ITALY'S THIRD LARGEST LAKE

 

 

 

This was last Sunday.  It was a little cloudy and all the guests were checked in on Saturday so we decided to take a ride to Umbria and see Lake Trasimeno which is just about 15km away.  Trasimeno is the third largest lake in Italy.  It is very shallow: thus, the waters are quite warm.  The name Trasimeno dates back to Etruscan times.  Named after the son of an Etruscan king Tirreno, there is a legend that goes with that incident: however, I won't bore you with the details here.  It's a long love story.  There are several "cities" around the lake.  We visited two of them: Passignano sul Trasimeno and Castiglione del Lago.  This is a picture of one of the streets in Passiganano.  That on the right is what we would call "Dunkin Donuts".  Here they call it a bar and you can get cappuccino or espresso and some real nice sweet pastries.  The streets are extremely narrow, so if a car comes along, make sure you get out of the way because the driver won't.  They do , however, respect crosswalks if you're lucky enough to find a kind Italian driver.

Oh My God.  Which one do you buy.  There were
several shops along the waterfront selling these ceramics.
Some were just punched out dishes with nice colors
and design.  Others, those inside, were Deruta ceramics and much more expensive.  We didn't buy any because of the difficulty of getting anything home.  It seems that our focus is mostly on food.  You could take that home in your stomach, hips, and various parts of your body had have no problem getting through customs.  Walking sideways through the gate is not a problem.

 

Here is a view of the lake.  There is a nice boardwalk along the lake with several vendors selling various items, mostly food.  Passignano is an ancient fishing village originally named  Giano Passag, the mythical god of gates.  There are several churches and buildings that date back to the 10th century.  There is also the "Rocca" or fortress dating back to the 5th and 6th century.  Italy is so full of history and culture.  It is truly amazing.  Our country is just a "bambino" compared to Italy.

Here is a view from one of the restaurants along the lake.  These people were having a snack before boarding a ferry just across the street for  Isola Maggiore.  This a  large inhabited island where people go on a Sunday afternoon to walk around and perhaps have a picnic. By the way these young Italians had a snack of cheese, bread, olive oil and olives.  They had to leave before they finished because the boat arrived so the cameriera gave us the stuff they didn't touch along with what we ordered for lunch. Not that we needed it.

Yep, this was the lunch.  Brenda and I split a pizza margarita. The taste was incredible.  The dough was light but crispy.  At home when we do crusty pizza the bottom us usually burnt.  Not here, the bottom was a tan color and crispy.  The tomatoes and cheese had a real fresh taste.  Everything here tastes so fresh because they use only fresh ingredients. Just the aromas make you hungry.  Brenda had her usual aqua frizzante and I my usual vino locale.  We did walk it off at our next stop.

Our next stop was Castiglione del Lago.  Here is a picture from outside the walled city.  There are thousands of walled cities in Italy, all at the top of mountains.  They were built for protection from invaders like Hannibal who in 217 B.C. fought the bloodiest battle of the 2nd Punic war not far from this city.  Hannibal's army invaded the Romans on a foggy morning and killed over ten thousand soldiers. You can walk the battlefield today.  It remains a major archaeological site.

The entrance to the city.  You can see that all the streets run parallel to each other.  This is typical of a Roman city.  Wow, does that mean that New York City was built by the Romans?  With names like Gulianni and LaGuardia, and Verrazano as former leaders, who knows. Maybe!!!

Once inside the walls you come upon this main piazza.  Here you see a water fountain and a boy kicking a soccer ball against the wall. It's Sunday, no school, so what else do you do but practice soccer.  The building in the background is a hotel.  I hope you travel light when going to this hotel as there are no cars allowed in this area.  There are several cities in Italy where this is true.  It almost happened to us in Ravenna.

Of course we headed to the first food shop we saw.  This shop was like the best Italian store you ever saw.  We bought cheese, capcolla, wine and too many other foods.  Brenda did buy more mix to make her Tuscan bread soup.  I can't wait.  On the right in the background is a gelateria.  Fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it was closed.  We'll have to save that for another day.

As we walked down one of the streets, I noticed this building.  I had to take a picture because of the design on the outside.  I am not sure what you call it, but it was different.  Also you can see more street vendors on the side of the road. They sell everything from fresh vegetables, fruit, meats and cheese.  Mushrooms are very popular here in Italy and are sold almost everywhere but are very expensive.  The Coop has them in packages like at home and those are not too expensive.  They are fresh and still have the black dirt on the stems so you have to clean them.

Another view of one of the streets.  You can see how narrow they are.  I don't think cars were allowed on this street, at least, I didn't see any.  Here we are walking to the museum at the other end of the town.  As you will see in the pictures below, it is quite an interesting place.

If you can read this, you're good.  You will have no problem in Italy.  This is the plaque at the entrance of the museum.

This is the plaque on the outside of the building.  The museum is housed in this building that has been around since the 1500's.  The fresco's inside are original and were done at the behest of the Della Corgna family.  They depict the adventures of Ascanio della Corgna who, according to legend was the perfect gentleman and adventurer with a strong humanistic vein typical of the Renaissance. He was born in 1514 and died in 1571.  His body still lies in a chapel in Perugia in Umbria. 

This picture and the one below are just an example of the frescos in this building.  There are just too many to put in this blog and the pictures really do not do them justice.  In person they are magnificent.

This could be yours if you have an extra thousand bucks you don't know what to do with.  Add the shipping to the USA and the insurance and you probably have to dish out around $2500.00.  I don't think so.

This is a view of one of the restaurants along one of the narrow roads.  You can enjoy lunch or dinner here with a beautiful view of the lake.  Our stomachs being full from the weeks of gastronomical delights, we decided to wait until we get home(oops, I mean IL MOLINO, Freudian slip I guess) to gorge our self on the fruits of the land here in Tuscany.  I think that night we had pasta (what else) with something.  Pasta is an everyday thing here in Italy.  At least where we are.  Every time you go to the Coop in Camucia and spend a certain amount of euros, you get a free package of pasta. Caroline's pasta cabinet is getting full.

Yes, even Garibaldi was here at one time.  You might remember from your history in school that Garibaldi was instrumental in the unification of Italy in the 1800's.  He died in 1872 at the age of 74 and was known for his "red shirts" which he made his army wear instead of uniforms.

I finally found them.  Yep, I found them.  The Andro family.  Here they here are for all to see. Starting from left to right is Cardinal Raymundo Adolpho Andro,  to his left is Monsignor Adolpho Michello Andro, to his left we have Rossio Maria Andro, to her left is unidentified and the last person it Leanatarrio Margaretta Andro.  I had to do a lot of research to find these people.  The books I used were stored in a wine jug kept in the cellar of the famous wine merchant Iama Italiano.  Stay tuned.