Tuesday 11th April
Yes, today was Sarah’s Birthday. This meant a day with me waiting on my ever forgiving wife, hand and foot. This started with walking Skye, making tea, delivering presents…….err…..that’s about it!
Sarah had calls with our two sons, her Uncle and Aunt and received Birthday Wishes from friends and relatives. I planned the next few days, caught up with the blog and we generally relaxed.
In the evening we went out for a slap up meal in the very good campsite restaurant and we didn’t even have pizza!
Wednesday 12th April
Today we stirred our sluggish selves and vacated the very relaxing Camping Village Mugello Verde and set off south in mountain drizzle.
I had planned the next stop so it was an easy and straightforward location close to a motorway exit. Unfortunately I have not yet got into the routine of checking SatNav’s thoughts on the route match up with mine. While I was not paying attention SatNav directed us off the motorway and onto a series of narrow, twisty roads.
It was not long before I realised we had come off the motorway too early and we were now travelling almost parallel to the motorway, across country. SatNav said there was only 20 miles to go so we pressed on. After nearly and hour of beautiful scenery, hairpin bends, bone shaking road surfaces and constricted villages, we finally reached our destination – the village of Vitorchiano.
Italy now has a tourist department list of the country’s prettiest towns and villages and Vitorchiano is one of those. In addition it has good little motorhome aire (42.471333, 12.172404) which is €8 including electricity.
We explored the lovely village, which clings to the side of a precipitous cliff and has probably hardly changed in 500 years. Some buildings date back to the 12th Century. Every alley was a photo opportunity with pretty spring flowers already in bloom in hanging baskets and flower pots.
It was originally an Etruscan settlement, followed by the ubiquitous Romans. In medieval times control of Vitorchiano was disputed between the nearby town of Viterbo and Rome, 50 miles or so to the south. Finally in 1267 Vitorchiano submitted to Rome in exchange for impenetrable town walls and various tax concessions. The village was also granted the honour of using the symbol of the Roman wolf and allowed to inscribe SPQR on its buildings.
Next to our aire is, what looks like, an Easter Island giant head. It turns out that someone realised that the rock on which Vitorchiano is built is the same as the rock on Easter Island. For reasons which are not clear, in 1990 11 Easter Islanders carved one of their totemic heads out of the local stone and here it stands.
We would recommend a small detour to see Vitorchiano and it makes an excellent stopping point on the journey south, provided your SatNav knows his arse from his elbow!
