is built on what was once an island and these days joined to the mainland which is thought to have been done by the Romans. Just when we thought we had moved on from the Etruscans, we find that they had set themselves up here too. So again lots of castles, towers, turrets & churches, but each one quite different which keeps them all interesting to visit.
We had a night at Castiglione Del Lago on the lake edge in a large Camper Park nicely shaded by large poplar trees. Great to ride from here around the base of the old

Castle ramparts

town, but walked up into the "old town" - too many steps to take the bikes up.
From here we travelled around the bottom of the lake and up the other side to a lovely little camp "Parco Dei Pini" just out of San Feliciano (a charming and authentic fishing village). The camp is right on the shore of the lake with the motor homes & tents looking out to beautiful sunsets across the far side over Castiglione Del Largo.

Our beautiful pool looking
out onto Lake Trasimeno 

The lake, although thriving with fish, is very weedy, which makes the swimming pool all the more appealing and with the temps back up in the 30's, it is very pleasant to be here.
 We did a bike ride each way from the camp, checking out the little settlements further. One such place - Monte Del Lago -  it's fortress was built in the 14th century, and then became Capital of the Lake in the 15th century. It exists more today for the purpose of people coming to relax. A very pretty, well maintained wee village.
 Moving nearer the top of the lake we stayed a couple of nights at a small Camper site in Passignano. Passignano was more more touristy in that ferry's left from here to the

Looking through to Passignano

couple of other terminals on the lake, and had lot of hotels, cafes & restaurants lining the road way around the lake. We had a lovely evening meal, very pretty looking out to all the lights reflecting on the lake - bit like Nelson's waterfront but ten times the number of restaurants. No one rushing. Very relaxing. Very warm. On our return to camp, they were showing an outdoor Italian movie (of course) which was a comedy by the laughter, but with no subtitles, we weren't too sure what was going on but our plot was pretty amusing too.
We decided it was time to start heading north toward Florence, and into Tuscany, but only got 50km north to Arezzo, one of the Etruscans 12 important Cities of it's time. It

still has nearly 100,000 people living there, so a fairly large city for us. We managed to get on an English speaking tour that had been cancelled in favour of an Italian speaking tour as there were no English tourists at the start of the tour and an Italian family of 5 were wanting to do a tour. So we managed to join them when our very obliging Guide offered to do both languages if we didn't mind. We all agreed and off we went for nearly 2 hours learning of the history of Arezzo with it's political and

Lovely Cheese & meat platters

religious past. The town is today famous for it's art & culture, with what some say was the start of the Renaissance Era. Our Guide was amazing with all her facts & figures, and was quite shattered at the end with swapping language back & forth. Rico would understand what that felt like!
The old town centre was busy with tourists & people with the annual Polyphonics Contest, Choirs from all over the world competing in various churches with amazing acoustics.We were lucky

One of the Crypts below
a choir practising

enough to wander thru another church while rehearsals were in progress, which was beautiful. Also the town was getting ready for the bi annual medieval festival called the Saracen Joust, where Knights on horseback will compete for their area. The work involved in setting this up was incredible - all for one days event. But sadly we won't be there to watch it.

Arezzo's Grande Piazza being prepared
for the Saracen Joust

It was now Thursday, the temperature was climbing again back into the mid 30's, and

Not sure what this was for,
Bill's looking into this ......

we didn't want to arrive in Florence over the weekend as we thought that would probably be busier than through the week - from a tourist point of view. So we

Looking toward Isola Polvese

decided to return to the lovely little camp of Parco Dei Pini with it's swimming pool and relax ( I know, I know, how much more can we relax!!) till the end of the week. It is the perfect place, reasonably quiet & uncrowded (particularly as we are still in peak holiday season - which should finish next week).Yesterday we hired a double kayak and paddled the 40 minutes out to the larger of the 3 islands on the lake, and spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around it, up and over it, and through it. And enjoyed a very cold beer with lunch. Then it was back to camp and into the pool as it was the warmest part of the day.(No siesta for us) Later in the afternoon walked the short distance to San

Fishing Fleet of San Feliciano

Feliciano for a gelato & some veges. Have I said how wonderful the Gelato's are here, particularly the chocolate, nice and bitter (which is the only flavour I choose, except for that time I made a mistake and got nuttella gelato! I do not like nuttella even if most of Italy love it). Bill is far more adventurous and tries all sorts of weird combinations as they like to put two or three mixtures onto your cone - I always have two - chocolate & chocolate!

