The hill towns of Italy can be seen from a distance almost anywhere in Umbria and they always have a tower. Easier to keep an eye on marauding neighbors out to steal your special piece of saint that the church was usually built to house and hopefully bring miracles to the local inhabitants. Civita di Bagnoregio's belonged to St. Bonaventure, a medieval theologian and philosopher that was born in this hill town and eventually became a cardinal. Now days it is better know as the dead city, as most of the population of approximately 14 people is elderly. Dating back to Etruscan times the town is virtually a step back in time. The only way to access this wonderful village is to walk which brings me to my story! My friend, Linnea, and I had just left Siena via the Cinque Terra and I had acquired a rather large collection of Limoncello, a lemon aperitif popular in that part of the world and not available in the States at that time, to send home for gifts. My bags weighed a ton...some exaggeration, but not much! It was off season and we had made arrangements to spend the night in the only room to rent in the town. The owner had made arrangements for us to leave our bags at a bar where the bus was to let us off. The bar was closed and we had to drag our bags with us...about 2 miles...uphill! To lighten the load we stopped about every 100' and downed a bottle and left it to pick up on the way back the next morning. By the time we reached the entrance to the city, an arch cut by the Etruscan people 2,500 years ago, we were a tad wonky! Ciao, I'm sure I have Italian blood in my extremely nordic genetics somewhere!
Marianna M. Duford
...an artist with wanderlust.
"Soliloquy"
8x16 studio oil
$625 framed