Italy Day Sixteen - The Hill Town of Spello

 (A multi-part recap of my mid-April to early May Italy trip.)

A rest day in paradise!  That's what it felt like when I awoke in the fancy Umbrian boutique hotel on my sixteenth day in Italy.  Poor Kim, now deep in the throes of the cold I've given her, was so stuffed up she needed a decongestant stat!  But after a hot shower and a dose of cold medicine, my friend was ready to go.

Back door view from our hotel room

(And speaking of personal care, I have to say a quick word about the hair dryers I found in the Italian hotel rooms.  They were all large rectangular units affixed to the wall with a long hose.  When I first saw one I thought it was a vacuum cleaner.  My friends and I joked about getting our hair sucked up in one of them.  I don't remember how I finally figured out it's intended use, but after a bit of trepidation, I did try it out.  Every country has it's unique thing - and this was the funniest one I found in Italy.)

Italian hair dryers look like vacuum cleaners!

After last night's call to the tour company's main office, Kim and I wondered what our main guide (MG) might say to her, if anything.  (Read my prior post for the details)  We didn't have to ponder for long - after sitting down to breakfast, MG waltzed up to our table and exclaimed "I'm mortified!"  She then showed Kim her phone, which apparently was now displaying Kim's correct traveler profile.  Both of us were a bit taken aback by MG's sudden outburst, but Kim managed to say something about getting the wrong person again, before MG sauntered off.  That was it, no apology for yesterday's accusatory, unprofessional behavior.  Simply saying "I'm mortified" didn't begin to cut it.  We both assumed that after Kim's phone call last night, the tour company's main office had contacted MG and likely (hopefully) chewed her out.  Even after being so totally in the wrong, I couldn't believe MG's flippant attitude and inability to admit she'd made a mistake.

The grounds of our lovely Umbrian hotel

But it was another beautiful, sunny day, and we were in Italy.  Kim said she wasn't going to let MG spoil any more of her trip.  And instead of being mad, Kim chose to be amused by the entire incident.  (I was angrier about it than Kim was!)  And with that, we decided to take a walk and explore the fabulous grounds of our hotel.

Covered dining area

Our hotel, situated in the Umbrian countryside, was fantastic.  It reminded me of a Spanish villa, with a grand outdoor veranda, where guests could dine or have a drink.  Not only was the building beautifully decorated, inside and out, the surrounding grounds were impeccably landscaped.  With some time to kill before the morning's activity, Kim and I decided to have a look around.

Lotti approves!

Checking out the hotel grounds

Hotel Villa Santa Barbara

After leaving the wide, front porch, Kim and I walked through a rose-lined arbor that led to a beautiful fountain.  A few tall palm trees were planted around the fountain area.

Lovely fountain

Our hotel had a nice swimming pool, surrounded by more roses and greenery.  

Pool area

I just loved a nearby bush of bright, pink roses.

Such lovely pink roses!

A large arbor of red roses

Pots of flowers and other plants were artfully placed at intervals, some even decorating the top of a most unusual half-circle scalloped wall.

Fancy wall and more beautiful landscaping

Stunning pink rose

Another look at the pool

Front porch glimpse through the trees

The grounds were so lovely, I could've spent the entire day just lounging around the hotel.  But our tour had planned an optional trip to the nearby hill town of Spello.  Not wanting to miss out on seeing more of the Italian countryside, Kim, Debbie and I decided to go.

My happy cow

Our original tour itinerary had us visiting a well-known town called Orvieto, which I'd read about in advance, and was excited to see.  However, because today was a holiday weekend, our MG thought this town would be overrun with tourists and decided to have us visit Spello as an alternative.  Supposedly Spello was a place where the locals vacationed and it didn't get a lot of international visitors.  MG thought we'd have a better experience.  After visiting Assisi on a national holiday the previous day, I was okay with going to a less crowded place.

I loved our stay here!

So about midmorning, a little over half of our tour group assembled on the front patio of our hotel for the ride into Spello.  Our MG decided she needed a bit of R 'n R, and handed the reins over to our assistant guide (AG) for the day.  MG was usually such a control freak, we were all a bit amazed she was temporarily ceding leadership of the group (amazed, but also pleased because our AG was so much better of a guide!)

Portonaccio, Medieval entrance gate to Spello

So with driver Pino at the wheel, our bus flew down the road for the half hour trip to nearby Spello.  This was another ancient Italian town located on top of a hill for defensive purposes.  The village was surrounded by Medieval walls, built on foundations from Roman times.  As we were to soon find out, three stone gates built by the Romans still stood within Spello.

