A leisurely morning was spent at the hotel before we embarked to Perugia and met up with a tour guide who showed us the local sights there. Sylvia, our guide showed us the sites and commented on the town that benefited from their proximity to the Flaminia Road, a Roman road and major connector between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Adriatic over the Apennine mountains. A unique sight within the town is a gorgeous fountain with carvings that depict the daily life of man at the base of the fountain. 
To represent each month of the year there is a carving showing the activities such as pruning vines and tending sheep along to more intellectual pursuits towards the end of the year. The idea is that over the course of the year through daily life humans move from action to intellect and eventually to spiritual enlightenment represented by the more saintly beings at the next level of the fountain. The town church is modest compared to richer towns, with only faux marble columns and their one relic is the ring said to be that given from Joseph to Mary. The town was so lacking in relics back in the day that they tried to actually steal the bodies of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare, but were unsuccessful. Apparently relics were vital as they were a source of tourism, so without them your town suffered.
Perugia was a source of some of the best painters in Italy as home to both Perugino, Raphael and Pinturrichio. The history of the town is rather violent as f conflict between the popes and emperor creating a great deal of turmoil over its history. One leading family of the town, the Baglioni. The Baglione family lived in this town but opposed the pope and as such he destroyed the towers that housed their family. In its place a fortress was built where he sent delegates to control the town, but of course the locals of Perugia hated this as it was an insult and eventually also destroyed most of the fortress and in the process destroying much of their history. We were shown the ruins of the ancient town that lie under the Piazza Italia as well as the escape route these delegates would take to leave town. 
The weirdest thing is that you reach these ruins through a series of escalators, it feels like you are going into the NY Subway, but you are surrounded by ancient stonework. Nowadays this leads to the underground parking structure (weird!). One of the folks in our group got her dress caught in the escalator and luckily survived unscathed, but we joked that maybe this was the miracle the town was waiting for and she should sell them the pink shroud of life as their new relic. We left the town hearing nothing about the chocolates that are named for the town but someone did ask Sylvia about the “Baci” made by Perugino, she said that basically the Baci was a great marketing idea since they used to call the little chocolates “fists”. Really?
Off we headed for a quick jaunt to Assisi. I could have stayed in that town all day. While it seems a bit touristy it was really amazing to see all the incredibly narrow streets running throughout the town. Our van driver expertly navigated some really tight turns, I wouldn’t even drive a Smart car through this town, it was crazy tight. We visited the main Roman square where columns of the Minerva temple still sit. Built in about 100 BC this site has always been a religious site despite the fact that the religion changed over time. The city of Assisi was a bit smarter than Perugia and never adversarial towards Rome, which means that much of it is preserved. This square also housed the market and the old metal measures used for silk and bricks can be seen on the wall next to the temple. Assisi is famous of course for St. Francis, and also St. Clare, and the whole town’s names really resonate to me considering I am so familiar with California and the names of cities inspired by these saints, San Francisco, Santa Clara and even Los Angeles named for the church where Assisi found his inspiration, Santa Maria dei Angeli. St. Francis was born at the end of the 12th century to an upper class family. He had an easy life and was given the benefits of education and financial comfort. He determined that he wanted to go to war at the age of 19 but was captured and imprisoned and his father bailed him out. Then he decided to follow the Crusades, but got ill not far from home and again had to regroup. It was at this time that he discovered his path and decided to live by the Gospel. He had the benefit of being able to address the nobles as well as all levels of society and received entree to talk with the Pope due to his status. The Pope was being challenged by the Emperor at the time and so the new Franciscan movement that St. Francis proposed seemed like a good option so he actually gave it his blessing. The tenets of the religion 1. Poverty 2. Chastity and 3. Obedience to the Church, the last two are the longer lasting ideals… St. Francis was of course also famous for his respect for animals and the environment, he spoke to all creatures calling them all brothers and sisters. The Basilica of St. Francis is pretty incredible. The top story is where the public would attend mass, the next level down you find a more spiritual chapel and at the bottom level is the area in which St. Francis is interred. You can make an offering an buy a candle to be burned at a later time. It was really moving. Amazing also to think that here is the birthplace of a religion that ultimately spread across the world and brought winemaking to California with the Franciscan missionaries. While they were apparently from Spain they evolved from the teachings of St. Francis, and as our guide said, really a missionary has no home but the figurative home of the church.
Off we went to lunch at Hotel La Bastiglia in Spello, a gorgeous restaurant with an incredible view where we dined on a panzanella salad, fresh ricotta, free range pork prosciutto, herbed pecorino cheese and those were just the starters! I am getting used to this. These were of course followed by Tagliatelle with Chianina beef as well as a “mixed grill” of pork, beef and sausage. Just when I thought I could take no more in comes a molten chocolate cake that was incredibly decadent with strawberry sorbet. We also met Marco’s amazing family including Arnaldo Caprai, he seems ready to take over now…
A quick jaunt through our local town of Foligno and a 20 minute power nap and it was back to work at Arnaldo Caprai where Paolo Biccheri led through a tasting of Montefalco Rosso and Sagrantino de Montefalco from numerous local producers. 
My highlights were Tabarrini and of course Arnaldo Caprai. Then we tasted seven of the latest new wines from Arnaldo Caprai and were met with a gorgeous sunset over the vineyards while we discussed their latest clonal trials. They are working both with the traditional propagation of Sagrantino as well as using seeds to breed new clones in order to get the best vine material possible.
We headed off to the gorgeous town of Montefalco as the bats were coming out and the sky was a deep indigo and were greeted by Sylvia Santificetur and her husband Achille, who just happen to be parents of Maria Assunta’s grandson, the couple we met at lunch the day before. They own Spiritodivino, a gorgeous restaurant that has been getting incredible press lately http://www.spiritodivino.net. It was another one of those nights when the food and company were so wonderful it was hard to take notes, but highlights were an artichoke served with cauliflower puree and a poached egg as well as a 1996 Sagrantino de Montefalco.
Now it’s off to Montefalco and back to Bevagna for a tour and then onto the winery where they are having an open house and concert!
RebeccaChapa.com 