We start our Saturday with a dose of culture, but as usual seem to end in a haze of food and wine. (I don’t hear anyone complaining.) Our driver, Federico, takes us to the beautiful church, Santa Maria degli Angeli where we learn a little about St. Francis and admire the unbelievably unique and beautiful interior. I have visited a lot of different churches in my life, and this ranks as one of my favorites. (Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed inside.)
Next up, we head to Torgiano where we stroll through a wine museum. There we see a giant old hand press which takes up the entire lower floor of the museum and used to be used to press wine back in the day when slaves were used to turn the cranks. We also view all kinds of ancient ceramic, glass, terra cotta and wooden vessels which were used to hold wine over the centuries. In addition, there is a large amount of beautiful artwork depicting ancient scenes of wine debauchery and viniculture. This is followed by a short walk over to the nearby olive oil museum where among other things, we view photographs of how olives were harvested in the past and see a beautiful collection of old oil lamps and artwork. We have worked hard all morning and deserve a glass of wine for our efforts, and so we raise a glass at the osteria which belongs to the museum.
A domani,
Irene