Approaching the village

Upon arrival, everyone piled out of the bus and followed our AG to a tall, brick archway spanning one of the main roads.  A prominent sign above the arch made it clear you were entering Spello.  Although the stone gate looked ancient (and it was) it wasn't Roman, but constructed during Medieval times.

Ancient Roman entrance arch, Porta Consolare

A few short blocks from the Medieval archway we came across the first the three preserved Roman gates in Spello.  AG led us inside the entrance and behind a cordoned-off area, pointed out cobblestones of an ancient Roman road.

Ancient tower with a modern clock

Our assistant guide points out an old Roman road

This particular archway was called the Porta Consolare and dated back to the first century BC.  It had three marble statues perched above the outside arch, said to depict municipal figures wearing togas.

Looking back through the Porta Consolare

Besides all the ancient history surrounding this hill town, Spello was also known for its abundance of flowers, displayed everywhere.  I later read that it hosted a flower festival in June, where the buildings are decked with hundreds of colorful blooms, and carpets of flowers created to cover the city streets.

Colorful flowers were everywhere in Spello!

Although it was barely into May, I noticed right away there were flowerpots beside nearly every shop doorway, and plants of all shapes, sizes, and colors sprouted from the balconies above.

Beautifully landscaped balcony

I loved how these flowers were displayed

This resident made optimal use of their balcony

Besides the abundant flowers, Spello was a charming little village full of funky stone buildings with narrow alleys wandering in between.  We passed by a street that was full of tiny specialty shops, selling all sorts of locally produced items; meat, handicrafts, olive oil, clothing, and ceramics, just to name a few.

Where does this alley lead?

A very colorful lane

This area was known for wild boars and truffles

Like so many of the Italian towns I'd visited on this trip, although the streets were extremely narrow they were still shared by pedestrians and vehicles.  Every time a car came by, we all had to step to the side of the street and let it squeeze by.  There was no way I could ever drive in any of these tiny villages - with all the pedestrians, I'd be a wreck!

Step aside for the vehicle!

A cute restaurant in a side alley

Onward!  There was much more of this delightful town to see.  Following our AG, the group hoofed it up a steep hill.  At the top was a small shop selling truffles.  Apparently these were big business here, and AG took the time to explain it all to us (he knew so much about everything!)

Our assistant guide talking about truffles

About this time our MG sent a message on our group What's app chat, asking how the AG was doing.  My friends and I joked about MG's tour leadership insecurity.  Now she was being a helicopter mom from afar, and couldn't even trust AG for a few hours.  I took a photo of our AG in action and Debbie posted it on the chat, letting her know we were in good hands.  

Beautifully carved wooden door of Santa Maria Maggiore

Time to see more of Spello!

We then passed by the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the main houses of worship in town.  It had a impressive carved wood front door, which was unfortunately locked, so we couldn't go inside.

The tables under this huge umbrella looked inviting

We walked by a small piazza with several trees, and the largest umbrella I'd ever seen providing shade over several restaurant tables.  There was a hole in one side of the umbrella enabling an adjacent tree trunk to poke through.

I just loved this shade of purple

Lots of steep hills in this town

Then our group turned a corner, and headed up a really steep street.  We passed by a large piazza with a pretty fountain and several covered outdoor dining areas called the Plaza della Repubblica.  Anchoring one side of the plaza was a large pink brick building with a clock tower, which was Spello's city hall building.

Approaching Plaza della Repubblica

Beautiful pink city hall building

After continuing our hill climb on this same street, our group came to another church.  This one was called the Church of San Lorenzo, and lucky for us it happened to be open to the public.

Church of San Lorenzo

This church was just like all the other houses of worship I'd seen in Italy thus far - its interior was decked out with lots of ornate sculptures, marble columns, and beautiful paintings.  Colorful stained glass windows let in filtered light.  It had several opulent side altars, but the main altar had an impressive sculpted canopy over its top (called a ciborium.) 

Like most Italian churches, it was opulently decorated

Colorful stained glass window

Elegant altarpiece

Our AG gave the group a good 15 minutes to poke around in the San Lorenzo church before rounding us all up and continuing with the tour.  That's really all the time I needed to see everything.  After visiting so many churches over the past two weeks, they were all beginning to look the same.

Umbrian hills view

Potted plants were everywhere

Upon exiting the church, our group traveled another uphill block to a colorfully decorated stairway.  Small flower pots, painted with all sorts of cheerful designs, were stacked along the stair railings and cascaded down to the landing.

This staircase was decorated with dozens of painted pots

Oh, what a great photo op this was!  I later learned this was one of Spello's popular attractions.  Naturally, there were tons of people crowded around this pretty sight, all taking pictures.  But it was so unusual and cool who could blame them?

What a great photo subject!

