More of Italy

Hello again!

Well I thought I should finish my Italian travels as I am now in Hamburg.

On the Wednesday I headed back to Siena to get another look at a few things and to also just have a bit of a wander. It is a great place to walk around as it is so contained. The highlight of the day would have to be the Basilica of St Catherine. She manged to convince the Pope to return to Rome from France, though also managed to get her head cut off. I never did find out why...

The next day to was time to follow up on yet another saint, St Francis of Assisi (they have a lot of them in Italy). Assisi is a small hill top village that exists as a spot for pilgrimage. The main Basilica is the home to some of the most beautiful frescoes from the Early Renaissances. I won't go into detail for those who aren't interested in art, but it is worth the journey if you are in the area.

The whole town is set up for the pilgrimages of both the religious and artistic kind. You can buy crosses and icons of all shapes and sizes, books, pictures and all types of things. It was very interesting to see so many people who were there to bask in the glory of both God and this very holy place, in it's own way.

Then it was back in the car after lunch and back to Podere Finerri for the rest of the afternoon.

Friday, our last day in Tuscany, was spent heading off to Arezzo. The day had two goals. One was to look at the frescoes in the Arezzo area by Pierro della Francesca and the other was to go to a special restaurant for Liz's birthday.

We went to Sansepolcro first and then to another small town that I cannot remember for the life of me!

We arrived in Arezzo just in time for lunch and headed straight into the restaurant. Then after a very traditional, though nice, lunch it was into the church to look at the frescoes. I won't go into the details, but again they are well worth the look.

By then we were all a little frescoed out and so it was back to the house to pack up and prepare our last dinner.

Then it was off to the mountains in the north of Italy. We had a long day of driving and arrived in a hamlet called Pont.