Thursday 28 August 2014

Panicale: peace, surprises and joy

A fortified castle of mediaeval structure with several concentric walls is how the hilltop town of Panicale is described. The circles within circles are fascinating to wander through as you can see so many different building shapes and materials used over the years. It is so picturesque and peaceful.



A lovely surprise today when Katia arrived with a big bowl of beautiful figs, some tomatoes and some eggs. All are from Katia's vegetable garden. I love figs ... thank you Katia.


After the walk around the village and lunch in the garden Kelly decided it was time for some  of 'il dolce far niente' - the sweet doing nothing!


Late in the afternoon we visited two churches which have been turned into museums.The church of Saint Sebastian houses one of our favourite frescoes, both because of the subject and the artist. St. Sebastian is always portrayed with arrows in him even though they were not the cause of his death. The artist is Pietro Vannucci, known as Il Perugino, a local to this area. He is known as the leading Umbrian Renaissance painter and this frescoe was completed in1505.


There was also a fine collection of illuminated books.


The church of Saint Augustine is now the Tulle Museum. A local handicraft, embroidered tulle is something special to see. The design is stitched in to the tulle creating a lace effect. There are many beautiful pieces in the museum - a wedding veil, christening gowns, church vestments, table cloths and other items which would normally have lace included.



On the wall at the rear of the room you can see more remnants of frescoes dating from 1504.


It has indeed been a day of peace, surprises and joy!





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