Spoleto, Italia – where I play tour guide

17 October 2024

 

Spoleto is one of my favorite towns in Umbria, and I’m always happy wandering this lovely town.  I visit my top places in town, walk around, and often end the half day with incredible gelato. 

 

Half our class, the dyeing group, organized their own visit to a woman nearby who raises and shears sheep, and spins yarn.  They rented a car and went off on their own jaunt, so that left the rest of us going on the planned field trip.

 

However, two students said they’d like to stay and work on their weaving.  Then Shelley thought perhaps she should stay to assist them if needed.  Plus she was weaving an image to be included in La Romita’s memory book, and wanted to try to get that finished.

 

Shelley asked me if I knew Spoleto, and I said yes.  She then explained she’d be staying at the school, but her mother was planning to go to Spoleto.  I asked if she wanted to keep an eye on her, and she replied yes, if I don’t mind.  Of course not, her mother was so cheerful and fun to be around.  (Edmund asked who would be keeping an eye on me – hah, he knows me well enough!)

 

So it ended up with just five of us going to Spoleto – me, my friends R and J, Shelley’s husband, and her mother.  Once we arrived, everyone asked what I like to do in Spoleto.  I explained that I usually wander by the old Roman arch, and head to the main shopping square, the Piazza di Mercado.  I stop in at a little local grocery shop (alimentaria) and buy some truffle items.  Truffle cheese, truffle sauce, and this year I bought some intense truffle stuff that I’ll mix with fig jam – they didn’t have any when I asked for “marmellata,” but my friendly grocer told me to mix this stuff with a large jar of jam and it’s “spettacolare.”  Close enough to understand this will be spectacular!  I like this alimentaria because it’s definitely not the super-posh fancy touristy kind of spot; it’s a neighborhood spot, where the owner doesn’t speak English and he jokes around in Italian with all customers, even the non-Italians like us.

 

Then my route is to head to the Duomo, the big church (or maybe cathedral?) with the frescoes by Filippo Lippi, which are just luminous.  SO gorgeous!  After soaking in the beauty and communing with Lippi (who is buried in the church, despite the scandals surrounding his history), there’s a little local park just around the corner from the church.  I always visit this less-known spot, sometimes sketching, sometimes just looking at the great overview of the entire town, full of earth-toned buildings, terra cotta tiled roofs, and cypress trees dotted around.

 

I usually get lost at this point, and wander.  I didn’t tell people that, but that’s what happened.  Always does.  We found a woman walking by, and I asked directions.  She said she spoke English – she was a US citizen living in Spoleto, so we chatted a bit.  She sent us in the right direction to get back to la Piazza di Mercado.

 

My final favorite thing is to return to la Piazza.  I spend some time admiring the fabulous clock with a blue face and curly golden hands mimicking the sun – such a wonderful clock!  I did a little watercolor sketch of the clock two years ago, but with me playing tour guide, well, that didn’t seem like the best thing to do.

 

The other reason to spend time in the plaza is the gelato shop.  They have “gelato al cioccolato fondente con arancia” – dark chocolate gelato that has orange peel in it!!!  OH so amazing!  I especially enjoy it with coffee gelato, it’s a fabulous combination.  (R and J had the dark chocolate orange with some raspberry sorbetto, which also sounds like a wonderful combination.)

So that’s exactly what we did.  Everyone agreed it sounded like a fun plan, I knew how to get to most of the places, and I can ask for basic direction in Italian.  Phebe the Tour Guide.  I could get a job leading people around Spoleto.  And J was great, he had a batch of 50 cent pieces and he kept feeding the light that shines on Lippi’s frescoes.  He and R could be my tour guide sidekicks.

 

On our way out, we stopped to look at the old Roman amphitheatre through the iron fence.  I’ve never been in Spoleto when the place is open, but it’s worth stopping for a quick look and some photos.

 

For people interested in the scandal about Lippi, or more information about the frescoes in the Duomo, here’s the blog post from 2022 which includes all the gossip and details: https://rollingluggagers.blogspot.com/2022/10/pandemic-diaries-italian-interlude-27.html