Our last day in Bologna and Emilia Romagna did not produce any new finds or discoveries. We simply revisited some of the favourite places we had already seen to implant the memory a little more deeply. We did though meet some interesting people who gave us a "deeper" insight into some of Italian life. We would have liked to have spent more time with them.
Saturday
The 300km drive south to San Gemini, our next home for two days, in Umbria along the A14 autostrada ( the 130km/hr stretch ) and then the E45 was broken at Deruta to revisit the Majolica shops and for lunch. We ran into some people there who remembered us from our first visit nearly 6 weeks ago - that makes you feel good. We found a ristorante which produced "La cucina tipica Umbra", typical Umbrian food and it was great. Our lunch was beans and pork rind, lamb lights (innards) and roe deer and polenta and washed down with a glass of local vino rosso. We visited then a small curch and commune called Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Bagni in the Hamlet of Casalina which has this most incredible collection of more than 600 majolica tiles going back to 1657 and representing "grace received". They represent misfortunes, accidents or ilnesses that were overcome after the sufferers turned to the Virgin for help.
We could not but notice the change in the Umbrian countryside in the 4 weeks since we were here. It has greened right up, fields have been mown and hay baled, and in general spring has fully arrived.
San Gemini is a small hill town in Umbria along the ancient Via Flaminia. It is located a few kilometers north of Terni and has a population of about four thousand. It was first settled as an agricultural suburb in the 1st Century along the Via Flaminia called Casventum. During the Middle Ages, Casventum developed into a small city. In the early Middle Ages its name was changed to San Gemini. It derives its name from a very ancient tradition of twin deities or saints associated with curative waters - we are looking throughout the village to find the "fountain of youth".
The town is picture postcard perfect and does not get a mention in the travel books anywhere. As a young fellow we met told us "we are not very good at marketing ourselves"
Bob the "spiv"
One of 600+ tiles
A column of tiles
View of Umbrian Countryside from San Gemini
Street scene in San Gemini
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