Umbria

Sunday, 12 October. 11:13 is a nice and relaxed time to catch the train. This time it is a Frecciargento, only one step below the Rolls Royce trains. The food situation is marginally better. There’s a café section where Tony managed to buy coffees which to our surprise were stone cold. Later we bought barely edible panini, which at least were hot. These trains all seem to leave exactly on time, but the arrival time varies. This time at Rome we have a 15 minute window for our connecting train to Orvieto. Not enough, as the train toyed with our equanimity and actually allowed only about a minute for the connection. No problem, we were able to exchange the tickets for the next train, inform Connie, then have a relaxing drink, as Binario (Platform) 6 is right here, immediately below the bar. We allowed 10 minutes, plenty of time. While relaxing, things changed. Unfortunately we now need to go to Binario 2 Est. Where is it? Very few signs. A very, very long walk changes to a brisk trot. We jump into the last carriage as the train starts. Phew.
Connie meets us at Orvieto station in her brand new automatic Fiat and we drive to her Italian home, Case Nuove, very near Acqualoreto. Her husband John unfortunately had to return to Sydney for medical treatment, so Connie is holding the fort. Very capably. Case Nuove is a small farm: 4 hectares, 1150 grape vines, 323 olive trees, 2 cats and 1 swimming pool. Tony and Ursula have visited several times before.
The 5-night stay is wonderful. Connie is an excellent cook, particularly of regional dishes. She cooks local specialities for us like fried sage leaves and saltimbocca. We only eat out twice. Once for lunch at a lovely seafood restaurant at Porto Ercole and once for dinner at the very local Trattoria Pisello. No swimming in their large pool. Water temperature is now less than 18°. Connie allowed us to assist with some gardening so on a couple of days we restructured the herb garden and the compost bin. Tony mowed the lawns. Some days we didn’t have lunch until 3pm or later. Glorious sunny days but the evenings cooled down enough to light wood fires in the living room on several evenings.
The day we visited Porto Ercole provided lots of country sightseeing for Tony and Ursula and lots of driving practice for Connie. On the way we travelled past Lago di Bolsena then through the historic town of Pitigliano, believed to have been founded during the Etruscan civilisation, 900 BCE – 27 BCE. An evening visit to the nearby Todi was another highlight. Simply visiting a supermarket with wonderful goods and produce and the olive processing plant (frantoio) at Morre were extremely interesting for people from another country.
Now it’s Friday 17th October. After a very pleasant visit Connie drops us at Orvieto station at about 1030 for another train journey. This time to Firenze (Florence).Leer más