Later start than usual so we only set off for San Marino at about 10.00am.
When we had told Jenny our host at Pietra Rosa that we intended to drive to San Marino she merely said “ Why ? “. Basically because it’s there and we had heard so many negative reports about this, the 3rd smallest state in the world after the Vatican and Monaco, that we had to check it out for ourselves.
Sure enough, it is something of a caricature, has a greater density of kitsch souvenirs than any other place we have visited and resembles something of a theme park. However, there is no denying that its location atop of a rocky outcrop is truly breathtaking, with 360 degree views across the surrounding areas.
As it has only one main street the visit to this nation state was over in one hour but we were both pleased to have taken the detour to this oddity at the southern tip of Emilia Romagna.
Rather than face another drive on the roadworks-plagued A 14 freeway we headed west from San Marino through some superb mountain scenery to the town of San Sepolcro. What followed next was the surprise of the day as the switchback road up from San Sepolcro to Urbania proved to be on a par with such a road as Trollstigsveien in Norway, the famous road near to the world-famous Geiranger Fjord.
The purpose of the visit to Urbania was merely to see the original home of the Centro Studi Italiani, an organisation founded by a Signor Pasotti, which now has a branch in Carlton, Melbourne, where I had attended classes over the past 3 years.
Back at Pietra Rosa for yet another fine evening meal and then on to this blog.
As we did not have any ‘Gailisms’ for the day I thought I would backtrack a couple of days when we were trying to remember the name for the boats that ply their trade on the canals of Venice ( not the gondolas ). Gail ventured that they might be ‘vendettas’ or something similar. They are in fact called ‘vaporettos’ but the thought of anyone ordering a’ vendetta’ for a while,especially in the land of the ‘Cosa Nostra’ and ‘ ndragheta’ certainly conjured up a very interesting image!
Cheers for now.
The Obese Ferret
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