Leaving England we set forth once more to Spello in Umbria. Here we spent several days at Casa Rutherford, doing a few odd jobs around the place and just relaxing in the old town centre.
September 1 signalled the end of Summer and the first day of Autumn. In the brief period of time since we were in Spello with Stephen and Sima the weather had changed to become cooler at night with the days drawing in. It was still warm during the day, however, so on the Wednesday, with a forecast high of 30C, we decided to visit the swimming pool at Casa Mia in the Borgo for a cooling dip. The best laid plans of mice and men…Ten years ago whilst in Russia on our Trans-Siberian adventure, we coined the phrase “Nyet Days”. These are the days when nothing goes according to plan and every attempt to achieve success is met with stout resistance. Our pool day in Spello was such a day.
Casa Mia is a smart restaurant serving inexpensive Japanese sushi as well as a traditional Italian buffet. It has a beautiful shady swimming pool with loungers available for the use of its customers.
Stephen had previously introduced us to this gem which is much nicer than the local public pool. The down side is that Casa Mia is weirdly located in the industrial area on the outskirts, a 45-minute walk from Spello. Arriving hot and dusty from our walk through the industrial estate, we were informed that the pool was closed (of course, we were five days into autumn).
Not to be thwarted, we decided to retrace our steps back towards town and the local piscina. This pool, however, requires bathers to wear swimming caps, as we found out on our last visit in 2018. Fortunately there is a comprehensive hardware shop in the industrial estate that sells swimming caps (an essential hardware item, evidently). Unfortunately, it was closed, this being lunchtime when many shops and businesses close their doors for siesta. Undaunted, we sallied forth to the public pool, chancing that we could hire swimming caps, or simply play the ignorant tourists.
Arriving by now much hotter, sweatier, hungrier and more tired than when we set out earlier that day, we were forgetting one important factor – despite the heat, it wasn’t Summer, so the pool was closed. At this point we gave up, dragged ourselves back up the hill in the old town and sat at Bar Tullia drinking beer and Negroni and eating the tasty array of free bar snacks served with their overpriced drinks. Lesson learned? Never presume. At least not until next time.
For days leading up to our second Spello sojourn the excitement had been building in the Clapmack camp. Chris and Amy Ester, who had left Perth in late April to begin their 12 month travel adventure, were in Bologna, the capital city of the neighbouring province of Emilia-Romagna. Our plans were to meet up in Florence, Tuscany, mid-way between Spello and Bologna, hang out together for four days in an Air BnB apartment, then all return to Spello.
We arrived by train in central Florence on an overcast morning and 45 minutes later, as the skies darkened, dumping rain and hail on the city, Chris and Amy arrived for a very happy, if somewhat bedraggled, reunion. Their adventures had taken them to the UK and Ireland, Iceland, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Greece and Italy, so we had lots of travel tales to share.
We decamped to our temporary home on the outskirts of central Florence, raided the local Co-op for essential supplies, then spent a delightful few days cooking, eating, drinking and talking. We are quite comfortable and satisfied with our own company but it is such a treat and a privilege to re-connect with our own again whilst on the move.
Contented though we were to simply stay in our spacious Air BnB apartment and continue our family “love-in”, we were, after all, in Florence, one of the world’s great romantic cities, and it demanded our attention. So each day we wandered the 3km along the banks of the River Arno into the centre of this remarkable Tuscan city, the powerhouse of the Renaissance and home to the most extensive collection of Renaissance art and buildings anywhere in the world.
From the Ponte Vecchio, the famous covered bridge with jewellery shops lining each side, through the pedestrianised area to the elaborately decorated, Gothic-fronted Duomo, the streets and laneways bristle with fine examples of the period architecture, including some of the Medici palaces and halls. They are also teaming with tourists all year round and we jostled constantly with groups of selfie-stick wielding, audio-guide enhanced holiday makers, competing for pavement space and the premium photo shot position at every turn. This annoyance aside, we all loved Florence for its stunning, compact city centre, scenic location in a river valley surrounded by rolling hills and the omnipresent array of beautiful art.
A highlight of our four days in Florence was a visit to the Uffizi Gallery, a must-see Florentine attraction housing an unparalleled collection of Tuscan medieval religious art, through to local and Flemish art of the Renaissance. Expertly restored Masters such as Lippi, Botticelli, da Vinci, Rafael, Michelangelo, Titian, Van Dyck, Rubens, Caravaggio and Rembrandt are wonderfully curated in a grand 16th Century building that was once government offices. The Uffizi is, quite simply, Italy’s finest picture gallery.
Clapmacks Foray into Retirement 