Day 10 (22 October) Wait of 40 Years Fulfilled

Rich was off to the Rome Airport this morning. By 8 PM, he had sent me images of a fisherman on an inlet of the Med by his hotel as well as his dinner. Bon Viaggio, mio amico. We’ll have to do another walk someday.

I went in the opposite direction to Arezzo about an hour twenty minutes ride up the line. Why there? Forty years ago I took an art course that presented three great fresco artists who were key figures in the transition of Italian art from Byzantine style iconography to the Renaissance style. I had experienced two of the three: Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel in Padova in 2000 and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in 1980. Now, Piero Della Francesca’s Legend of the True Cross at the Basilica di Francesco in Arezzo. I lucked out in getting one of the limited timed tickets for 2:30. The photos do not do justice to the scale of the frescos as they don’t with Giotto and Michelangelo. Here are a few and the cross and alter behind which are the frescos.

I walked to other areas of Arezzo — the Piazza Grande, the Duomo, and San Domenico (Chiambue’s Crucifix – 1268). Arezzo’s Centro Storico is very compact but like most Tuscan towns, hilly. You can see the tilt in the photo of Piazza Grande.

I returned to Orvieto by 7:30 in time for dinner. I chose the Antica Cantina at Via Cavour, 212 for its simple menu and location on a very small piazza. The chalkboard menu showed carciofi and pasta fagioli. Sharon and I once tasted four different versions of carciofi on our last visit to Rome. I ended with a plate of five local goat cheeses tasting them starting clockwise from the one below the cup holding a homemade jelly. That was not quite the ending though. A glass of grappa put a glow on me. I include photos of the hostess and the three cuocas. A serendipitous find but one that I would highly recommend if you come to Orvieto.