Italy and San Marino

Bob and Marie have been friends of ours for nearly 20 years. I worked for Bob for several years, and D worked with him for years beyond that. Bob has been a professional mentor for both of us, and he and Marie are very special people in our lives. The four of us have traveled together to interesting spots around the globe on business trips, and in the years since Bob retired, we've traveled together purely for fun. You might recall that we joined in the celebrations in Ireland for Bob & Marie's 50th wedding anniversary in 2007. Here we are with them last summer on the Irish coast...This year Ed, Lorna, D, and I were once again invited to join them for a portion of their annual fall trip to Montone, in the Umbria region of Italy. Nearly every year since retirement, Bob & Marie have spent 6 weeks in this perfectly preserved mountaintop town. To get into the town, you must park outside of it's walls, and walk up 72 stairs to enter through the town gate. The photo below shows the home where Bob & Marie stay. It is a tall narrow house, many hundreds of years old, which has been beautifully restored and decorated. The views from the bedrooms aren't bad either.
The town is truly like something out of another era. It has a small central piazza with a post office, two stores, a bank, and two cafes. There are only a few hundred residents inside the walls, and they all know each other and are cheerful and welcoming to visitors. (Especially to Bob & Marie's friends!) Also joining Bob & Marie while we were there were their lifelong friends Joe & Pat, Bob's sister Elaine, Bob & Marie's granddaughter Caitlin -- a student at Wellesley who is spending this semester abroad in Athens, Greece -- and her classmate Shawna. We spent time every morning having coffee drinks on the piazza. Here are Marie, Elaine, Joe, and Caitlin at the cafe:We walked all over town to enjoy the beautiful scenery. This is Niccolino, the cat that the townspeople call "Nostra Gato", or "Our Cat". Everyone looks after him, and he was healthy and friendly.The timing of our visit to Montone was perfect, as we were able to enjoy the town's annual "Festa del Bosca", or Festival of the Forest. The normally sleepy village was turned into an energetic, lively festival site for three days, going from this...to this...! All through the town, there were stalls selling food, wine, and handicrafts and there were musicians -- ranging from a samba percussion band to a brass quintet to a strolling New Orleans-style jazz band...Marie's favorite! We also took some great day trips. We went to Gubbio, a medieval town a half hour away from Montone, perched on the side of Monte Ingino. Here's D in the Gubbio Piazza Grande......and Elaine, Shawna, and Caitlin enjoying a coffee nearby.On a sunny day, Ed, Lorna, D and I drove an hour to beautiful Lake Trasimeno, Italy's fourth-largest lake. We spent one long day driving East, nearly to the Adriatic Sea, up and over the rugged Appennine Mountains. Our first stop was the very charming little mountaintop town of San Leo.Then we drove on to the Republic of San Marino, an affulent but very tiny country (23 square miles) completely surrounded by Italy. It is located on Mount Titano at 2500 ft above sea level, and is the third smallest country in Europe -- with only Monaco and Vatican City being smaller. While we ate lunch on the Piazza della Liberta... ...in front of their key parliamentary building, we actually got to see the country's co-leaders, one man and one woman who are the two "Captain's Regent" that run the Republic -- as they left the building. Here they are, getting into their official vehicle. Cool!
And the next day we visited Assisi......where Christians have been paying homage to Saint Francis since the Middle Ages. Ed printed out a 25-page biography of St Francis and read it aloud to us as we drove...then quizzed us on the facts throughout the day. The plaque below depicts St Francis with the wolf -- and this took place in Gubbio. (See Ed, I was paying attention!) We admired the abundant olive trees around the area...so D thought he'd try an olive right off of the tree... ...but he obviously wasn't crazy about it!With that very minor exception, we ate exceptionally well and had tons of fun together all week long... It was a beautiful trip with great friends.