Richard says that his favorite part of the trip was the cooking class. For me, I think it was the time we spent in Perugia. I could see spending quite awhile there. I loved it. It was so beautiful and felt like being IN Italy…

We were to make two stops that day on our way to our third hotel. In the end our tour director added another super quick spot. There are so many churches in Italy that she actually took us to a church WITHIN a church. Porziuncola was the ORIGINAL church before the Basilica of Saint Mary went up AROUND the tiny Catholic church inside. It is impossible not to be impressed by the beauty of these structures.

From there, it was on to the center of Assisi to meet our local guide. This was probably the most “touristy” place we had been so far, but we got very lucky! On the day that we went the crowds were very small. Oh, and I know this is an odd comment, but the restrooms in the bus parking lot are VERY nice – many stalls, super clean! Assisi, like many of the cities in Italy, has a series of escalators to get to the hilltops. Not only does it make it easier on visitors, they say that it helps reinforce their structure because Italy is prone to earthquakes. We were not allowed to take pictures of the frescos inside the upper and lower church at the Basilica of Saint Francis, but they were EVERYWHERE. Our guide told us the stories of a few of them and how they were meant to teach the stories of St. Francis to those who couldn’t read. She said if she told us every story, it would take years, so she picked just a few. We were also able to see his tomb. I liked hearing the story of the rich man who realized that the church wasn’t doing anything to take care of the poor so he made it his mission.

I loved this beautiful little town with its amazing, sweeping views. But after just a few hours here, it was time to go to one of my most interesting dining experiences ever! We went to Lungarotti winery, one of the largest and most respected wineries in Umbria. Our bus driver pulled up onto a dirt road and we had a fabulous lunch with Lungarotti wines right there in the MIDDLE of the vineyards. It was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be sitting there in the heart of Italy surrounded by the lush and beautiful landscape (and we had a good lunch to boot!)

From there, it was just a five minute drive to the production facility for the winery. Our tour director, Sofia, passed out the lyrics to Dean Martin’s “Volare,” and we sang it in both English and Italian on the way to the facility. A little singing after lunch is always a good time!

Richard and I have been to A LOT of winery tours, and we likely know quite a bit more about wine than the average person. For many in our group who are not “into” wine as much as others this seemed like a real learning experience. They asked a lot of questions, and our sommelier/tour guide was very patient and thorough in her explanations. Richard and I tend to favor smaller, boutique wineries most of the time. This is one of the largest wineries I’ve ever been to. They have been around since 1964 and recently tied with the juggernaut Ornellaia as the “best wine in Italy.” They also began a sparkling wine program where they follow all the traditional methods including hand riddling every single bottle by turning each one just 1/4 turn per day.

After the tour we did another tasting… because why not have unlimited wine with lunch before having a wine tasting! (Have I mentioned that I love Tauck?)

Then, we made our way to our Perugia hotel, Brufani. This one was older than the others, but the room was ENORMOUS (a full living room, bedroom, big bathroom). The air conditioning had trouble keeping up. Views from all around the hotel were spectacular. Tauck does an amazing job of finding gorgeous, unique hotels at each of their destinations. We had known from our itinerary that our first night in Perugia was one of our “dinner on your own nights.” Richard says over and over that the only regret he had about our stay in France last year is that he didn’t plan a meal at a Michelin starred restaurant while we were in Lyon, the gastronomical capital of the world! So, this time, he wasn’t going to let that happen. We had two nights on this trip – the night before in Gubbio when we chose to go to the amazing pizza place, and tonight in Perugia. Richard found the lovely little one star L’Acciuga (meaning “anchovie”) and made a reservation about a month in advance.

It was a rainy night in Perugia. We got in a cab and made our way to the restaurant for a truly amazing meal. They had a lot of very interesting flavors and paired with some funky local wines. The service was beyond reproach, and the place itself had a hip but comfortable vibe. We were the only Americans in the restaurant, but the staff spoke English. (I didn’t expect them to, and I was prepared with my Google translate.) As we generally do, we just went with the tasting menu. It was just labeled “trust us,” so we didn’t know what we were getting until it came to us. My favorite was the smoked butter/celery risotto with horseradish. Richard’s was the pigeon, but all courses were good. I asked them if they would print up a copy of the menu for us, and they were happy to oblige.

We had the restaurant call us a cab back to the hotel. Remember when I mentioned how much the cities LOVE their festivals? Well, there was some weekend long Renaissance festival going on, and the road which would take us back to our hotel was blocked off! There was no other way in! Our very apologetic cab driver dropped us off at the bottom of an escalator and told us to keep taking escalators all the way to the top and it would get us back to our hotel.

It was somewhat unnerving to be in a foreign country and hear the explosions (from the festival) and the chanting and yelling as we wound our way through medieval stone passages to find another escalator. In the end, though, we popped right out across the street from our hotel and were ready to get to bed so we could spend our day in Perugia.

I like the way that Tauck paced this tour. When we woke up the next day, we saw the itinerary and there was a TON of free time. It really allowed for us to reorganize our luggage and have some downtime and recovery time, too. The first excursion that morning was just a walk from our hotel. We went back down into the catacombs where we had been the night before and learned more about their construction. We also learned quite a bit about the fact that although Perugia is a religious city, they are actually quite anti-church. When they were under the rule of the Catholic church, they were treated poorly. Much of their art makes reference to their disdain for the the popes. We saw this mostly in the city center. This particular area had some of the most phenomenal views! There was an overlook from our hotel that was just spectacular. Perugia is also known for it’s chocolate, Baci as well as its founder, Luisa Spagnoli. She is fascinating to me! There is a PBS show about her that I intend to watch. Her ideas were revolutionary in the early 1900s.

After our walk around the city, we had a choice of free time or to go to Brozzetti Weaver’s Studio. It was so interesting to see the way that fabrics have been created for centuries (well, that, and to hang around with the fabulous cat! I’m a sucker for animals!) Our generous tour director gave us each a woven bookmark as a souvenir.

After that, we had a choice to accompany the tour director to the workshop of Alvaro Breccolotti (also known as DUCA). He is a “hyperrealist” painter. Pretty fascinating stuff! Sofia, our tour director, had been trying to get an appointment for four years. This was the one excursion we bowed out of. We wanted to get some things done in the room, and a little downtime sounded WONDERFUL! So, we grabbed a sandwich on the square and then had some room time.

Our dinner that night was to be at La Taverna, less than a five minute walk from the hotel. I loved these nights of just strolling to a restaurant in Italy. We started in the hotel bar with some prosecco and an aperol spritz before going back to the square. We caught the end of some kind of very heated tug-of-war competition (part of the Renaissance festival). It started to rain, so we ducked into the restaurant for our last meal in Perugia. Richard had decided, at this point, that a gelato a day was the way to enjoy Italy, so we stopped to get one on the way back to the room. The next day would be our last day in Italy, and it would be a BUSY one.