About a week and a half ago we arrived in Padua, Italy to meet up with a group tour visiting the villages of Italy. It has been a wild ride between moving every couple days and visiting some really cool places. Here is a small sampling of pictures from the first week with a short summary of some of the things we’ve seen.
PADUA – This is a university town containing the University of Padua. Three important events at this college included the lectern from which Galileo taught, the amphitheater where they did the first human autopsies, and this is the university that had the first ever woman to earn a degree.
RAVENNA – We were on our way to our next village and stopped in Ravenna along the way. This town is known for its mosaics and they are beautiful. We were given a tour of the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia. They only let 25 people in at a time and they keep it a set temperature and humidity. First the glass had to be made in various colors, then broken into tiny squares, and then used to create these beautiful murals. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but up close is amazing.
MONTEFALCO – This is the very small village we spent two nights with great hosts. They stayed up until we were all back from our dinners in town and poured wine and other drinks. It felt like we were spending the night with friends! From this location we travelled to Assisi to learn and see more about St. Francis. We had a wonderful tour and, of course, learned a lot. But the fun wasn’t over yet. Next we went out for a truffle hunt and dinner featuring our booty. Such a great experience.
DERUTA – This was a stop on our way to Orvieto. We went to a ceramic workshop where they do every bit of the pottery from start to finish. It was an amazing stop with amazing artists at work. Next stop was a small town named Civitelle del Lago where we toured around the stone village and enjoyed some beautiful views.
ORVIETO – We stayed two nights here. But, before we arrived in Orvieto, we stopped at a several hundred year old winery which had been under current ownership for over 150 years. The first picture you seen is from the winery looking toward Orvieto. The second picture is the wine caves which they started digging over 800 years ago. Once in Orvieto, we had an archeological tour under a church and, later, a tour of the Duomo in town. It was huge! There was also a bit of time for shopping and eating.
CHIANCIANO TERME – This was a stop on the way to Tuscany. We went to an Etruscan Museum for a guided tour. We have learned so many dates and places and it is really hard to keep it all straight but through it all there has been one consistent theme here: the Etruscan were the first people in this whole area and they were here 5,000 years ago. They built roads, brought water in through pipelines, developed a language, and they did it all before the Romans! The first picture is of Etruscan jewelry that was from over 2000 years ago. From this stop we went to an agritourismo (farm offering tourism activities). Here we had a chef teach us a cooking lesson! So much good information and then we got to eat it all.
As you can see, it’s been a whirlwind trip so far. Next up we travel to Tuscany and the Cinque Terre (the Italian Riviera).
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