Sun 10/16

We slept in this morning, mainly because our upstairs neighbors woke us at 6:30 A.M. clomping around their apartment in their clipless bicycle shoes as they got ready for a big bicycle race taking place here in Anghiari. They finally left at about 7:30 and we went back to sleep.

When we finally got going, we went into Anghiari hoping to see some of the festivities for the race but there was truly NOWHERE to park and the cyclists were still coming into town from the ride so there didn't appear to be much happening. We drove to the small medieval town of Citerna (also on the bike race route) where there were more cyclists but easy parking.

Fixing a flat at the hydration station

Citerna is one of the "most beautiful towns of Italy" and it is really charming. High on a hill overlooking a gorgeous valley, it has a perfect location.

The town dates to the 16th century when it was controlled by the wealthy and powerful Vitelli family. It was a walled and completely contained city that had a huge cistern (and is the basis for the town's name) and a giant underground storage area for supplies to fortify the town in case of attack. We walked around the city admiring the views and the ancient dwellings.

One of the churches had a restored statue by one of the della Robbia's and was quite a nice small church.

We had lunch at an interesting restaurant in Citerna. Each table had a small stack of books on it, all of which had to do with food.

Reading one of the food books

Adjacent table

It was a quite modern looking restaurant built into the 16th century wall of the town. Lunch was terrific. We shared a pasta first course of chitarra (a pasta cut using something that looks like guitar strings) with pistachios and pesto and gorgonzola cream sauce….really delicious and ridiculously rich.

Dick had sliced beef with fresh porcinis for his main course and I had braised rabbit with porcinis. Both had roasted potatoes and a vegetable mixture as accompaniments. I remembered to take pictures but not until we had already had a bite or two.

Beef with porcini's

Braised rabbit with porcini's

I had a dessert of mascarpone cream with crispy pastry layers and an apricot sauce. (Also partially eaten before the picture.) It made me quite content!

After lunch we went to see an exhibit of a single clay sculpture by Donatello. We went into the town hall to buy the tickets and the young woman told us that she would give us a tour. She took us into a small church (16th century) and described all the art of the church which was quite interesting and she was very knowledgeable. There was a fresco by Signorelli, a painting by an artist from the school of Raffaello and a couple of other painting by artists that weren't familiar names that I, of course, have forgotten. Then she took us into the locked room where the Donatello lived. The story here was that the statue had been in the church for 600 years and was of an unknown artist when an art student doing research on clay sculptures came to see it and became fascinated by it. Ultimately, it was found to have been repainted many times over the years and sent to Florence for restoration where its true provenance was discovered.

Photo of before restoration which highlights how much more beautiful the original is

It is truly a remarkable piece of art with incredible expressiveness on the faces of the madonna and child and beautiful detail in general. There is gold and lapis lazuli used in the colors which demonstrate that it was a very expensive piece and was probably originally owned by the very wealthy Vitelli family.

This little "tour" was really a highlight of the day…maybe the trip!

We were ready to be back home where we played with the dogs, went into the common room to do some internet stuff (there is no internet in the apartment) and where I spent an hour trying to get my Skype account straightened out so I could make a couple of phone calls