catching up

Ciao ciao, well this is going to be quite the entry because so much has happened since the last update AND there is even more coming up in the next few weeks.

First off is my last entry from the hilltowns trip. After Siena, we went to an abandoned monastery at St. Galgnano and spent the afternoon in Arezzo seeing the Duomo (every city has one!) and frescoes at San Francesco and spending the afternoon in a park with this amazing view:

And some of the best parts of this trip have been just driving through the hills, listening to good music (some country, soundtracks – Lord of the Rings anyone?), and sleeping/reflecting. At night we drove up and around the hills to Urbino where we are staying at the best hotel – very
modern, comfortable, and even luxurious? Slept amazingly, took a nice warm shower (decent-size shower stall, perfect water pressure and temperature), enjoyed the best hotel breakfast so far (croissant, yogurt, cereal, fresh fruit, cappuccino). As a group we walked to the University of Urbino’s campus where the architecture/layout was planned by Giancarlo De Carlo. Due to the topography, the cement and brick dorms are built into the hillsides and have amazing views out into the valley and mountains. It was very Scarpa-esque and definitely reminded me of the Brion Cemetery -- it is hard to tell whether the architecture is imposing itself onto the landscape or vice versa.

In the afternoon we climbed one of the steepest hills thus far (seriously, probably a 40-degree incline) to a park at the top and then further on to the fortress. From the top you get one of the best views back onto the town and as you can see, it’s just the ideal medieval town – a castle stronghold built on top of a hill with fortified walls.

After a nap, some sketching, and an espresso we walked around the perimeter walls and just talked and admired the view. It was such a great afternoon and the best part was that walking around Urbino today was the most fall-like we’ve felt since being here. Because Rome is such an urban concentration, I haven’t felt like it was fall because there aren’t many trees to change colors and it hasn’t cooled down yet. But here we all wore jackets, scarves, boots, the works. On a side note, I loved how everyone dressed here and Urbino seemed surprisingly young – there were college kids walking around and people were out in the streets even late at night, something we had not seen in any of the other hilltowns.

Finally we ate at the recommended Taverna degli Artisti, had some delicious and well-priced pasta and bread, and ended the night by watching (and Jenna and Erica even participated in) an Aztec dance show – go figure!