Happy Summer Solstice!

Today we explored Castiglione del Lago our home for a few days.

The square with the non-working fountain, from the small balcony of our Airbnb.

After breakfast we went out to explore the small village within the medieval walls. The lane between the buildings at the top of the picture above leads to the north of the 3 gates, Porta Fiorentina. Turning left rather than going down to the gate took us two buildings over to the main Church of Santa Maria Maddalena, built in 1836 after the older and smaller medieval church was demolished.

The inside is richly decorated with geometric frescoes giving 3D impressions.

We went through another gate, Porta Senese, at the west point of the elongated oval wall circling the old village.

The gate opens onto a terrace overlooking the fountain and a stairway going down to the straight “Road to Montepulciano”.

We turned back into the village and walked to the other end (east) of the walled town.

Another smaller church is decorated with gilded frescoes.

At the east end of the wall is the fortress or Rocca del Leone, built in the 13th century on a pentagon plan resembling the constellation of Leo. It is possible to go up on the guard walkway, towers and keep for great views but we couldn’t find the route!

Inside the fortress is a theater where kids were rehearsing a play, in the muggy heat! There was also a small snack bar for a cold beer!

Also the ruins of an ancient church, where Robert was introduced to ‘Art’!

We went back to our air conditioned apartment, cleaned up and had lunch. Later, after dinner and as it cooled down after sunset, we went for a stroll around the outside of the walls.

Looking up at the west gate, Porta Senese, lit up for the night.

As we walked around we passed lots of cars parked in the parking slots along the wall. We peeked into a gated entrance into the center of the fortress at the east end and saw that the kids were presenting their play they had been practicing for this morning! The seats were filled with their family and friends!

The square under our balcony was quieting down after the football game on the TV at the bar below us!

Yesterday after our visit to the cemetery we did some grocery shopping on the way back to the hotel, then napped and cleaned up to go out for the evening.

The room is on the 2nd floor, there is an elevator, but it’s slower and less fun than using the spiral staircase!

We went down to the huge marina. This must be a pleasure sailing craft mecca!

‘Modern’ buildings are built right up to the medieval ramparts of the old city wall!

We found a little bar serving chicken wings and giant tater tots in the “Borgo Medioevale” or Medieval Village.

We got up this morning and packed for our 11am train ride to Castiglione del Lago, almost smack in the middle of Italy, a 4 hour trip.

Our travelin’ clothes.

We made it to our destination and our host picked us up at the train station which we were very grateful for! Castiglione del Lago is on a hill and it was 95 degrees out and humid!

Another walled medieval city, this one on a hill overlooking a lake. This is one of the 3 gates into the village center.

Lake Trasimeno is the 4th largest lake in Italy (after the more famous Garda, Maggiore and Como). It is also the shallowest, at only 4-6 meters deep. It has no natural outlet and is fed by rainfall only. It becomes swampy in times of drought and was prone to malaria outbreaks in the distant past!

A montage of our Airbnb, a remodeled ancient apartment right on the main town square!

Our reason for coming to Nettuno, Italy was to visit the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial and find the headstone of a particular soldier. Lieutenant James A. Calhoun, a Tuskegee Airman, was buried here in 1944 after being shot down and killed over Yugoslavia on a mission flying out of the liberated airfields of Italy. He and his family were highlighted in a CBS Sunday Morning episode “Honoring America’s war dead far from home“, back on November 12, 2023. It was a moving episode and we wanted to come and pay our respects at his gravesite.

We arrived after a 15 minute walk under an overcast and muggy sky. The feeling was somber when we entered, matching the weather.

We went into the visitors center where we learned about the many overseas cemeteries filled with American war dead from WW1 and WW2, and this cemetery in particular, from the battles in Sicily to Rome. The towns of Nettuno and nearby Anzio were battlefields where Allied forces landed behind the German lines to assist other Allied armies fighting up the center of Italy and stalled at the German line.

Some of the history.

And some of the background. Fascism is rearing it’s ugly head again, and right in our midst.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”; attributed to writer and philosopher George Santayana.

An official at the visitors center conversed with us and was able to locate the grave we were looking for so we headed out to find it.

There are over 7,800 graves and over 3,000 names of the missing engraved on the walls of the memorial.

He gave his life for our freedom in the USA, his country, where he was severely discriminated against during the Jim Crow era. Again, that is rearing it’s ugly head too.

A contemplative garden. What a juxtaposition to the graves of those who died in such gory, bloody, violent war.

Today is a travel day, and we arranged to take the rental car back to the agency this morning and have them transport us and our packs to the train station so we didn’t have to carry the packs on our backs the one mile from the hotel to the station! We had over 4 hours on the train ahead of us, with less than a 45 minute layover in Rome before boarding another train. We rode along the coast and then through Naples, heading into the countryside on the way to Rome. Brief glimpses of stone aqueducts and ancient ruins alerted us we were near Rome! The station was hot and we were lucky that our train was waiting at the station so we were able to board and relax in air conditioning during our layover! A little over an hour later we disembarked in Netunno, a ‘suburb’ over 60 km from Rome on the Mediterranean coast. We had a short 5 minute walk to our hotel where we were able to get in fairly quickly and turn on the air conditioning and relax! We waited until close to sunset to venture out and find dinner!

Yum, Pizza!

A short walk took us to the beach, or the road above the beach along the ancient city wall.

The Sea is calm and hazy with the heat wave settled over the whole area!

We rented a car today with the help of the hotel concierge who called the car rental agent who she knows and got us a better deal than we could find online! We were picked up and driven to the rental place where we filled out the paperwork then drove back to the hotel to pick up our daypacks, water, snack food & sunscreen! Off we went up into the hills behind Sapri to find the waterfalls we have read about. Our first stop was in the town of Vibonati at a roadside monument to a priest.

I never found out who the priest was or what his accomplishments were to warrant a statue!

It is a great spot to get a view back down to the Mediterranean!

Continuing up into the hills we found this spot, a medieval bridge over a creek, visible from a newer larger bridge!

There are trails leading around to the many medieval villages in the hills, the “Farneto Path” which is “Enhancement of the Bussento River and its tributaries through the recovery of a network of paths, incentive for tourist activities”. (Translated from a sign on the path!)

The views as we rose higher into the hills are fantastic!

We finally reached our destination the Oasi WWF Grotte del Bussento, or the Oasis of the Cave of the Bussento (river), within the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park. The Bussento River disappears underground somewhere and emerges, icy cold and crystal clear, from the cave we hiked down to. It was hot and humid out and we had a half mile of zigzagging down the hillsides on stone paths and stairs worn smooth by centuries of people and donkeys traveling down the same route! At least we had some shade as we entered forest!

We could feel the cool air and hear the rush of water as we approached the cave entrance. We entered and went down more stairs to see the water so clear that our pictures do not distinguish where the water level is! The cool air rushing out was fantastic natural air conditioning!

Short pathways following the river lead to a grotto of lichen and moss along rushing water flowing over rocks smoothed by eons of erosion! The main path continued towards a medieval era mill that was in use into 1960!

The rustic bridges and rock paths really put you in a medieval setting!

We reached the mill to see water jetting out of the side of the building! We couldn’t go inside to see the mill workings, if they still exist, but we followed the path above the building to see the source of the water, a spring that is channeled down into the building along a stone lined canal.

We were reluctant to leave the oasis of cool water and shady forest but we had to hike back up the donkey path to the car. We continued on our way to the town of Casaletto Spartano where we found a small restaurant and shared a salad and pasta of the day plate!

The town is surrounded by mountains!

As we left town we stopped at the natural spring the town is famous for, the ‘Capelli di Venere’, the Hair of Venus Waterfall.

It is a true fairy tale site! It was so bright and sunny out the picture does not do it justice!

The tiny drops of water sparkle in the sunlight like beads of diamonds.

As we turned down the mountain to make a loop back to Sapri we caught a glimpse of Casaletto Spartano across the valley.

The town looks tiny nestled in the mountains.

As does Sapri along a tiny inlet of the Gulf of Policastro.