Carleen's travel blog: Giorno Nove

Today was Spoletto. We started the morning with an escalator ride - at least 6 of them to get from the parking area to the town. Another beautiful old town built by the Umbrians, added on to by the Romans, then the Longobards, then the Papal States, and on and on. They have a beautiful Basilica there with a large courtyard, lots of art and soaring architecture. Then we went into the town with a few nice shops and lots of arches and walls. For lunch we ate from a food truck that sold porcchetta sandwiches for 3 Euros. They were wonderful. Later we had gelato at a place that had 6 different kinds of pistachio gelato (the pistachios were from different regions) as well as a dark chocolate, orange cinnamon one. While Georgia painted, I went to the Archeological Museum. Pretty much had the place to myself. There was a Roman amphitheater that they use today during the Spolteto Festival (I would definitely bring a large soft cushion because those seats are hard!) There were lots of Roman and Umbrian artifacts from tombs in the area. Some were remarkably intact. Once again the weather was spectacular.
Dinner tonight was a show stopper. Appetizer was pumpkin soup. Then for the pasta course, they brought out a huge wheel of Parmigiana that had been hollowed out. The waitere poured in Grappa and set it alight, stirred it some, then added cooked tubular pasta and stirred it some more to coat the pasta with the cheese. Added some pancetta and voila! Best mac and cheese ever. The second course was the black celery again stuffed with sausage and served with a red sauce. Dessert was a molten chocolate cake. I am stuffed.
Weirdest thing of the day was a fresco in the museum of St. Agatha at the last supper holding a tray with her severed breasts on it. This was to represent her martyrdom.. Uh, right.
Tomorrow the truffle hunt (with dogs)