Isola Maggiore on Lago Trasimeno - a water element in our day

I love a water element in my travel days; sometimes a fountain will do but I much prefer a boat ride. Today we took a ferry ride out to Isola Maggiore on Lago Trasimeno. It is seventeen years since our last visit but nothing changes in these lovely traditional places. Maggiore is one of three islands in the lake and the only one with a permanent population - about 35 people. We departed from Castiglione del Lago, our big town only a few kilometres away from Panicale.

Saint Francis visited the island in 1211 and a Franciscan Monastery was formed there in 1328. There are several old churches dating from the 12th century with frescoes painted on the walls and ceilings.

There are olive trees that are many hundreds of years old and pathways wander around the island through the groves. We saw a group of pheasants scratching under the trees. They, like the vegetation, were suffering from the heat and the prolonged dry period.

We sat under the shade of large trees and had a traditional lunch of torta di testa, Kel accompanying his with a huge beer with the coldest glass. It was declared perfect as the temperature soared to 40 degrees as we climbed up to the church of San Michele Arcangelo.

The island now depends on tourism and one feature is lace making. The local ladies make hand made lace and sell it from their door steps. On our last visit we saw several ladies at work and also purchased some of their lace. We didn't see any today but maybe we were there at the wrong time or it was just too hot for lace making.

Before returning on the 3.20 pm ferry we had a very refreshing mint granita. It was a new taste sensation for us!

From this photo you can imagine we were not the only people feeling the heat by the end of the day.