Wednesday we did a lot of driving. We started with the small city of Arezzo. There wasn't much to see except the wall around the original city that had a mammoth door.
Then on to Ravenna. It was an overcast day with some light rain now and then, but not bad driving. I have to tell you I am amazed at the autostrada. It is a system of 4 to six lane highways throughout the country similar to our interstate system. Some of the newer and wider sections are toll highways, but worth the price. The speed limits range from about 55 mph in congested areas to about 81 mph on the open road. Of course the Italians regard the speed limit as a speed suggestion. It is nothing to have a line of cars pass you going 100 mph. I felt like the pace car at Indy.
On the way to Ravenna you have to cross a mountain range similar to the mountains in West Virginia. We must have gone through a dozen tunnels that ranged from a quarter mile to several miles long. We took a different route back and found the same thing. And the bridges were awesome. Many were several hundred feet high and many miles long.
Of course, I had to visit the namesake of my home town to find out why the founders wanted to name our city after this Italian seaport. The tour book told us that at one time Ravenna was successively the capitol of the Western Roman Empire, the Visigoth Empire, and the Bysantine Empire for a span of 350 years starting in 402 AD, and was considered one of the greatest cities on the Mediterranean.
Now the original city remains inside its walls drawing tourists who want to see what is left. The greater city is a modern seaport but with the typical Italian style of buildings. The old city has several noteworthy remnants.
The Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe dates from the 6th century and retains the beautiful mosaic tiled walls with depictions of processions from long ago. The church itself is in rough shape with some of its beauty still intact in some areas.
Dante's Tomb is tucked in among the buildings. His ashes were actually hidden nearby during WWII just in case the tomb was destroyed.
Maybe the statues that are on the front lawn of the old Ravenna Township school, now Brown Junior High, were inspired by these guys adorning the central park.
No trip to Ravenna would be complete without a visit to the leaning tower of Ravenna! Well it is not as spectacular as the one in Pisa and not as easy to get to, but it does lean...even more than the one in Pisa. There is yet another leanier in town, but we couldn't find it (we were tired). Maybe we could get something like this to replace our flagpole.
A statue to Giuseppe Garibaldi, a famous general and politician of the 1800's, has a prominent spot in the middle of the city.
Yes, Ravenna has a post office. I immediately recognized it as the Ravenna post office because when I went in there were only two people working the counter, one was playing solitaire on his computer and the other had a closed sign in front of him.
So long Ravenna.
On the way back we decided to stop in Bologna for dinner. Bad idea. First of all, Bologna, at least the parts we saw, doesn't even look like an Italian city. It looks more like Cleveland. Second, we couldn't find a parking spot anywhere. People were parked on sidewalks, on the grass, double parked...what a mess. We drove around for about an hour and gave up. We ended up having pizza in Florence.
Today we stayed around home...our Tuscany home. We visited several small towns and tried to find a vineyard that was open. First we went to Castelnuovo Berandengo, a town maybe the size of Kent, sitting by itself on a hill surrounded by fields of grapes and forests of olive trees. The real reason for the visit was to shop at the open air market. The main street was blocked off and lined with tables of vendors of every variety...farm products, fish, clothing, linens, etc.
This picture shows only a few of the tables, because like most streets in Italy, it is not straight and you can only see a little bit at a time. There was actually about a quarter mile of tables.
We went back to our apartment with our loot and decided to go back for lunch. The market was just closing up at noon. So were all the stores in the town! In Italy it is the custom to close the stores at around noon so that the shopkeepers can go home for lunch. Only the restaurants are open then. They reopen at about 2:30. So that's why the post office in Ravenna never has anybody working at noon!
So we just wandered about and took some pictures. Below is a picture of some artwork on one of the buildings...no doubt by a budding master. Then a picture of a building Pat thought looked cool, and then a picture of a typical street.
We found a vineyard where the owner was kind enough to show us around and tell us about his wines. The tasting room was an old press room where they pressed grapes and olives. Pat liked the large earthen vats in front of the old presses.
Another little town waaaaay up on a hill was Villa a Sesta. Not much there but it was nice to look at...especially the arched entryways through the wall that surrounded the town.
Let me finish with some pictures from another small town called San Gusme, perched on yet another hill, surrounded by grapes and olive trees.
Through the olive trees, way up on the hill you can see the villa of another grape farmer.
You want grapes, we got grapes! Thousands of acres of grapes.
