Two little villages - Spina and Castiglion Fosco

Today's plan was to take a picnic lunch and head east with the aim of visiting the Paleontological Museum of Pietrafitta. Unfortunately the dinosaurs were undergoing some technical work and the museum wasn't open.

Sandwiches are way, way down the list on my food chain but with this sort of lunch I almost wish I was a school kid. Pizza or focaccia bread with onion and sage and zucchini on top, followed by a fruit ring which had raisins, peel (but not like Australian citrus peel), pine nuts and fennel. 

We wanted to re-visit a liitle hill town we found last year called Spina. Spina was founded before 1163 but in December 2009 it was rocked by a 4.4 magnitude earthquake which severely damaged the castle and many homes nearby. Hundreds of people were displaced and the castle closed because it was unsafe.

Last year the area was still a sorry sight of cracked rock walls, scaffolding, wires and beams. We were hoping to find that more work had been done on the restoration.
Unfortunately there didn't seem to be much progress in the castle precinct. The supporting beams still hold up the walls, the houses are almost all vacated and it is a sorry sight.

New housing has been build in the newer town for those who lost their homes and a large number of other buildings seem to be in the process of restoration. Sadly it is all taking too long and it seems people are not happy.
Here are a few photos from inside the castle.

We drove around much of the area we had visited before, occasionally finding a road we hadn't been on. Even better, we found a town we haven't visited. Castiglion Fosco is a pretty hill town only about ten kilometres from Panicale. We just had time to walk around, climb the tower and buy gelati before the now regular afternoon shower arrived.

Tonight was another of the free concerts in the Musica Insieme series. It was held in the Chiesa della Madonna della Sbarra, a church which is no longer in use as a place of worship.

Tonight's performance was entitled I Colori del Tempo and was a one person show featuring Sori Choi, a Korean percussionist. I have to say that I went with no expectations of enjoying the show (after all, I dislike noise!) but it was absolutely fascinating. The range of Korean instruments used, the fact that each piece was composed and the percussionist followed the music and the emotion and passion put into each piece were intriguing. The pieces were quite sensual and the audience was entranced. Several of the composers were present to hear their works performed by Sori Choi.