Bella Italy

It's Sunday, the first day of August! Oh, time flies...
Today we woke up to glorious sunshine after a few days of absolutely uncommon rain storms which send cold weather into a classic summer region...
But we did not bother and visited small towns nearby, all filled with historic treasures and plenty of things to do even when it rained!
On of them is Anghiari, just 6 miles away from Sansepolcro. Its a hill top town, high above the valley and so old, that stone age artifacts are proof for the desired location...The Etruscans have settled here and from then on various people have fought over and lived in this strategic important town. Today its a peaceful and well loved destination, filled with ancient houses, all sitting on top of each other, wedged between a 100 meter high wall and the hill behind.
The views are incredible!









Life in Italian towns differs quite a lot from what we are used to in America or other places in Europe for that matter. The day begins slowly and there is a very long siesta. That means the shops and museums are all closed between 1 and 4PM, a circumstance we had to get used to. After late mornings we were ready to stroll through the town to sight see or shop...Now we know better and the places all come to live after 4PM, going strong until midnight and beyond. The Italians have the lovely habit of walking the piazzas and narrow streets, chatting with friends and neighbors, sitting with large families around small cafe tables and generally enjoying themselves.
We adjusted fast and now walk nightly and come home after midnight...Something especially our teenage kids look forward to tremendiously.

We have expirienced so much already, cultural, historically, different landscapes and many encounters with wildlife. I have not seen so many rarely seen animals upclose before. The house sits quite far out, alone in the montains and we've seen deers and birds of all sorts, the occasional scorpion - small ones who are not dangerous to humans - but nevertheless fearfull to look at. Small lizzards have the run of the walls and stones outside. There are loads of large bugs and we live peacefully next to each other! Much buzzing around the lavender bushes!


We have rescued a fruitbat who accidentally came into the living room and a bird who flew into the hallway.
It is all wonderful!


I am thinking of you all and thank you for following me along on our journey, it is such fun and we recover from month of work and school and soak up a wonderfully different culture!

Take care, much love!


XX
Victoria


All pictures by V.Zlotkowski