gubbio | Clune Gap Years

187 – Saturday 24th October 2015: Saint Francis of Assisi

by Katherine

The Aree di Sosta for EUR5 had full services, so we stuck the hot water for a shower later on, and went to look at the dog show we had spotted on our morning run. Working dogs, but not hunting dogs. They had to sniff out truffles for their owners. We watched the Junior section and fell in love with the Springer … K has had 3 of these … and this one was particularly cute: only 4 months but he not only sniffed out, but dug up and presented the smelly canisters to his owner! Best in Show!

From the dog show looking back at Gubbio

What’s not to love? James, couldn’t we… ?

Fully serviced, us included (showered that is!), we drove the short way to Assisi. We had a Parking in the Tourist Bus parking at the town at the bottom of the hill on which Assisi is perched … EUR18!!! But it did have proper toilets and water etc. A short walk and a bus up to Assisi. It is similar to Gubbio in that there are lots of narrow streets, steps etc …. but being a Pilgrimage site, LOTS of shops selling religious kitsch and crowded. It is impressive and obviously means a lot to a lot of people.

Basilica of St Francis is comprised of an Upper and Lower Church and the crypt with St Francis’ tomb. Some amazing frescos and relicts from Saints Francis and Clare.

Cathedral: contains the font both St Francis and St Clare were baptised in

The Font

We heard drumming and horns and managed to catch a glimpse of a procession. We caught up with them again outside St Clare Church. As well as swirling and catching their flags they jumped over each other and then lay down to increase the distance the next combatant had to leap … then the drummed, blew their horns and marched off. Lovely.

We’ve seen a number of these and they are very iconic.

188 – Sunday 25th October 2015: Driving day

James took over from here

We left our Assisi Parking at about midday, after a run and laundry, and headed south for a longish drive to St Giovanni Rotondo. (J here, by the way…) My family will remember Padre Pio – a monk of this town – he had the ‘Stigmata’ (signs of Christ’s Crucifixion on his hands and feet). Difficult for folk to believe – but he was canonised a Saint in 2002 – he died in the 1960’s. Deborah’s late Aunt Aideen, who passed away last year, she had a lifelong devotion to Padre Pio and visited St Giovanni every year – a wonderful lively lady…

Stopped to buy wonderful farm produce en route as you can see…

Lots of the ‘older’ farmers parked up with their tractors selling potatoes, onions and garlic. Most of the fields are now ploughed over and some are being planted with next year’s crops.

Total travel time door to door – 8 hours! Big Brad, our new Sat Nav persona, decide to completely ignore the change from Daylight savings in the UK and confused his passengers – late on our journey, he added an hour – just for fun ! Our first time on this trip driving in complete darkness on strange roads. Thankfully, the country roads here are actually excellent. The area sees 8 million pilgrims each year – the second most popular pilgrim site in Italy. Anyway, Brad (shall his surname be Pitt or Brosnan ?) – woke up and delivered us unerringly to a lovely Parking – at 8:00 pm – just in time for a beer….. James – beer? Back to adolescence in Walters bar, Dun Laoghaire….

189 – Monday 26th October 2015 – Padre Pio of San Giovanni Rotondo

Completely refreshed, our Italian Parking hostess taxied us to the centre of St Giovanni – only Euro 6 return – we conversed in a mixture of J’s improving Italian – K’s Francais and Deutsch – a truly trilingual menage…

The main church is naturally all about Padre Pio (the whole town is actually) and J attended part of a Mass and saw Padre Pio’s preserved body on a slab behind the main altar – very emotionally moved because of Aideen…such a nice lady.

We visited all the main ecclesiastical sites and then wandered in search of a bus to the nearby coast, which we failed to achieve. Onto Plan B.

Now those who know us may deduce that we occasionally have a meal out! We turned a corner ‘a destra’ – and found a small restaurant which we initially thought was ‘chiusio’ – once again our reader is reeling with astonishment at my command of Italiano… The photos below don’t fully do justice our repast – a shared starter, two large main courses, a bottle of guess what? – vino collapse rossso/blanco – total cost £36 including tip!!!

Taxied back to our bivouac – gentle zzzs for moi – now blogging and relaxing… Bella Italia et la Dolce Vita !!!

K’s postscript: I do wonder how these saints who practiced and preached abstinence and a simple life would have felt about the massive churches built in their names and the whole industry that has evolved.

185 – 23rd October 2015: Gubbio – the Gubbins

A crack of dawn start and a walk to the hospital. A 20 minute wait and we saw the dentist … he was not able to help as J needs an Xray and serious repair! He can only fix small cracks! Pleasant enough … but tooth problem still needs ‘crowning’. Perhaps Naples!

Quick hoover – J and identify some possible overnight Parkings in Assisi – K and we were off by about 11. The guide book made Gubbio sound good, so we set this as a via point on Brad, the Sat Nav. Perhaps I should explain … We had an incident with Sally, the Sat Nav. Suddenly she became Afrikaans and we could not understand her. About to re-set her back to Sally and thought we could do with a change of voice, so we now have Brad …. male American. Brad as in Brad and Janet in the Rocky Horror Show, as he sounds like an all round nice guy, but a bit dim. Sadly he does not say rout for route. A slight digression …. Brad decided to take us the most direct rout(e) – over hills. Lots of hairpin bends and hill towns with castles atop. Pretty but slow driving.

As we pulled up to Gubbio it was really striking: a Roman amphitheatre in the foreground and layers of a glowing white stone town behind. Banners proclaimed that the white truffle festival was on. At the TIC we asked about the main sights, the truffle festival and an overnight Parking with water. The Parking was only about a half km from where we had parked, so it meant we could wander at will and not worry about getting onto Assisi, which will keep till tomorrow.

Roman Amphitheater – the first sight as we arrived.

Our rout(e) around Gubbio included several of the truffle festival stall areas. There were not many customers about and we were pressed with samples to consume … managed to come away without buying the EUR300 truffle I was kindly shown. But did buy a tuna and pistachio paste, nougat for Maddy, a small lump of cheese and a bottle of very green pistachio cream (alcoholic!) … no truffle products though :(. Apparently to keep the truffles, you place on kitchen paper, which needs changing daily and place in a glass jar in the fridge. I was told the Japanese often buy large ones which are unusable due to lack of care in the keeping. My truffle guide unscrewed the lid on one truffle jar and the scent was very heady … almost tempting!

The historical part of our rout(e) was equally rewarding. The Palace of the Consuls traced the history of Gubbio … prehistoric, redesigning under the Romans and then retreating up the hills when the Byzantines and Goths came as it was then easier to defend themselves from there. As part of this redesigned city they used the latest technology – toilets and water pipework to fountains and really impressive huge arches to support the Piazza Grande. The Palace also contains the Eugubine Tablets – 7 tablets with inscriptions on brass. These date from 1BC and were undeciphered until the late 1800’s. They provided evidence of how people lived in Umbria before the Roman Conquest. The part I read (yes, translated into English) was about the detailed rituals for sacrificing a goat. As well as art and stone, there was also a superb viewing gallery at the top.

We wandered the streets and somehow found ourselves in a bar enjoying a rather pleasant red. More wanderings and stalls and back to Chardonnay. Our neighbours are all Italian, but it is quiet and only EUR5 for water and waste etc.

A fantastic afternoon – one of those moments in time….