Bills Observations on Italy

Observations on Italy.
This trip is enlightening in many ways, afore most the steeped layers of history we find.
However not to bore you with that here are some trivia bits of the trip.

Smoking is still very much in Vogue across most of Italy, cigs a fraction off the cost in NZ. Tobacconists are everywhere and is openly for sale at all retail stores. Cigarette butts are thick on the streets. This and the relatively cheap alcohol & food fuels the cafe culture which is pleasant and though a lot of smoking happens outside, inside is clear. The populace at large seem to smoke and there seems to be little culture of change.  Related to this, one of the biggest payouts insurers make in this country is for wild fires and indeed we have seen much evidence and some blazing on road sides, it happens so often and a real risk that over summer the farmers plough a wide swath inside their fences to stop the fires spreading across their land. The fires aren't all that bad as the road side verges are not largely kept, invariably very littered and this cleans it up for a while, excepting the bottles of which there are thousands, mostly evident after the fires have razed all else. Rubbish is a real issue here, it appears despite the efforts from communes to supply rubbish recycling etc there is no real culture and the bins just fill up with whatever fits, it is not uncommon to see roadside emergency stops or laybys absolutely littered with bags full of refuse. Sometimes huge amounts like from a building site or similar. Rubbish collection is contracted out, as in most parts of the world, but apparently Mafia controls a lot of this and as they largely wont go the extra mile to clean things up, ie they will empty the bin, but the bags all round are not their issue,(this is also problematic for most contractors world wide, and who argues with the Mafia. Not to give the wrong impression, these companies aren't charging around with heavies and guns riding the trucks, in fact you could work for a company and not know it was controlled by them. There is a lot of legitimate business in their portfolio, how else do you clean money up??? A small town website we visited was most outspoken and blamed its general rubbish problems squarely with the Mafia since their company had negotiated the contract for the area. The rubbish doesn't affect all areas and once off the busy urban and city roads it is no worse than a lot of places at home.

The Italians we spoke to have absolutely no faith in central government, believe the country is broken, and believe it is largely corrupt, with no redeeming features, the only way of improving their lot is family\home\community based improvement. Family is the only thing you can trust.

Not so old or abandoned yet!

We have seen very many unfinished buildings, in many instances left for many years judging by the vegetation and general state of the building sites. Large and small. Built solidly out of concrete, single or multi floor apartments, large commercial sites, large homes, half finished, then left till they can afford more . It was explained to us that Italians don't like to take on debt, as debt gives control over your asset to a 3rd  party. So they get work done till they run out of money, then start saving again, this can take many years. It may be also that the banks are very difficult to get money out of unless you are in the know, or rather, connected & undoubtedly some were the victims of economic downturns.
 At  Lake Bolsena for two nights in a camp we were very comfortable with. A real treat being a flurry of bats playing above us for the 20minutes of twilight. Fast and small never missing a beat, as close as 1m away at times, was rather special.Where's the animals?The lack of animals has us a little perplexed. The hills & vales simply aren't teaming with gods creatures large or small. from an agrarian point of view there's plenty of cropping and haymaking happening and one is lead to believe a healthy dairy market but till yesterday not seen one cow, & only one small herd of sheep the other day. We went of piste, as we do, and actually got off the tar seal, which is a first, and came across a large collection of tired buildings with large stocks of hay and silos, and there we saw many buffalo cows milling around on a hard stand.Then it made sense, with this environment they make hay and other feed, keeping stock under cover. Buffalo!!?? Well fresh buffalo mozzarella is a biggie here. All the supermarkets, food shops, stalls sell it, and in a salad is fantastic or just sliced with tomatoes and fresh basil, drizzled with a little olive oil & balsamic vinegar, Divine.Thank you Amanda.

A type of solar cell harvesting the sun.

