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Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria
Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria
Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria
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Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria

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This is a guide to a two weeks trip in the center of Italy: Parma to Assisi passing through the Cinque Terre, Portovenere, Lerici, Carrara, Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia, Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Passignano sul Trasimeno, Perugia and then Assisi.

There are extensive descriptions and color photos of the attractions.

It is ideal for use on your smart phone, it contains many reviews for the best recommended restaurants that are at the location described. There are active links to the review pages, you can use them if you have an active Internet connection, but, if you don’t, you have the basic information ready: the name, address and telephone number are included in the guide together with the review.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 19, 2015
ISBN9781310849732
Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria
Author

Enrico Massetti

Enrico Massetti nació en Milán, Italia, donde vivió durante más de 30 años, visitando innumerables destinos turísticos, desde las montañas de los Alpes hasta el mar de Sicilia. Ahora vive en Washington, Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, visita regularmente su ciudad natal y disfruta recorriendo todos los lugares de su país, especialmente aquellos a los que puede llegar en transporte público. Puede contactar con Enrico en enrico@italian-visits.com.

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    Cinque Terre, Florence, Umbria - Enrico Massetti

    Cinque Terre

    Florence Umbria

    Enrico Massetti

    Cinque Terre Florence Umbria

    Enrico Massetti

    Text Copyright © Enrico Massetti 2015-2021

    Images ©, or CC Creative Commons license, as specified for each image

    Cover image © Enrico Massetti, Adobe inc.

    Published by Enrico Massetti

    All Rights Reserved

    2021 edition

    dedicated to my friends who love Umbria

    This book covers the first half of the trip

    from Parma to Assisi

    Romanesque to the Renaissance

    from Parma to Assisi

    Map Description automatically generated

    The itinerary

    This itinerary takes us to the cities of Central Italy which contributed to the development of those architectural and figurative forms from which the Renaissance was born. Although it may seem to have come about suddenly thanks to some hidden force, this movement was prepared over a period of centuries as, little by little, form was achieving a profound spiritual equilibrium and, at the same time, was being freed from the stylistic rigidity which had set in over the centuries.

    It is astonishing to note how, despite the difficult communications of those times, the ruggedness of the Apennines presented no barrier to the spreading of artistic knowledge. During our journey, we shall follow the path by which the Lombard and other Northern artists descended by way of the mountain passes of Liguria and the Garfagnana into the northernmost part of Tuscany, bearing the message of the new Romanesque art and spreading its lesson throughout the ancient land of the Etruscans.

    During the Renaissance, Tuscany was to return the gift, when its artists moved north, into Romagna and elsewhere. The thoughtful and painstaking visitor, considering the fifteen important, and the (at least) an equal number of lesser centers, cannot fail to be amazed by the extraordinary concentration of artistic life flourishing within this restricted area, on either side of the Apennines.

    The itinerary:

    Our itinerary shall start in Parma, which we will visit the first day.

    Parma.

    We shall start our visit from the square occupied by the Cathedral and the Baptistery, one of the most outstanding groups of Romanesque buildings in the country. The Baptistery, a marvelous octagonal structure (1196-1260), reveals a stylistic severity and a richness of invention that places it foremost among buildings of its kind in Italy.

    Teatro Regio

    The architecture and the sculpture are the work of one artist, the great Benedetto Antelami (1177-1233).

    The frescoes inside constitute the largest group of 13th-century painting in Northern Italy. The solemn Cathedral. with its graceful, pointed facade and three orders of loggias, and elegant Porch (1281), also contains a fine sculpture by Antelami as well as Correggio fresco masterpiece: The Assumption, painted around the Dome. Another dome frescoed by Correggio is to be seen in the neighboring church of S. Giovanni Evangelista. Going down Borgo Correggio and Via Petrarca we come to Via della Repubblica: on the corner is the church of S. Antonio Abate, designed by Bibiona (1714).

    We then take the Via della Repubblica to Piazza del Municipio; here, not far away, we can visit the Museum, which a private citizen, Prof. Lombardi, donated to the city and which contains all sorts of relics and curios of Marie Louise, Napoleon second wife.

    In the same street is the impressive 16th-century church of S. Maria della Stecama, with frescoes by Parmigianino in the vast interior, and the tombs of the Farnesi in the vaults beneath.

    Practically across the way, on the same street, is the neoclassical Regio Theatre (1829). Continuing, we come into the vast square containing, on one side, the immense Palazzo delta Pilotta (begun in 1583 as the royal palace of the Farnese, and never completed). Inside this huge building is to be found an outstanding Museum of Antiquities, the wonderful Farnese Theatre (1618) of wood, the only one of its kind, and the National Gallery, one of the most important collections of paintings in Italy with a magnificent group of works by Correggio, and paintings by Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Sebastiano dei Piombo, Parmigianino, Canaletto, Holbein, El Greco, and Van Dyck, the Palatine Library, and the Bodoniano Museum.

