10/26–Lugnano in Teverina

Obviously we were tired, because we slept really late today!  As in after 9:00.  We’re shocked when we see the time, not that we have anything to do on a schedule, but still, that is so not like us.  We cut our morning routine a little short (only 1 coffee for me, 2 for Ed) and finally manage to get out the door around 10:30 or so for our next day of excursions in Umbria.  Today we are heading to Lugnano in Teverina which is said to be a small town that started as a feudal village with Romanesque architecture. Sounds like a winner to us.

We follow the GPS through the countryside, over hill and dale and up to Lugnano.  I’ve scoped out a parking lot right outside of town, but the darn GPS keeps taking us around the town on the outside ring road (and I’m using the word road very loosely – more like ring “path”) before trying to make us either a) take a hard u turn that is absolutely impossible or b) turn into this little doorway (really, truly a doorway) that access some teeny cobblestone lanes inside the walls.  NOT!

Finally, we reconnoiter in a parking lot at the bottom of the walls, and manage to find our way back to this little parking area we had seen while previously circling the town.  Sheesh.  The only silver lining is that we don’t have to drive into town – oh – and the views from up here are fantastic.

Parked and ready to go, we head for what I believed to be a stairwell I thought I saw someone walking up as we passed.  Would you go into this stairwell?

Yeah, that’s what we thought, but you know us!  We are mostly intrepid, so in – and up we go.  It’s a totally bizarre little staircase, that’s relatively clean, a little dark in some places, and with bathrooms on two different landings.  Very interesting!  The stairwell lets us out onto another, much better, ring road (how would we get to that road?) and another set of walls.  There is an entrance lane, which we take, hoping we’ll be able to find our way out.  As luck would have it, this little lane ends right at the center center – the square with the city hall and church we have come to see.  Perfect!

The church, Santa Maria Assunta, dates from the 12th century has withstood much renovation to still maintain its Romanesque architecture and Roman marble.  Outside, it appears stuffed into a non-descript corner of the Pennone Piazza, but inside you can still see the grandeur of the marble carvings, columns and fantastic mosaics on the walls before the nave and the floors.

Pretty neat little stop in the countryside. Unfortunately the TI isn’t open and we don’t have much more information about the town, so we walk back to the car, navigating by a neat old clock tower and trying to figure out what the many round silk hanging decorations are around the town.

Who knows?  And there is no one to ask, as the town is pretty much empty as we make our way back to the creepy stairwell and out in the parking lot for the car.  Oh well, maybe we’ll figure the decorations out one day.  For now, we’re off to Amelia.