[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 18 - Perugia/Citta della Pieve
Our first full day in Umbria we opted to explore the local area a little. The capital city of Umbria, Perugia, is a short distance away so we started there. Perugia is an old Etruscan city (the Etruscans pre-dated the Romans by several hundred years). It is famous for irritating its visitors through willful one-way streets and poorly signposted parking lots. It is all that and more! The last time Margene and I were here was in July of 2000 and we caught the very end of the famous Perugia Jazz Festival. This time it was a lot quieter ... and a lot cooler. The old downtown hasn't changed, of course, and there are still postcard views down side alleys but the city has never felt particularly hospitable to me and it was no different today.
After lunch, Mike, Jeannie and Wendy headed off for Lake Trasimeno, I suspect so Mike could see if there was any place to go windsurfing. Margene, Marv and I headed back to the little town of Citta della Pieve. Citta is also of Etruscan origin, delightfully undiscovered by tourists and the location of the villa we rented on our first Italian adventure. We still love the place ... and still look forward to seeing Cinzia, proprietor of Cantina del Saltapicchio, the local wine shop. It is always about the people and we really wanted to see her again. She recognized us when we came in, pretty impressive considering that it has been two years since we were back. Her English has improved a lot faster than my Italian. She was just getting the shop started when we were there the first time. Now she even has a website! Check it out.
Dining in Italy always happens late -- most restaurants don't even open until 7:30 or 8pm, so after more wine and cheese research on the terrace, we rolled the caravan in search of dinner. We couldn't find the first place we were after but the fallback position was the restaurant in Umbertide that we found the night before. This time they had space for us. The food was not the best we have had but the portions were plentiful and the prices very reasonable.
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