July 4th Weekend

In an effort not to waste a long weekend, we hit the open road on our way to Spoleto a hill town in the Umbrian region.

Just before we got into town, we stopped for lunch at the Ristorante Zengoni, the wine was great and I love the label!

The hotel we stayed in wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, the location was good, but they charged us for all kinds of little "extras". Needless to say we'll not be staying there again...

When we left the hotel for that afternoon for a little sightseeing, including a stop at a local watering hole, we asked the guy at the front desk if it was going to rain...emphatically he said no...shortly thereafter the deluge started...

Walking through the streets, there were beautiful sights around every corner...

Cute little alleys...

And beautiful balconies.

This is an old aqueduct, it's only purpose now is to fascinate tourists.

As you can see it was just a little windy with the thunderstorms rolling in...

This is the walk way along the side of the aqueduct.

No place is safe from graffiti...this is a window that was in the middle of the aqueduct walk way.

This is the side view of Spoleto from the other side of the aqueduct, notice the background, the storm is definitely brewing

A dried up river bed-but not for long!



We heard water running from the other side and decided to follow it...it sounded like a raging river, couldn't believe this is what we heard!



This is the building was used to control the amount or direction of water moving through the aqueduct.
There is Stu looking statuesque.

Another great day posing for pictures---Stu takes too long to take the shot. When I started the pose this fountain was new!

This is the Rocca Albornoziana castle.

There wasn't a bad view anywhere! It was nice to see lots of green and clear air, instead of smog...

This was taken from the top looking down over a part of the city--of course we were sitting at an outside bar having a drink when we took the picture....which explains the fuzzy shot.

As the thunderstorm races towards us...

A beautiful monument in the center of the town.

In an attempt to stay dry we slipped in to a little hole in the wall Osteria, it was fantastic! The wine and dippys were great, and the owner, waiter and bottle washer was fun to chat with. The only thing this guy didn't do was cook...that was Mamma's job.

We just got a new camera and I'm still getting used to the settings, so it's the camera's fault that Stu is fuzzy...not the vino!

One of the reasons we went to Spoleto was because our good friend Santo has an old friend originally from Naples that now owns a restaurant in Spoleto, "The Antica Trattoria del Quarto". He also happens to be the brother of the owners of the restaurant that is right behind our house, the Casa Rossa. So this is us with Peppe. Notice the extended tummys--we were stuffed with food and hospitality.

Day 2...On the road...

We didn't catch the names of these little towns, but how cute! The views were fantastic!!

There were so many beautiful fields filled with sunflowers, but unfortunately they had either just been cut, or still hadn't flowered, or more frustrating--were camera shy and were facing the wrong direction... Beautiful none the less.

Just before rocketing down the last stretch of highway heading home we stopped in to one of my favorite restaurants in San Vittore just South of Montecassino. Yummmmmm! And what a fantastic view!

Overlooking the town of San Vittore...

And the Liri Vally.

The area surrounding the restaurant was spotted with these beautiful old twisted olive trees. These trees were here during the battle of Montecassino and survived the bombings.

Even the parking lot was beautiful!

Vino, vino, vino...... or is it heart medicine?