Large Solar arrays, covering acres, keep appearing. Solar energy is another biggy here, whether it is private or commercial I haven't ascertained. But here and in France there are very large solar farms harvesting the sun. Using largely the same cells that we had on the bus, ie cells at 600 x 1200 or thereabouts, and thousands upon thousands of them.  I assume the grass is grazed under them, but as noted very little sign of animals, perhaps in autumn they might get out to eat the grass. The other biggy is wind farms, there's hardly an expansive vista to be seen with out multiple wind turbines. Personally I think they are quite elegant ,but then I'm not a purist like Anton. Italy in a referendum a few years ago rejected Nuclear power, and with a heavy reliance on fossil, and about 30% hydro they are ramping up the alternatives. Interesting too is the motorway service areas with large ristorante's and gas stations often having huge solar installations which are cleverly placed to create shaded parking in the large car parks.

Very Small quarry 

Stone is ubiquitous with construction in Italy and has been since day one. It is very much a natural resource and is used for even the humblest of dwellings for floors,stairs, facings, ie door and window sills and architraves,and all work surfaces, they have stone work perfected. Just about every area you go through has multiple quarry sites, they are awesome, In Pisa there are literally km's of hill sides being quarried and along the motorway kms of factories processing the raw stone into block, slabs, tiles whatever, then exported round the world or simply satisfying the huge local demand.
And some times they go straight down, never mind finding a mountain, lets dig here, and there are ginormous holes in the ground where the stone is slabbed out (very neat and tidy, like cubed cheese) and processed. Huge scales of production.
Haven't seen much active building construction but timber has not been observed for framing externally, undoubtedly internally it is used. Stone or concrete block or slab, construction. I guess that's why a lot of this stalled construction can be left for so long.And why buildings have been here for ever. Often see very old abandoned villas as we drive round. Often stone is recycled and you see where they rob from an abandoned building to build new close buy.
Gelato is an Italian gift to the world. This nectar of the Gods is fabulous and being

New work wagon.

milk and ice rather than cream is hardly bad for you, in fact builds up our bones at this delicate time in our life cycle, so we are enjoying it.
Italy is not a wealthy place in the sense of the working man, he isn't well off. However in a population of over 60M people there is still a lot of discretionary income to be spent and thus there are a lot of luxury cars. Though this is from a kiwi's perspective . What we know as luxury cars at home are very common here, no doubt a lot easier to afford and source. There is  a lot of older stock as well, indeed the national car fleet possibly has an older average than NZ. And just love the 3 wheeler utes. They are very widely used and am guessing still very much available new.On a motorway skirting Rome we saw waste land, many acres strewn with construction and commercial waste, at one area hundreds and hundreds of rectangular blocks of foam insulation????? It took a minute but then click "skinned fridges"Some one was peeling the steel exteriors of old fridges (steel has a real value still ) & the rest is just left, The whole area was an eyesore to say the least.
Acres and acres of sun flowers all across Italy and a few weeks ago were looking so beautiful, but now mostly tired with their heads hanging, we assume for sun flower seeds and the oil. The other crop we've seen is corn or maize, suspect for stock feed.

From the sublime

to the ridiculous

Italy is the home of Vesper scooters and they are still very popular but so are lots of other makes and models. there a lot of big scooters. Like huge, physically bigger than most motorbikes  nearly rivalling the super touring bikes. And they can move, its not unusual to be over taken on the motorways by a super scooter, even 2 up. They dart amongst the traffic and you fear for them, we have yet to see any accident, everyone seems to be risky but they are either lucky or good drivers!! They do wear helmets but little else. Jandals Tshirts and stubbies are good to go. Oh and the sunnys:)

I like it!!

Most of our fellow campers are Italian (in fact probably less than 5%of the routes we are on are foreigners, we expect when we  get to major places this will change), however very many of the indigenous campers carry a scooter(often old vespers) instead of bikes, and they zip away lots. It is something we will look into on our return.

Road signage is very much interpreted as recommendations only, especially stop signs, because "Stop" is English they blatantly ignore it. The horn is frequently used and we now realise it is a polite way for them to let you know they are waiting patiently on

This is not unusual. 

you to  move your ass. The roads apart from the Superstrada can be very rough and really make the suspension work. Driving is a bit scary, the Italians don't phaff around, we are often passed in inappropriate places, perhaps God is looking after them, I hope he continues to look after us....

