Just another perfect day in Umbria

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and all's good in our little world!

Castiglione del Lago market day again so off we went with a short list - bread, plants for our terrace pots, the August guide to what's on and Kel was keen to look again at the men's clothing. All successfully accomplished with ' he who likes clothes shopping' finding several bits of attire to please him.

Saffron is grown commercially in this area but it was interesting to see the bulbs for sale at the market.

Sign seen outside a gelateria in CdL old town. Crowds were putting it to the test.

Before we ventured into the supermarket we visited Cafè Alisè near the CdL railway station for gelati. Who can resist a flavour called Polvere di Stelle, or Stardust?

The Coop must have had some dud bags as we saw two people drop fruit everywhere when the bottoms fell out of the bags at the check-out. We were extremely grateful that we were not buying fruit!

The Great Gelati Challenge is going well. We have been in Italy for 22 days and I have had 25 different flavours. Sadly one day I made a mistake and chose pistacchio, forgetting that I had already had pistacchio this year.

Lunch, a little shopping and some sight seeing in Cortona

Cortona is in Tuscany but only about thirty kilometres from Macchie so it is an easy drive to visit this very likeable place. Ever since Frances Mayes book 'Under the Tuscan Sun' brought Cortona to the attention of the general public it has become extremely popular. Yet it manages to retain its charm and as a result we have visited many times.

This is the Teatro Signorelli, named after Luca Signorelli a Renaissance  painter who was born and died in Cortona, abt. 1441 -- 1523. As we came near to the theatre we noticed that the portico had been transformed into an outdoor eating space with heaps of ambience, so we luckily found a table with a view.

I had the most amazing gnocchi filled with tartufo (truffles) with more truffles on top. It was the softest, aromatic, most delicious gnocchi I have ever had. Kel's taglatelle with a Tuscan ragù was also pronounced to be 'perfetto.'

From our balcony position we had an excellent view of the wall of the Palazzo Casali with its many coats of arms. The palazzo was built in the 13th century as a private residence but later became a civic building. The coats of arms are of the Florentine Captains of the City and also Pope Urban VIII.

The view from Cortona towards Lago Trasimeno is always beautiful and worthy of many minutes of contemplation.

We were interested to see the preparations for an outdoor food event called Street Chef. Noteable chefs were obviously cooking for a big crowd as large ovens and hot plates were being set up, as well as the glamorous tables  with clear and green glassware.

The Duomo in Cortona was the seat of the Bishops of Cortona from 1507 to 1986 and is now a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro. Built over the remains of a Roman temple in the 11th century, the exterior looks every bit that old with many changes over the years visible in the masonry. However inside the picture is quite different. It is large and spacious with many interesting art works.

After some window shopping and a visit to the leather ware shops, and a gelato at the well respected gelateria 'Snoopy' , we headed back home in time for a drink at Bar Gallo.

We finished off the day with the nice sunset.

Tavernelle market day

Today was market day in Tavernelle so off we went to stock up on fresh tasty fruit and tomatoes. For you I was planning to take photos of all the less expected market stalls. Unfortunately the sudden thunderstorms that Italy is noted for arrived and we spent most of our time huddled under the canopy of an ortaggi stall - amidst the melons, peaches and tomatoes.

This is all I managed to get for you!

Many of the stalls sell superb pasta pots and other useful pots. How I wish I could take some of them home.

All those useful bits and bobs for the household can be found on these stalls.

Sheets and towels, table cloths and curtains, they are all here.

The ladies underwear stall is the most fascinating! I was a little coy about taking this photo so not the best example.

Rain, rain, go away! At least the weather was still quite hot and I was wearing thongs.

Il Palio delle Barche at Passignano sul Trasimeno

The Palio of the Boats is an annual festival held at Passignano sul Trasimeno on Lago Trasimeno. The featured event is the boat race however there is an eight day programme that includes food, music, fireworks and other entertainment. This was our second year at this palio event; the boat race has been happening for 33 years.

We arrived in plenty of time for the 4 pm historic parade, finding a curb side spot with some shade. It was 34 degrees and definitely not the day to be wearing velvet. The costumes are magnificent but also heavy to wear, thick and very hot ... but the show must go on.

There are four rione in Passignano sul Trasimeno and they compete in several events to win the palio, or flag, for the year. San Donato, Centro Storico, Centro 2 and Oliveto all represented their rione in the parade.

There wasn't the same musical content this year, just drummers.

The parade doesn't just represent the upper classes in velvet gowns but also the workers and tradespeople, in this case farmers and fishermen especially. So there are roles for men in the parade.

Having taken over one hundred photos last year I went for a different angle this year; here are some of the cute kids in the parade.

Time for cool drinks and gelati before finding a good spot for the 6.30 pm boat race. 

Each rione has one boat with two men rowing and a female runner. Additionally they have a team of 60 runners in costume for the second part of the race. As last year, the water became quite choppy as race time neared.

The boats row across the lake front and around a buoy then back to the pier. Here the flag bearing girl gets out of the boat and runs to the street where she hands over the rione flag.

Once the flag has been passed to the new runner the large team of men run another upturned boat around a circuit of the streets, swapping places as needed, until they return to the starting point. The flag is passed back to the girl who runs back to the boat.

The boat and the girl with the flag are then rowed on to the finish line.

Bravi San Donato!

We were exhausted from all that rowing and running so we came back home and went to L' Oca Brucante in Paciano for a pizza. A zucchini flower and mozzarella pizza like this is something you will not find in Australia! Thin, crisp and delicious.