The field trip of the day was Assisi, but the route allowed three other stops. The first was to visit a church that houses within it as a shrine the tiny church that St Francis was given. This was also a needed rest stop before going up to the walled city, but Ken wanted us to see Santa Maria degli Angeli—this precursor to the saint's success—before visiting his eternal palace on the hill in Assisi.
It turned out to be market day just across from the church. Tough choice, but the church won. I tried on the rush back to the bus to buy a spicey looking salami, but I had to give up waiting as the vendor waited on all his regular customers who showed up after I had. I know I wasn't rude. So it goes. And now that I look, I don't have many photos of Santa Maria, but I have several of market booths. Both are above.
That was on our way to Assisi. On our way home, we made a couple of stops in Deruta, which has been a ceramics center since the beginning. The town has some substantial shops, like one we visited, that produces a vast amount of glazed ware, all hand-painted to be alike. Two years ago, Linny and I saw production ceramics in Mexico that were quite similar. But in a place that's all things ceramics, there are plenty of folks doing individual work. That's where the fun begins. In this case, uptown to the old town, which is where the museums, small shops, ancient kiln, and hill town sensibilities are at home. In a touristy sort of way, but acceptable. After all, I'm a tourist.
There's a wonderful gate we walked through after the bus dropped us off. Then a tiny street veers to the left and the main street sweeps to the right and up into a huge square/piazza. A fountain was there but wasn't founting. A church rises at the far end of the square on the right. An ancient roofline rambles behind it and disappears down a cliff. Small pottery and art stores are open, although we're the only ones around. It's almost eerie. Linny didn't get that far; she stopped just inside the city gate and stayed there sketching the ancient choices of material and mass that have survived.
