Farnese & Pitigliano

Ugh, I wrote this entire blog post and pressed a button and lost it all. Technology is glitchy here. For instance, every time I try to add a caption to an image, the image disappears. That's sort of what happened last night, but the ENTIRE post disappeared.

So, I will recreate it here.

Fred and I had a free day Friday and decided to drive to Farnese, a town we'd been to once before but for just a short visit. Then, if time permitted, we'd go on to Pitigliano, known for it's Jewish population. It's a cool place. Read more on this site if you're so inclined:

https://www.visittuscany.com/en/ideas/a-trip-to-pitigliano/

Here's the first paragraph -- a good overview:

Pitigliano is located in Tuscany halfway from Florence and Rome, perched atop a volcanic tufa ridge. Its unmistakable skyline makes it stand out from kilometres away and gives Pitigliano a surreal charm. It is also known as Little Jerusalem (Piccola Gerusalemme) due to the long-standing presence of a Jewish community. Prior to this particular part of history, Pitigliano has an ancient past, with centuries of changes in civilizations and cultures.

Anyway, back to Farnese. We didn't get on the road till noon because I had a couple of hours of work to do. I've been wrapping up a long project that had me working for the last four or maybe even five weekends—not all weekend, but a few hours here and there. This was the final push. 

This site, below, was, we thought, important enough to document, to turn the car around and go back to it. We couldn't want to name the shot "the black sheep of the family."

Unfortunately, they were goats. 

This was the fourth candle I lit in a church for someone at home --- or someone's loved one. This was for a friend's dog who was to undergo surgery that day. Long story short, the surgery was aborted but will be re-attempted later this week. They are very optimistic. 

This post has a preponderance of cats and flowers... 

Love this guy's constantly surprised look. He can't help it. 

This was an ivy covered wall, with a door that led to a lower garden on a cliff.

I saw this weird shape on this wall... 

Up close it looked like half a face to me. Fred sees a profile.

A very busy little entryway!

Pansies the likes of which I'd never seen.

Love the extended arm.

Hydrangeas.

Love this and just started noticing this practice: if you turn the chair away like this, the sit doesn't get too hot to sit on.
Most days I can't touch the car's steering wheel fully at the onset of a trip; it's so hot.

Even though it was about 4 pm, still plenty of time to move on to Pitigliano. We've been several times, but it's nice to visit a more sought after town once in a while. Not always, but sometimes. It's very lively, clean, and has a nice vibe. Lots of locals hanging out, talking, drinking coffee, eating ice cream.

By the way, Farnese is in Lazio (our province) and Pitigliano is in Tuscany.

This is the first view you get:

Out of order, but this was the drive there. Very Tuscan!

Never have I seen a cat on a car in Italy in July. WAY too hot! This cat likes it hot apparently.

This Fiat 500 was half inside a shop! And behind it, another full Fiat 500 completely inside the store. Not a clue why.

I spy with my little eyes.... two little ears.

I am sucker for the tucked-in paws!

At the end of our wandering, we did what we always do, had a drink in a piazza and watched Italy go by. In this case, we picked one with one other couple.. from Pennsylvania... And three very dramatic pre-teen girls having a fight. Door slamming, crying, hugging, pouting. Then a fourth girl and all was quite. Threesomes can be hard! Completely annoying. 

Bottom left is a small bottle filled with peanuts. Very cool way to serve them. Saves a spoon too. We will adopt this at home.

Just found a few stragglers that almost got lost due to technical difficulties.

A snail! Must look into how this can happen. I never understood how slugs end up living in a sea creature's shell... I'm sure I'm missing something really big and have just made a FOOL of myself.

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