We arrived in Chiusi, on the border of Umbria and Tuscany, just before midday on Monday. We’d booked a car through a Spanish company and it was so much cheaper than anyone else that we thought we may have done our dough. Pick up was at Avis, just a few hundred metres from the station. No problems. The car was a hybrid, which made for interesting driving! Twenty minutes later we were at La Follia, a renovated farmhouse which we’d rented for a week.
We went to Panicale, a nearby walled medieval village, to register our presence with the carbienari, via internet at the Real Estate agents
. She was closed, and so were the other shops. Started walking around the village, then it started raining. We took refuge in a cafe and had coffee and paninis – and used the wifi. La Follia hasn’t got wifi, but all bars and cafes do. It seemed the RE agency wouldn’t open til 5pm, so we drove back to Paciano and picked up some supplies from the little supermarket (Conad’s). It hailed (true!), before clearing up so we could sit on the terrace drinking wine or beer and munching on delicious tomatoes and cheese bruchetta. And olives and basil pesto ....
The weather fined up on Tuesday, but the pattern was set – drinks and nibbles on the terrace. One night we coked spaghetti bolognaise;, one night the spag had a mix of herbs and dried mushrooms, olives, capers and truffles mixed through it – with spicy sausage on the side. Another night was small potatoes, beans, carrots and wild boar sausage. More on food -the bread here is unsalted; the peaches are juicy and sweet; and the cherry trees and fig trees along the side of the roads are laden with fruit
. Unfortunately, the figs are very green but we did manage some fresh cherries.
Paciano is south of Lake Trasimeno, and there were lots of places to explore without driving too far. Tuesday we went back to Panicale to register and to finish exploring the village. Then to Castiglione del Largo on the north of the lake. We loved the little narrow streets with all the different shops. We made all our purchases at the one place, where the man was very helpful with his bit of English, Tess’ Italian and a lot of miming. The free wine sampling for all 4 of us also helped! We bought boar salami, proscuito, cheese, pack of pasta herb mix, torte (flat bread), and a couple of bottles of wine. We had a look around the fort and also went to the pier to check out the ferry timetables. We never did get around to going out on the lake and visiting any of the 3 islands.
Wednesday we drove around the lake anti-clockwise. First port of call was San Feliciano where we walked along the lake front; had a coffee, which ended up being one of those tiny expressos, at the cafe with the electric chair; and then enjoyed some freshly picked cherries in the park
. We didn’t pick the cherries – a couple of young men did, and they shared them with anyone who was around. The north side of the lake was a lot busier than the south side, and it was convenient having the GPS going on the mobile phone. We put in an address and headed to a farm to book a tour for the following day (which we changed to Friday by phone later). The man at the farm said there would be no where around there open for lunch – most regular shops and country places have a very long siesta. He suggested going to Cortona, a hill town where ”Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed. Brilliant suggestion! Two escalators to go up from the carpark, but one wasn’t working. We lunched at a rather fancy restaurant with a great view. The waitress wasn’t very impressed with the fact we had a jug of water, shared magnificent hamburgers and chips – and used the free wifi. Around the corner were heaps of little cafes and bars in narrow cobbled streets. With even smaller alleys coming off them. Had so e yummy gelatoes before heading back down
.
Thursday was Orvieto. We didn’t go via the autostrada as we thought there was a toll and we might need ‘tags’ as we do in Australia. Our route took us up over the mountains and took about 75 minutes. The last bit was winding up the small mountain Orvieto is on. We missed the turn off to the parking area and ended up inside the gate of the city wall! We followed the one way arrows through narrow twisting streets until we ended up in republic square. I asked a police lady how to get out of the labyrinth; she didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Italian, so we ended up following her car out! Once parked in the car park we headed back up via 4 escalators and 2 moving staircases – the funicular is at the other end of town near the railway station. We spent about 4 hours here walking around and admiring everything. We paid our €2 each (for seniors) to see the well and the caves there.
Friday. Headed off to the olive and wine farm tour. A slight problem in that we put the wrong address in the GPS. We were only a few minutes late though – and saw an interesting village with a street market
. The tour was very interesting, and was followed by the wine tasting accompanied by bread and their olive oil. We bought a Añnibal wine for €7 and a shiraz type one for €15. 500ml of olive oil in a can was €7. Bryan didn’t have any wine as he was driving. He got a nice surprise when we asked if they sold corkscrews – the fellow said “no, I can’t sell you one. I’ll give you one.” And a nice fancy one it is too.
From the farm we headed east to Assisi via the autostrada. We skirted Perugia and went through a lot of tunnels. There was a bit of a hold up with some road works, but the drive was about 50 minutes. I guess everyone has heard of Francis of Assisi? This is another hill town. We went up from the carpark via escalators, but had to use stairs coming back down. We spent almost 3 hours here. Drove back to Paciano via a different route – it went through Perugia so this part was slow going. Arrived at Conad’s to find them closed – no that was Thursday! Thursday is a half day, and Sunday is closed all day
.
Saturday we were determined to explore the old walled area of Paciano. It is very small, but very clean and has no airial electricity or phone lines. There was even a tourist information office and museum. Then we came upon the piazza. The butcher’s shop was fabulous – but too late for us, as we didn’t need any meat. However, she also had a few tables outside and we ordered a vegetable plate and a meat and cheese one. A beer wasn’t a problem as she got it from the bar next door. The butcher’s closed at 2pm (siesta) but the bar stayed open. A very pleasant afternoon. There weren’t many people about, but those around and about were friendly. We walked back to the car via the road overlooking the fruit trees which included loquats with really large fruit. It was also via another bar, which necessitated another stop. We did our last shop at Conad’s – we had now depleted the shelves of a very nice red as well as the cheapest Limoncella – making sure we had lunch for the morrow.
Since Paciano was so good, we thought we should explore the hills behind us
. So we wended our way over the dirt roads and ended up in Chiusi. We spent an enjoyable few hours here without even going into the Etruscan museum or the underground one. Tess and Michael went to mass, and Bryan and I explored with a map from Tourist Information. It was Corpus Christie day – a big day. A lot of market stalls which were quickly covered when the rain started. It didn’t last long thankfully and we visited a couple of lookouts and circled the town. We were lucky enough to stumble upon the street where they did the flower decorations and as we headed back to the church we passed the procession on it’s way around the town. The procession took a while as we came across it again later.
Home to a late lunch where we attempted to finish up all the delectable goodies – and failed. Did some packing and reading and relaxing, before going to Il Casale, a restaurant in the hills close by, for a farewell dinner. The 3 antipastas we shared between the four of us left us feeling full enough, but there was more! Antipasta included 5 cheeses and 3 relishes (one being made from Il Casale figs), different polentas, crispy bacon, truffles, croquettes with local legumes
. And there was Il Casale olive oil for drizzling on the bread (don’t use a knife to spread it); it was delicious, and a green colour - from the first press. Our main courses included rare fillet steak, beef cooked in sage and masalla, pasta and fancy truffles, and a rather fancy Trasimeno prawn dish - with potato and grilled eggplant side dishes to share. The others also had dessert
This morning we cleaned up the house, then returned the car and walked down the road to the station. I’m writing this on Word on the train. Sure hope I can copy and paste.
The train from Chiusi to Venice cost £15.40 each First class and no changes (except at Venice).
Limoncella
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Paciano, Umbria, Italy
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Comments

2025-02-14
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alvin strowger
2016-05-31
Absolutely fantastic