We started our day on Sept. 10 with a road trip to the valley town of Deruta. This town is known for its ceramic manufacturing and we were looking for a specific store called Ceramiche Artistiche Gialletti Giulio. We were on the hunt for some “made in Italy” souvenirs! We had a nice drive and found our destination with little trouble. We ended up shopping at the store beside the place we had googled (but I think they were connected somehow) and both Margie and I bought something from the shop!
After our excursion to Deruta, we headed to Spello which is about 10km south of our Airbnb. We had no trouble following google maps to Spello and we found another amazing walled town built on a hill. Unlike Assisi, Spello focused more on artists. Many of the shops were selling local artists’ work as well as local soaps, clothes and food. There was also more flowers and plants adorning the walls and walkways of the ancient walled town. Spello felt less touristy than Assisi but had the same cobble stone walkways. We had a very nice lunch near the top of the walled town and as we were enjoying the end of our lunch, the first rain of our visit exploded down on us! We scooted inside the tiny restaurant until the rain let up enough for us to hurry back to our car and return to our Airbnb.
Today (Sept. 11) our plan was to explore the highest peak in Assisi. We had a slow start but eventually made our way back to Assisi and around to a path that led up to the Rocca Maggiore. This very old castle looked down upon the town of Assisi. The view from up there was amazing!! We spent a bit of time exploring the grounds and then made our way back to our car (after a lunch stop and a bit of shopping!)
After a brief stop back at our Airbnb, we headed up into the hills around our area. Assisi is part of an Umbria state park (Umbria is the district we are currently in) and we decided to explore up into the hills around us. The trip was incredible!! Mark drove us around tight corners and along narrow roads that sandwiched us between cliffs and crazy drop offs!! We winded our way up to Collepino – a small walled village in the hills. It was very interesting to walk around in a non-tourist place that looked a lot like Spello and Assisi. We walked around the town and then made our way down the windy roads to Valtopina (a small town near Spello). We headed back to our apartment after a little grocery shopping stop in Spello. We had a great day of exploring the local area!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 