A Sunday full of surprises

When I came out from Mass this morning Panicale was awash with old cars. They were on a rally and had stopped for a lunch break. Fifty cars from the '60s onwards, lots of Alfas, lots of FIATs and even a Lotus Europa.

Today's plan was to visit another of the designated Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, this one named Monte Castello di Vibio, is not far from Todi in southern Umbria.

Along the way we had a rare opportunity to stop for a photo of the countryside.

We drove through countryside we know well, through Spina, a favourite town that was earthquake affected many years ago and does not seem to be at all repaired since our last visit. Through Marsciano and on to Fratta Todina where we stopped to look at this small village with an interesting history. It was pausa time so everything was closed and the only people we saw were the men playing cards at the bar.

Monte Castello di Vibio is indeed beautiful, and the scenery from the castle walls is spectacular. These four photos all join to give you some idea of the panorama - left to right.

The village is very cute, both in attractiveness and size, and the residents obviously take great pride in their village.

We looked at some art and had a cool drink in the tiny piazza. We noticed that there was much preparation going on and rione flags were flying too.

We seem to have an inbuilt radar for festivals and today was no different. We went to look at a beautiful village and discovered a Mediaeval Feast and historic parade. There were three outdoor areas being prepared for the dinner and they were being very authentic in their preparations.

There were displays of hand crafted copper work, soap making, basketry and medicinal use of herbs and flowers.

Now I know many of you are going to say 'Not more mediaeval costumes!', 'Enough of the flag throwers' etc. but we love these parades and to see the 100% participation of the people in these villages is wonderful. They are not doing this for visitors like us but for their own enjoyment and the continuation of their traditions.

A group of musicians and the flag people led the parade around the walls and then into the historic centre.

As well as the nobility, soldiers, the tradespeople and the peasants, this parade had jesters in the form of two jugglers, one on stilts.

At the Piazza the main characters took their places in huge wooden seats. A group of local girls danced a number of mediaeval dances, the flag throwers did some spectacular routines and a juggler performed. The piazza was packed with people trying to get a look, but the overwhelming view was the backdrop - the amazing natural scenery.

I'm sure the banquet was going to be a fun event but you did need to reserve, so we came home through the fields of sunflowers, grape vines and other diverse farm land back to Il Pellicano for our traditional Sunday night pizza.