La Follia

Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Paciano, Umbria, Italy
What a great view looking out over the valley from La Follia - with Lake Trasimeno in the distance and the village of Paciano to the right. After breakfast, we sat on the terrace for a while just chatting and admiring the view, but there were places to go and things to see. I didn't know you could fit so much into a day!!

Paciano is a small fortified hill top town and it is Umbria's smallest council with less than a thousand inhabitants spread over its 16 square kilometres . It has been voted one of "The Most Beautiful Small Towns in Italy". Its main source of income is olive oil. The area around Paciano was inhabited by the Etruscans in the 7th century BC, from which the remains of the temple (probably) dedicated to Janus still remain. Theories on the origins of its names are many, the oldest ones being "Pace di Giano" (Peace Of Janus) or "Passus Iani" (Passage to Janus). Other historians believe the name derives from the Roman Pacci family of Cortona, as up to the 17th century, it was called Pacciano.

Today, Paciano retains its character as a medieval castle, accessible through its three arched gates. Guarding the town are old defence walls and eight towers which in the 17th century were converted to dwellings. Inside the town, three parallel streets connected by picturesque orthogonal alleys hide palaces, old defence structures and churches.

Geoffry Luck is an Australian who restored a villa in a hamlet outside Paciano (just up the road from La Follia) and lived the life of a rural Italian . (Well, that is the way he likes to see it). He wrote a book, Villa Fortuna, an Italian Interlude on his fifteen years in Italy. Apparently, a lot of the locals recognised themselves in the book and weren't very happy!   I've seen a review that describes his book thus:- "Through his Australian eyes, he explains the contradictions and complexities of Italy, something you can not get away from, not even in the small sleepy town of Paciano." It was Geoffrey Luck who organised the 'twinning' of Paciano and Mosman, a northern beach suburb of Sydney. (I don't know who organised the 'twinning' with Fontaine in France.)

After breakfast and a leisurely start to the day - a visit to Paciano (pronounced Patchiano) just to give us a 'feel' of the place. A walk around and then into the car and over to Panicale. Ditto.

Panicale is another typical mediaeval Umbrian hill top town.The village can be entered through two gates: Porta Fiorentina, used when arriving from Florence, and Porta Perugina used when
arriving from Perugia . There are a total of seven churches. With a population of 500, not all of them are regularly used!!

Then on to Castiglione del Lago. We decided not to do the ferry ride over to the island - just walked around the lake, and then to Castello del Leone ("Fortress of the Lion"). We had to have a drink and something to eat near the ancient olive trees and soak up the atmosphere.

Another 'must do' was to have a pastry at "Michele & Co Patisserie". This was the most amazing place - all set up like a Bedouin tent outside. There were so many pastries to choose from - and so cheap! I went overboard with one which cost 1.50 Euros.

We walked over to Ristorante "Il Casale" for dinner, and sat out on the terrace. I can't remember what we had, but it was all very Italian! Cost 74.50 Euros for the 4 of us - that's only $109 and included the wine. It was dark when we walked back to La Follia - and we saw hundreds of fireflies. It was magic!
Other Entries

Comments

2025-02-10

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank