Civitella del Lago

Our last stop on the day we went to Cortona was a small medieval hill town called Civitella del Lago. It is also know as "Civitella dei Pazzi" which literally  means city of crazies (very funny). We thought this could have an interesting story behind it, but after looking up the meaning we found out the "Pazzi" family was from Florence and had governed there for centuries (not as funny). This very, very, very small town overlooks the Corbara lake and is about 30 minutes from Orvieto. The population is approximately 500 people depending on the time of year. It is off the beaten path, but a nice place to stop for a quick visit. The town bar is owned by very friendly and helpful people. They spent at least 20 minutes trying to find a Sagra (food festival)  for us to eat at that night.

A small house that looks like it is falling off the cliff

View of Corbara lake

View from the edge of town

Two adorable kitties hanging out

Castiglione del Lago

Last night we got back from the most amazing vacation in Puglia!!! I have a few blogs to catch up on before I share about our vacation.

This is from the day we went to Cortona. We stopped in Castiglione del Lago, about 10 minutes from Cortona, right above the Trasimeno lake. It is a very small town overlooking the lake, with one main street and a large fortress. The town is well kept and very clean with only a few tourists walking around. The only bad thing we noticed was that the fortress closes for lunch and apparently they don't check to make sure that all visitors are out before they close. We saw a group of about 10 people, stuck on the fortress wall for at least 20 minutes. After that we decided it was enough for us to just walk around the outside.

Olive grove along the way

Stairs up to the city

Entrance to the city

View from the entrance

Yes some people eat donkey testicles

The main street

Olive trees next to the fortress

David in the trunk of an olive tree

Stage set up in the fortress

People were much smaller in the middle ages

View of the lake from the fortress

Cortona

Last Sunday David and I took a day trip. One of those day trips where we fit in as much as we could, which was three different towns. Cortona was our first stop, where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. It's about an hour drive north of Orvieto in Tuscany (of course). The day was beautiful, sunny and extremely hot day. This was the last day of a two week Tuscan Sun festival in Cortona, so there were tons of tourists around. We didn't stay for any part of the festival, but the program was packed with celebrities and musicians.

Cortona is a small town with one main square, perched on a hill near the Trasimeno lake. It is a very quaint town with many small alleys and the remains of the old surrounding wall. We walked around for a couple of hours, stopping in just a few of the many art galleries and gift shops. The only way to withstand the heat was a very large cone of gelato!

View of surrounding area from Cortona

The easy way up to the town

A very cute sleeping dog

The cemetery outside the city

The wall around the city

Me on the city wall

David with gelato