The Sacred Wood of Bomarzo

Before we finish with Lazio, I can't leave out the sacred woods of Bomarzo. This was an amazing garden built in the 16th Century by an Italian nobleman as a memorial to his wife - he was the Duke of Bomarzo (Vicino Orsini)The carvings are all carved out

of local stone wherever it lay in the grounds of his property.

The architect/sculpture was Pirro Ligorio who created the park of monsters in a monumental complex with mythological & grotesque figures all set in a natural amphitheatre. It really was incredible.

Unfortunately the gardens were abandoned for about 300 years, until 1953 when they were lovingly restored by a local art lover. And now for a small fee, open to the public.

All Etruscaned out - time to move on from the Province of Lazio and into Umbria

Orvieto, our camper park was
at the base of the town, we travelled
up on a cable car, then bus into the centre

Lazio has been an amazing area with it's ancient history with the Etruscans & then Romans. It's the Etruscans that really interested us and their civilised way of living so long before Christ. (Although some of the art work on their jugs and challis's weren't that civilised!) And the way they buried their dead, preparing them for the afterlife.
These towns we have been visiting have all been up on rocky outcrops, usually Tuff rock. The purpose of building so high up of course was for defence. But boy it must have made it hard work with building into the rock and then building large stone castles etc all around the tops.

As we travel through rural Italy, beautifully landscaped with rows of olive trees / grapes vines / maize / tobacco & sunflowers, the various towns we visited just pop up in the distance and before you know it, you are travelling  these medieval towns trying to avoid the centres as they are a bit tight for cars let alone Camper Vans! Some of the towns are great with their signage and have specific Camper Parks where you can park for an hour or the day (24hrs), which we try and get into and then walk around the towns.

Small side door for discrete exits

Church procession involves
the whole town

Of course every town has many churches, very old majestic looking, some in good order other not depending on the economic state of the Municipal (place). The more touristy of course have more money. But these huge churches can usually only seat a small congregation - quite surprising when looking from outside.

Civita Di Bagnoregio only accessable via pathway

Castles - of course every medieval city had a castle, and they can vary in state too. They all look magnificent from the distance and stand out on the horizons. As I don't enjoy heights, I usually dread our approach into the towns wondering what the

Amazing artwork from the 15th
century on the church ceilings

access is going to be like. The worst (or as Bill would say the best) was into Civita Di Bagnoregio, who with landslides & earthquakes over the centuries has made access to the town only accessable for tourists by foot over a long, very high pathway. I did struggle getting across that one as the ground looked like it was moving as we crossed, but well worth the visit. I feel sorry for the locals when it is high tourist season as everyone wanders pass their homes, but then they need them to bring in the money to the community.

Bill taking us on a short cut...

All the smaller towns have Siesta time, which is a great time to be driving through as there is next to no traffic. And then by the time we arrive where we want to end up for the night, the places are coming to life, great for a drink & nibbles (the Italians don't like to drink on

empty stomachs so usually give a dish of chips or chips & peanuts. In Montemilitto it was savouries or mini pizzas). All included with your drink. It was hard to see how some cover their costs. We will struggle when we return home to the 5.00pm closing of stores, amazing how quickly we have got use to the changes in time & service.

Etruscan Necropolis & Bill 

St Patricks Well
A double helix stairwell
built in the 15th century.
Amazing

With the warmer climate you don't want to be out and about in the peak afternoon heat, and the evenings are lovely in that there is no dew or cooling. Very pleasant and as we have said so many families out and about, makes such  difference to the atmosphere. No one in a hurry. Not sure we want to ever leave Italy!

Camping in a motor home in Italy

Our current spot in Tuscania

From what we have gleaned of Italians on holiday, by having just experienced their peak season (similar to our Christmas break - schools closed for up to 6 weeks - businesses closed for 3 weeks), we have made some Tyler observations. Take note this is only a small glimpse of Italians camping with motorhomes.

