Sansepolcro, Toscana 8.24.05

Yesterday we went to Sansepolcro. Rita, our landlady, gave us some free passes to the Aboca Museum that traces the history of herbs and medicinal plants from ancient times. She owns an Erboristoria, a small shop that sells all sorts of herbs and natural products. This is clearly her passion and her profession. She and I share the love of gardens and flowers. Like the beautiful botanical drawings she used to decorate our apartment, that we have the pleasure of seeing every day.

She told us about this museum months ago and gave us free passes. We were determined not to leave Perugia without going there. Two different days last week we had planned to go and then it either rained or we were too tired to get up early enough to make the 7:13 train! But yesterday we made up our minds that rain or shine we were going and made sure we got up at 6 to catch that train. It was around a 1-1/2 hour trip and the views alternated between unattractive-looking factories and small villages to gorgeous rolling hills and fields of green tobacco, sunflowers - their now-brown heads bent towards the ground, lush vineyards and the blue to purple layering of mountains in the distance.

We have had a lot of rain lately - we think we must be getting some of the same storms that have caused flooding in Switzerland and Austria. Almost every day this past week we have had at least a little shower. Some nights have been filled with giant rolling thunder and torrential downpours. I know I have said this before, but after all our years in the desert craving rain, we are really enjoying this. Yesterday looked iffy but we decided to chance it and, being lazy, did not bring an umbrella. Deciding there would always be somewhere to take shelter in that event, we set out, walking through the quiet streets of Perugia centro, passing the workers cleaning the streets and piazzas and the trucks making their morning deliveries. At the station we grabbed a cappuccino and a cornetto and boarded the train. It's very funny to us how they send a single train car to each of these destinations, and even that is not nearly full to capacity.

Sansepolcro is a very pretty little medieval town (when we asked a man for directions later in the day back to the train station, he replied that it was easy to find, after all, he said "Non e Parigi." (meaning it's a small town and not as big as Paris) It is a walled city and according to the brochures, almost unchanged since the Middle Ages. We located the museums and, since it was still too early for them to be open, I sat down to do some sketching and Bob headed off to shoot some photos. We agreed to meet in the chiesa nearby if it started to rain but it never did. In fact, the sky cleared to blue with some storm clouds dancing around, but we stayed dry. I finished up before he got back and ended up getting a bit antsy waiting for him to return. Sometimes this is a bit of a problem for us as it's hard for him to know when to come back to where I am and for me to know which direction he went! At any rate, we found each other and scurried off to the museum.

The Aboca Museum (www.abocamuseum.it) was a real treat. For starters, the walls of the staircases are lined with these wonderful botanical illustrations by Basilius Besler, a botanist and pharmacist from the 1600s, and of course I drooled over every one! Each room in the museum is a delight. One room holds a collection of mortars of every shape and size, in alabaster, bronze, wood, glass, silver, copper, iron and ivory, from at least the 15th century. They have these incredible giant books of medicinal herbs where the actual plants were pressed right into the book and secured with thin strips of labels (I LOVED these!) In the corners of every room are these giant urns with dried herbs and the entire building just smelled and felt wonderful. Aromatherapy at its finest I would say! They had cabinets with painted ceramic jars, glass bottles and containers in a whole range of shapes and sizes and tools for cultivating the plants. In one room the entire ceiling is hung with dried plants and flowers creating the most beautiful effect. They have a complete apothecary shop with all the furnaces, distillation tools etc. for the preparation of medicinal herbs.

Across the street from the museum is an herb garden where you can see medicinal plants and herbs in their natural state. There's also a statue of Piero Della Francesca, the Renaissance artist who was born in Sansepolcro and whose famous painting "The Resurrection" hangs in the Museo Civico there, among his other works.

We had a lovely lunch in a small restaurant called Il Convivo. Bob had the spinach ravioli and I tried their Pasta Primavera, both very nice.

We enjoyed just walking around the city. It's fairly small and quiet. And flat. People were riding bicycles all over, which is quite a difference from Perugia with all its steep streets! Only crazy tourists rent or ride bikes around here!

We caught the 4pm train back to Perugia just as the storm clouds were gathering and watched the rain and the lightning from our comfortable seats. It was beginning to rain when we pulled into the station and we had just enough time to run across the street to a little bar and order a coffee and a panini before the rain - and hail - came down in buckets! We had our little snack and when it seemed to slow for a bit we asked the waiter if they could spare a "busta di plastica per refuiti" (plastic bag they use for garbage) to cover our stuff, and they were glad to oblige. We made it home without getting wet and it didn't rain again until later in the night.

We can't believe that next week is September! That will be our sixth month here in Perugia. Amazing. We've enjoyed this quiet month here but we're aware that in this next week the students will be back and the locals will come home from their vacations, shops that have been closed for vacation will reopen and things in Perugia will be back to normal. We have really enjoyed watching these seasons change and look forward to seeing what it looks like in the fall. Life is good.

Ciao,
Rosemary e Robert