Wed 10/19

This is our last day in Tuscany and we have a few items on our to do list of places to go. We started in Sansepolcro, birthplace of Piero della Francesca, the entire area's claim to fame. The museum in Sansepolcro has four paintings of della Francesca so we wanted to see them. It's a short drive, about 15-20 minutes to the town and with a couple stops to ask for directions once we were in the city, the museum wasn't too difficult to find. The museum is in total chaos with restorations, moving of art, positioning of lights, etc and it turns out that one of the main works that we are there to see is being restored.

Yes, it's being restored behind a glass window so that you can see the top and the bottom of the painting but not the middle. 

Being restored. Photographer reflected in glass over restoration.

There was only one that was available for viewing and it is dramatic and beautiful.

It was completely unclear where the remaining two were but they were definitely not available for viewing. There was minimal other art in the museum to see so it made for a short visit. Then we headed for Caprese Michaelangelo, a town in the hills where Michaelangelo was born and his house is still there. We wound around some nice scenery and arrived there after about 45 minutes of driving but somehow lost our interest in seeing a HOUSE. So we left and headed for lunch, something we could have tremendous interest in viewing. And, surprise, lunch was a hit! A restaurant pretty much in the middle of nowhere but near the town we visited yesterday to see the della Francesca painting of the pregnant madonna. It was clearly a place for locals with a set menu for 12 Euros for a first and second course and a side dish. We've only been getting one course because it's more than enough but who could turn down "such a deal?" Dick got a first course of spinach ravioli filled with ricotta with a nut sauce (we think it was walnuts.) I got orechiette with sausage and broccoli. (As usual, partially consumed prior to remembering to photograph it.)

For our second course, Dick got beef and I got roasted guinea hen.

Game hen, partially eaten and moved around. Was much more delicious than it appears here.

Beef

Our side dishes were mixed salad and roasted potatoes (which looked more like french fries.) All were really excellent. The pastas were delicious and the beef and the game hen were perfectly cooked, moist and really flavorful. Here's the shock….I didn't get dessert!! Total cost including wine and bottled water: 39 Euros!

After lunch, we had one more assignment: there is a museum in Anghiari that advertises "discover the lost painting 'Battle of Anghiari'  by Leonardo da Vinci."  We needed to see that, right?  This was false advertising at its finest! Turns out that Leonardo was commissioned to commemorate the battle in a painting for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence but the unfinished painting was damaged by an experimental drying process and WAS DESTROYED to make room for frescoes by Vasari. The museum has photos of some drawings that were done by Leonardo in preparation for the painting. There is also a model of the battle consisting of 2200 lead and tin hand painted soldiers as they were arrayed in the battle of the Florentines vs the Milanese.

Overall, a snoozer. In addition there were  pottery shards (my favorite….zzzzzzz) and coins etc from ages past.

In the piazza is this statue that has no name. It has a caption that seems to say either Rome or death. The real punch line however is a series of pics of Dick dating back 20 years in which he is pointing the direction that he thinks everyone need to take. (A 50/50 chance of being correct.) They all look a little like this:

OK, this made me need to have gelato so we stopped in the piazza for gelato before coming home to pack for our trip to Milan airport tomorrow.