weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

After our first week at Lake Garda, the family of our son had to return to Switzerland, as school was about to start. With the family of our daughter from the UK, we relocated 500+ km / 300 miles to the south to the small town of Camucia near Cortona in southern Tuscany, close to the border with Umbria. We had repeatedly visited these two provinces and fell in love with many of the small hill towns and other historic places dotting the area. Here in southern Tuscany, we were staying at a nicely provisioned old farmhouse, again endowed with a large swimming pool, quite isolated and surrounded by vineyards and fruit orchards. As you can see from the map attached below, we undertook a number of drives to neighboring towns both in Tuscany and in Umbria and felt very much at home in these somewhat rustic places with their very own historic ambience.

The experiences we came back with from the places we visited were very varied: While most places were quite busy and throbbed with life, we happened upon small Castiglion Fiorentino in the hills north of Cortona and encountered a handful of visitors at the most, while the "magnet city" Florence was so overrun with tourists that it was practicably impossible to shoot an image of the main buildings or to enjoy the splendors this city has to offer.

There is so much history, art and scenic beauty to these two provinces, that it is impossible to provide even rudimentary explanations in this post. So I let the few images I have culled speak for themselves. - Should you be interested to delve a bit deeper into the local history then you might want to click open the two links I provide below which, I should warn you, are very lengthy - and I would leave it up to you to decide how deep you want to enter into this topic. Links:

Tuscany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscany
Umbria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbria


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to this series. Please use the link below if you would like to review this intro:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797460-1.html

SUMMER TRIP INFO: Set # 7 provides more information on this second trip of the year to Europe
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797711-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

Thanks for visiting, I recommend viewing the downloads and look forward to your comments and questions.

.

1 - Tuscany/Cortona - Panoramic view from the Piazza Garibaldi over the southern outskirts of the town, agricultural land beyond and to Lago Trasimeno at the horizon, Italy's largest lake except for the 3 alpine lakes Maggiore, Como and Garda

(Download)

2 - Tuscany/Castiglion Fiorentino - Parrocchia San Giuliano in Collegiata church built from 1840-1853 in an imposing neoclassical style, one of the most important buildings of this style in Tuscany

(Download)

3 - Tuscany/Castiglion Fiorentino - Departing from the city through a plant nursery, we have a final look at the town on the hill, with the Parrocchia San Giuliano in Collegiata church at right

(Download)

4 - Tuscany/Montecchio - The 11th century castle of Montecchio Vesponi on a 364m high hill, its walls have no traces of reconstruction and it must be considered one of the purest surviving examples of Tuscan fortified architecture

(Download)

5 - Tuscany/Montepulciano - Wine store on Via del Opio nel Corso

(Download)

6 - Umbria/Todi - Beautiful wood carving at the entrance to a quaint, old-fashioned barber shop on Corso Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour (I just love these Italian street names!) opposite the Fonte Cesia (fountain)

(Download)

7 - Umbria/Todi - Co-Cathedral of the Santissima Annunziata located on the main square Piazza del Popolo - an Italian national monument, built in the 13th century

(Download)

8 - Umbria/Orvieto - The Gothic facade of the Orvieto Cathedral is one of the great masterpieces of the Late Middle Ages, its signature element is the golden frontage depicted in this image

(Download)

9 - Tuscany/Florence - The Ponte Vecchio, built in 1345, spans the river Arno at its narrowest point on foundations dating back to Roman times - its particularity are the many shops built to its sides, a common practice in past centuries

(Download)

10 - Tuscany/Arezzo - The southern corner of Piazza Grande, the most noteworthy medieval square in the city with its rather unusual sloping pavement and fantastic buildings and towers decorated with colorful crests

(Download)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Nice!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

For your reference:

Map of Italy indicating at the bottom center the location of the places shown in this set

(Download)

Toment Loc: FL, IL

Beautiful
Thanks 🙏

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Beautiful architectural and landscape work, Joe!

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Beautiful series, Joe, thanks for the tour.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Really nice, Joe.

MT native Loc: Big Sky Country — Montana

Thumbs up for sure! Beautiful.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Really impressive, especially the castle in number four.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you very much Toment for looking in on my new series and your kind words.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Mike, glad you liked these shots.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Earnest, I am very happy to have you on my tour!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Ken for your supportive words.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Dennis for your strong support! The area was so beautiful!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Barbara, impressive is the right word, there is so much architectural grandeur achieved over the centuries here - that castle in number four is particularly interesting as it is one of the few we actually did NOT visit, I just noticed it in driving by, but it stood so perfectly and massively up on that hill, that I had to pull over and record it for posterity!