Camp Ground Natural
Lake Vico

We have seen a lot of motor homes where we have parked up at nights but during the days the numbers on the roads aren't anything like we have at home in NZ. This is possibly due the roading network ,which is huge, and there being multiple choices to get most places, for most, being the SuperStrada which we don't use so much. Caravans we have seen very few.

Camping under Plane Trees
Lake Bolsena

We haven't seen any rented motorhomes, they seem to be all owner occupied. Mostly Italians too, although some French, German & Dutch. Their registration plates have to show the country of registration - ours of course is GB. There doesn't appear to be any buses, nothing like Big Yella. They are all the big white, mostly shiny ones, no character such as having names like we give ours back home, and certainly not the paint jobs. We haven't seen any towing of cars or boats, a few with kayaks on the roof, but again nothing like NZ.

Camper Parking Orvieto

We have stayed in a few camp grounds, and interesting the difference to our ways at home. The camps don't have kitchens set up for cooking, only doing your dishes. Above the sinks sometimes are dish racks for your dishes to drip dry, as most homes we have seen so far. It's certainly a great way to keep your kitchen looking tidy, just the cupboard with dish rack after washing and they drip dry behind closed doors. In Italy I think they expect you to eat out, which can be very cheap.

Camper Parking Montefiascone

Toilets & showers pretty much the same except lots don't have toilet seats ( Bill thinks this is much more hygienic) and toilet paper sometimes, more often not. But we are lucky with our motorhome, I haven't experienced many public toilets. Only one camp so far has charged for hot showers, which we haven't needed in these current temperatures.  I found this surprising, with the country so dry at this time of the year, water supplies can't be an issue. Must have great storage facilities.
We have stayed in a few Camper Parks which are specific for camper vans. Some provide power, most with fresh water and dumping facilities. Some are free which is hard to see how they cover costs when they are providing power too! Some of the car parks have 24 hour parking which is great. We have seen very little signage stopping motor homes from parking over in towns (due to 24 hr parking fees) and the cost is not huge at the 24 hour parks, some even providing power. The prices are up over the peak July August season at the camps, so we are looking at reductions after that.

Camper Parking 24 hrs, we are the little one!

With all the positives there is the down side of no freedom camping, There just aren't the places to pull in to, or off the sides of the roads like we have at home. There may be some along the coast but as we have been trying to avoid the busy places since we left A&R back at the beginning of August, we haven't come across them.
We have stayed at one Agriturismo place, where farms are trying to make a little extra with doing the tourism thing too, lots of B&B's, not so many for camper vans. But over all so far it's been a positive experience. Lets see what we are writing over winter!

Italy - Lazio Region - Bill, the Etruscans & the Popes

We enjoyed Montemiletto for 2 more days after A&R left whilst we sorted air conditioning and arranged our selves for the next stage IE travelling alone, only us two holding hands, or more accurately scratching each others eyes out as we travel round. This is the part where we have no itinerary and simply wing it. S has been worried as it is holiday time in Italy and its busy. Well it is but the busy places are holiday places IE the beaches & touristy things.

When we were heading inland, to join A&R, avoiding the Rome ring motorway we went of piste and passed a small walled village, as we drove past the towns gate it was obvious there was history there so made a mental note. We got more mental as we drove for sure but luckily we were able to retrace our steps on the map and this was our destination upon cutting the cord now, 3 weeks later.

Etruscan Tombs

We drove about 4 hours largely up the SuperStrada, no problems in this heat with 30 ++ temps and aircon just purring away (another story), even left the van idling as we stopped in a layby for lunch. Another motive for heading north was a vain hope of out distancing the heatwave, (Well you know what happened in Pompei!!!!)
We duly arrived at Tuscania (not to be confused with Tuscany), 50ks North of Rome, a wee bit unsure of our lodgings or indeed what was

Christian church built over
an Etruscan Temple

behind the walls of this medieval town. We were immediately barred from taking our motorhome through the gates and directed via signage to an area at the top end of town, not a good start we thought. But far from disappointment we arrived at a small shaded free parking lot for Campers with water and dump facilities a scant 300 m from the top gates and 6 mins from the first cafe. BINGO

Amphitheatre Benevento

It was set up for campers but at some stage the town fathers lost the plot and the electric was no longer working but apart from this it suited our needs. Tranquillo

Tuscania is a medieval fortified town built on a commanding hill within a distance from Rome that made it strategic. This was true of most the towns we went on to visit in this region. The saying that "all roads lead to Rome" is so true and Rome has

Medieval city of Sutri

influenced these towns history over 2000 years, however their existence well predates the Romans by over half a millennium as these places in this area were founded by Etruscans, and the jury is still out on where and how they come to be here.

