There were to be no excuses today. Gubbio had waited long enough. We were up with the lark. Well in reality it would have to have been a very lazy lark, who had slept in several hours past the dawn chorus. So we were up and off to Gubbio reasonably early and what a delight it turned out to be.
The historical centre of Gubbio is pretty large. It stretches one kilometre around the foot of a hill and 400 metres or so up it. The whole of this area fairly much all dates from 1200 to 1400 BC (or CE for those of you who like to modern parlance) and all of the buildings within the old town are built from the same pale pink stone. The effect from a distance is stunning and once you get inside the old walls you could spend a whole day or more exploring the streets.
Gubbio is not so much about the individual buildings, although St. Francesco church is pleasant enough and the Palazzo del Consoli is huge and hugely impressive, it is more about the beautiful architectural consistency of the whole town and, apart from the cars, you could be walking around in 15thCentury Umbria.
St. Frances spent some time in Gubbio and it is from this time that the story about him taming a wolf stems. A wolf was supposed to be terrorising the people of Gubbio and their livestock, so St. Frances went into the mountains, found the wolf and brought it back to the town where he struck a pact between the wolf and the people of Gubbio, that the wolf would stop terrorising the population providing the town fed the wolf! More of St. Frances when we are in Assisi.
Both the Rough Guide and Michelin Guide told us to look out for blocked up doorways as we wandered around the town. One explanation for these bricked up doors is that they were reserved for taking out people when they had died. Another theory is that they were the smaller doors, used in times of conflict because they were more easily defended and the main doors would likewise have been bricked up. In reality we saw blocked up doors and windows everywhere so we were a little sceptical that either explanation is the full story.
I had noticed that there was some kind of cable car from Gubbio up to the top of the mountain behind the town. The Tourist Information told us that dogs were allowed on, so towards the end of our visit we headed for the funiculari. I have not got a head for heights and when I saw that the cable “cars” were more like human bird cages barely big enough for two people I made an executive decision that we were not going up the mountain! I’m not sure how we were supposed to get dogs in. The bars were such that Melek could have just jumped out, not that he would be so stupid.
Following Gubbio we were intending to go to Assisi but I saw that the cost of using a car park overnight in Assisi is expensive. So instead we travelled to the little medieval town of Bevagna, about 15 miles from Assisi and recommended in our guide books. The aire here (42.934809, 12.605512) turns out to be free, with services and superb. It’s a bit like a free campsite, surrounded by grassy fields and everyone sitting out in their chairs.
It also appears that Sunday (tomorrow) is a bad day for visiting Assisi, for obvious reasons, so our current plan is to spend the day here exploring Bevagna, maybe patronising one of their restaurants and relaxing. We can then spend a few hours in Assisi on Monday when, with luck, the crowds will be less and St. Francesco’s Basilica will be open to non pilgrims.
