Dowd adventures in Bologna: Travels with Michelle Koo

sabato 28 luglio 2012

Travels with Michelle Koo

Our friend Michelle Khoo from Melbourne came to stay for a week, and so we set off for a few days down to Umbria. We stayed at Castello di Petroia, near Gubbio, it is an old castle, in which the famous Duke of Umbria was born ( you may know him better by his profile and bent nose in the famous picture by Piero della Francesca. It is set in the hills and is very attractive, more laid back than normal, with the pool a short walk away, surrounded by farmland, very relaxing and better in some cases as the kids don't disturb anyone sleeping in the afternoon. Our first nights dinner concerned us, as the service or lack of, was worrying, there was only one waitress, and she didn't really get it, then the bloke from the front desk turned up, but he only helped us with some water, l went and got the menu's, and finally gave them our order, but it was sometime later the food arrived, and the kids were ratty. The food was terrific, especially the pork fillets. Though we thought maybe best not to eat dinner the next night there, the problem being the castle was a distance from restaurants and down a narrow dirt track. On the way down to the castle we stopped at Gubbio, which is a pretty small town, set up on the hill, lots of pottery, ceramic shops, in fact l don't know how any of them made money, there were so many. We had a walk around the narrow streets, the town is especially well maintained and clean, flowers on the window sills, ideallic.
The next day we awoke had the breakfast which was simple but nice, the castle has the main building which we were in and has the dining areas, there is also a tower which is a single multi level apartment, there is another building next to the main house that also has a few rooms, the whole area is like a mini village, with an outdoor area to sit and read, or have a drink in the afternoon, and they seem to put on art displays in the areas in the castle grounds. I must say that they supply for free a wonderful book of the history of the castle and suggested tours that you can take, l have not come across a place that does it so well. So we left to visit Assisi, and it is a wonderful looking place, famous for Saint Francis. Like Gubbio it is set high up on a hill, but larger, and you tend to park down the bottom end and use elevator lifts to the top. It was very empty and quiet, all the doors and windows closed, a great place to stay for a short time, though the religious followers may be a pain, and we heard many accents. There is the famous Basilica di San Francesco, where thousands of religious people flock to see the tomb and frescoes by Pietro Lorenzetti and Giotto, Cimabue, Martini. I must say this was a true experience for me, these painters works are remarkable. The basilica is quite large as it has three levels, the top housing Giotto's works, the middle section is the shop and open courtyard, and the bottom level has Lorenzetti's works, underneath is Saint Francis's tomb. The front of the basilica has a large green lawn area, which is a welcome sight after so much stone and rock. On the top of Assisi is Rocca Maggiore, the fort and stronghold, and the main piazza has the Basilica di Santa Chiara which has great views over the countryside. We found a great place to eat on the way to the basilica di San Francesco, which had views also over the countryside, well worth looking for these places.
We returned to the castle and decided to have diner again at the restaurant, as we were tired, and decided to get in early and order the boys meals straight away. Well its amazing what a day makes, the service was much better, we were told they had issues with their freezer the day before which had caused some problems, the boys meals arrived, perfect and then they went back to their room to play and sleep. We stayed on, and in the end were having coffee and drinks with the chef, who spoke no english, the waitress left and said not to worry, just leave when we want, it was late but it was fun and great to see another side of the place. The next day after an early swim in the pool, we left and drove towards Urbino.
Urbino like all towns is situated on a hill, and has a large university complex there, including a major art school, on the top, with park grounds around it, terrific position. It is a town with very steep roads, but wonderfully clean. There is the Church of San Giovanni Battista, which the brothers Jacopo and Lorenzo Salimbeni painted some of the greatest frescoes you could see. In there is the tomb of a famous monk who was just a stone throw from being a saint. We had lunch up next to the art school which has the garden and park next to it, and you could actually drive up to it, but we parked in the parking area at the bottom. There is a brilliant art store there, best l have seen in Via Mazzini, 85. This town is a place l could stay at for a short time, l loved the narrow little streets, the views over the surrounding landscape, the art school and the general feeling a university town has. Like Assisi and Gubbio it was strangely quiet, as if all the residents had packed up and gone away. We left finally, tired and drove slowly back to Bologna arriving at 6pm, and sleeping early.
The rest of the time Michelle was here, we spent around the pool at the tennis club or she was walking and enjoying the streets of Bologna. Michelle could not believe how much was happening in Bologna, there was a street party one night, we were invited to the opening of a new ice cream store, which was extremely good, the film festival was on again in Piazza Maggiore and with all this happening, she realized why everyone s body's were as she put it "tally ho" (thin)
I must say having Michelle stay was a breeze, our easiest guest yet. She also bought one of Hunters paintings, a still life he did, his first sale, he now has made more than me in the past six months.