Amphitheatre carved into Tuff rock

Have read 2 theories and who assimilated who over the early centuries as the Etruscans had plumbed towns well before the toga wearing Romans made it into history. None the less the Romans eventually won the day and they kept the records to prove it all.

Mithraic Temple used by Etruscans
commandeered by the Christians all
carved into the Tuff hillside

Tuscanian history goes back to as early as 8th Cent BC from the Necroplis still very evident in the tuff hill sides. Tuff is a volcanic compacted scoria that though easy to work was resilient to wind and rain erosion unlike sand & lime stone. This has left a rich legacy of tombs ,which we have explored, for archaeologists and historians to glean some of the ancients story, making for some good reading, exploration and in awe off what can be achieved by a society we, in ignorance, would call primitive if we did not now know better.

Montefiascone
Looking out to Lake Bolsena

We forayed into Viterbo from here and again its early history the same, but wait, the real story here is the Papal angle, they were megalomaniac wealthy men from powerful families, who were constantly working with and against other powerful megalomaniacs (indeed at one period 3 simultaneous popes all claiming divine rites) basically amassing lands,(ie provinces) fortunes and influence. The stories are outrageously huge in their breadth and it is hard to see

where the religious part of the story is excepting the Church wielded with iron fists, an all powerful direct lineage to JC and his dad God. Christ they were largely rapacious political tyrants that the peoples had no reason too look to for leadership excepting to obey the dictum's and tow the line buying a path to heaven.
This started with the very early Popes and continued in many respects to modern times. One assumes they were very much men of their times and as such history may do them disservice, our reading of the facts now does not paint a glorious picture of kindly men doing the lords work!! The standing armies, fortified castles, land, allegiances and the masses that they  commanded has shaped the

Italians for 2000 years and continues to be a force in their daily lives. I have an insatiable need to look in every church I see, being a badly lapsed catholic, and these huge monuments intrinsically to God, but in reality to the popes and families that won favours, is testimony as why I'm lapsed. It seems that every Bishop, Cardinal, Pope, and powerful benefactor have needed to create their own monument to ...........well I let you decide. But God hasn't worked a lot of good to the people of these parts. Over 2000 yrs the country has become absolutely wodged with churches, (at no little cost) they are truly magnificent, numerous, full of antiquities & tourists. In fact tourists may well be the "silver lining"
Benevento, Viterbo, Mountefiascone and now Bolsena all share similar stories and have all had at one stage or other a real hand in history. Often multiple pieces of history. As we travel and enquire of "Wiki" or the "I"sites there is not one place that can't claim a place in this tapestry. Over 3 millennium and countless generations, events and twists of fates touch all, and the history just gets deeper, and deeper, and deeper.
We are at Lake Bolsena for two nights as we soak up the history, swim in the lake, enjoy the cafe culture and catch up on washing the undies. In the last few days we have only progressed a paltry 50ks further from Rome but the area keeps sidelining us as we mooch around.

Thankfully we have been enjoying temperatures in the mid 20's and low 30's for the last few days, apart from our walk in the bush to locate Necropolis, this is pleasant. The lake is cooling and last night the foreshore had 6 different musical groups playing over a km stretch of cafe's, markets etc, as it is holiday time and saints festivals etc etc. The cafe's largely get going after 5ish, restorantes at 7 ish then the bands start at 9:30 and we came home after 12. Have no idea what time it stops. There are very relaxed families, strolling with toddlers, dogs and grandparents etc just milling and chilling. Everyone is smoking, but we are getting used to that. Lots of youths, but no drunken or aggressive youths, we never feel intimidated, it is all very pleasant.