Rounding the landing area, I was extremely pleased to discover that the painted pot design continued on the steps themselves.  Flower pots were embedded into the stair steps all the way up.

Pots were even embedded into the stairs

Yeah, I took a lot of photos of this unique work of art.  But c'mon, if you were here in Spello, you'd do the same thing!

Lotti's favorite place

After huffing up a few more steep city blocks, we ended our tour at Spello's high point.  A small plaza with an observation area gave visitors grand views of the Umbrian countryside.

This viewpoint provided a wonderful panorama

I could see scattered buildings, red tile roofs, lots of trees, and the patchwork quilt of farmer's fields.  It was another gorgeous blue-sky day, absolutely splendid for taking in these marvelous panoramas.  A wee bit on the hot side, but otherwise perfect.  (We'd yet to have any bad weather on our tour!)

Umbrian countryside views

One side of the viewpoint area had part of the old city wall running beside it, and the walkway beyond was topped with a decrepit-looking arch.  It wasn't one of the Roman arches, so I'm guessing it was built in later Medieval times.

Ancient wall and arch

I found the tiles on the roof of this building to be quite interesting

There was another church nearby, but about this time my friends and I were thirsty and also needed to find a restroom.  After taking the required selfies, we decided to head back towards the main commercial area of town to see what we could find.

Of course, a selfie!

One of our tour-mates asked if he could hang out with us ladies.  His wife had opted to stay back at the hotel, so he was flying solo.  Of course, my friends and I had no trouble adding another person to our little travel group.  The more the merrier!  

Photo of the gang with tour-mate Bob

So Bob from Georgia joined us three wild ladies for the rest of the day (a brave man!)  Originally from New Jersey, I liked his tough-sounding Jersey accent (but he was an absolute sweetheart.)  

 

Time to ramble back into town

It wasn't quite yet noon, so we had trouble finding a cafe that was open for lunch, but we did finally stumble upon a breakfast place still serving food and beverages.  Everyone ordered their drink of choice and took turns visiting the facilities.  We sat at an outside table, elevated above the nearby street, and it was fun to watch all the locals and visitors passing by.

Bob and I striking a pose

However, my friends and I discovered this tiny cafe didn't serve lunch items, and all four of us were ready for a proper midday meal.  So after paying the bill at our current place, we all ventured back onto the cobblestone lanes of Spello in search of more substantial grub.

Lots of pleasant lunch spots

Back at Plaza della Repubblica we found an outdoor dining area and grabbed the last umbrella-shaded table.  Everyone first ordered their alcoholic beverage of choice, before perusing the menu.  Getting a bit tired of pizza and pasta by now, I spied a menu item that read "sausage and potatoes."  Something different - I decided to try this.

Salute to my friends!

Everyone else ordered pizzas.  After a bit of a wait, our food was delivered.  I was surprised to see that instead of just a plate of sausage and potatoes, I was given a sausage and potato pizza!  I guess since my three table-mates were having pizza they just assumed that's what I wanted too.  Our waiter offered to take the pizza back and bring me what I'd ordered, but it had taken so long to get our food (and I was really hungry) that I told him it was okay.  And although kind of weird, the sausage and potato toppings wasn't bad.

My unusual pizza

After strolling around Spello for another hour or so, everyone gathered back at the bus where driver Pino was waiting.  As I boarded, Lotti asked if she could try to drive the bus, so Pino graciously let her pose at the steering wheel for a photo or two.

Although busy with weekenders, Spello had been nowhere near as mobbed as Assisi the day before.  It seemed to be a quiet, laid-back village.  There didn't appear to be a huge amount of international tourists walking about, just lots of locals enjoying themselves.  I felt like Spello was very close to an authentic Italian hill town and I'm glad we had the opportunity to visit such a place.

Bus driver Pino loved Lotti

Back at the hotel my friends and I reunited with the tour-mates who'd opted for a relaxing day staying put.  Several took advantage of the beautiful swimming pool's inviting waters, while others explored the surrounding area, strolling along scenic country lanes.  One tour-mate said she'd spotted the actress Alfre Woodard walking down a hallway.  Wow, we really were staying at a  high class place!

Back at the hotel, Pino served drinks

The hotel had a tiny bar adjacent to the outdoor veranda and after our return from Spello many of my fellow tour participants gathered here for cool drinks and conversation.  It was a jovial group - I had so much fun chatting with my tour-mates!  Pino even helped the bartender by bringing out everyone's drink orders.

Happy hour on the veranda - salute!

After a unremarkable BBQ dinner of super dry meat, it was time again to pack up and get some rest for the final stop on our Italy tour.  Tomorrow we'd journey to the eternal city of Rome.

Coming in my next post - all roads lead to Rome!