    Lastly, there is the famous Certosa, the Charterhouse of Parma, about 22 mi. from the city center.

    View from the Pilotta

    Where to eat in Parma.

    Restaurants in Parma:

    Pepen Borgo S. Ambrogio, 2, +39 0521 282 650. Ok, to get your panino you must wait quite a long time standing up and almost fighting in a very chaotic line. But it's totally worth it. The ingredients are superlative, and the flavors are perfectly balanced!

    Ai due Platani Via Budellungo 104a | loc. Coloreto, +39 0521 645626 Half hidden away near Parma is this jewel of Emilia Romagna cuisine. The food uses local seasonal ingredients prepared mostly in traditional ways. The preparation is excellent, and you will find the restaurant full of Italian foodies. The service is warm and welcoming.

    Carpe Diem Via D'Azeglio 69, +39 0521 237837 Cheap, super tasty. Best kebab in town. And great owners. They send home delivery. Great food for students and young people.

    Ristorante La Forchetta Borgo San Biagio 6d, +39 0521 208812 This restaurant is a level above the rest. The staff is courteous and attentive. They have an excellent wine list at very decent prices. The food is outstanding, with an elegant and refreshing twist on traditional Italian cuisine that brings out the absolute best of exceptional food and wine of the region. The staff is attentive and 5 stars. The restaurant inside and out is charming and chic.

    Al Tramezzo Via Alberto Del Bono, 5 I, +39 0521 487906 Great food. The owner passion shows in everything. 42 months cured Parma ham? It does not get better than this. The detail of everything is fantastic. Toothbrushes in the bathroom for clients? Man, o man, this is a great place.

    La Spezia - Portovenere - Lerici

    Leaving Parma, we lake the road which crosses the Apennines to La Spezia (77 miles). Fifteen miles away, is Fornovo, with an 11th-century church of S. Maria Assunta (fine Romanesque relief). Climbing through mountain scenery to the Cisa Pass (3,415 ft.), we pass by Berceto, where there is another outstanding Romanesque church. After the pass, we descend rapidly to Pontremoli and, following the valley of the Magra, reach Aulla; from there, passing through Santo Stefano di Magra, we soon arrive in La Spezia which overlooks an enchanting bay, flanked on the side by Portovenere and by Lerici on the other.

    At La Spezia we should visit the Cathedral, with its terracotta Altarpiece (The Coronation of the Virgin) by Andrea della Robbia; and the important Luni Archaeological Museum rich in prehistoric, Etruscan and Greek-Roman material.

    Lerici

    It may seem like a legend, a fairy tale from other epochs brought to the world from the voices of travelers.

    It makes you think about the impossibility of ever finding again a place that cradled a myth so far away and singular. However, the Mediterranean Sea, the sea of our life, has become sweeter and benign so domestic and gathered as a lake is, a small coastal territory that has kept alive a secret for many centuries: it’s here that poetry has found its horizon and its home. Between the pinkish shadows of its hamlets, in the bland movement of its hills, beyond the very deep blue of its sea, this discreet land reveals with your footsteps the miraculous dream of Shelley, Petrarca and Montale, the mystery of the perfect harmony of a unison song between a man and his sea, his land.

    This is the Gulf of the Poets, the Gulf of La Spezia. A unique microcosm, so close to the usual tourist route, but so far from the common places. Whoever crosses its borders of steep cliffs and high pine groves, knows that he’s beginning a voyage of astonishment and wonder, even after so many centuries, scenery that still penetrates onegaze until it mingles with the soul of the one walking it.

    Portovenere

    Portovenere

    The first village you come to, as you travel westwards from La Spezia, is Le Grazie, which lies in an enchanting natural inlet quite close to the important archaeological site of Villa Romana del Varignano, which is open to visitors. One place you really must stop at is Portovenere, which is recognized by UNESCO as part of world cultural heritage.

    The picturesque Genoese-style village of Portovenere (twelfth century) is full of typical coastal charm. You can admire the Genoese castle and the Church of San Lorenzo (consecrated in 1130 and entirely rebuilt in 1931-35).

    Portovenere

    At the far end of the promontory of Portovenere stands the ancient Church of San Pietro, which was built in 1277 on existing sixth-century foundations. You can leave Porto Venere by boat to visit the island of Palmaria, a marine reserve lying in the center of the whale sanctuary. You can then visit Tino and the ruins of the Monastery of San Venerio.

    The festival of San Venerio, a religious hermit who lived on the island of Tino, in

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