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Gualdo Tagino

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18 March 2018

We recently drove to Gualdo Tagino via the Parco Regionale – partly because we had not visited the park as yet and wanted to get an indication of what it was like and partly to avoid driving up and down the E45 more times than is absolutely necessary. Nothing against the road but it does seem to be an ever daily occurrence when we are out here

 The drive via the park (taking the Gubbio turn off the E45) is about an hour and a quarter but an easy drive – not massively scenic it has to be said.

We parked in a small car park in the out town and walked about 10 minutes to the central square (Piazza Grande).  It reminded me a lot of a town we visited last year – but I cannot now remember which one – which is not a lot of use I appreciate. 

Very quiet in GT at this time of the season,  although it was a Saturday.  We arrived about 11.30 and had coffee just off the main square.  Slightly down the hill on the right-hand side.  Six Italian cyclists (still wearing their helmets and glasses) stopped for a coffee – no sign of their bikes anywhere so they must have a locked garden area?  Good coffee and the waitress was kind enough to speak in Italian to me.

The churches were all shut up by now so we walked up the hill (five minutes) to the Rocca Flea – the €6 ticket would have got us admission to all the museums in the town but since it was 12.30 and everything else was shut we just had the Rocca to explore.

It is a slightly odd set up inside.  There is some interesting archaeological stuff, some damaged frescos and a beautiful alter piece but then padded out with modern ceramic objects/sculptures.  I challenge you to play “guess the title” on these modern objects because you would simply never ever get them right. 

It takes about 30 minutes to go round the Rocca Museum. 

We tried to find somewhere to have lunch but there was nowhere that took our fancy. 

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Spello

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31 August 2017
I went to Spello, having dropped one of our guests at Perugia airport, to go and explore this on my own. It took about 20 minutes from the airport to Spello. Word of advice. do not take the Spello Nord town exit but keep going to the next exit. It then takes you into the part of the town where you need to park.
Note that the central car parks seem to require change in coins. So do not travel with notes/credit cards only. However there is a free car park about 400 yards beyond two paying car parks and that works just fine.
Spello is a lovely old town. It is what Pienza is not – bit rough and ready, higgledy piggledy but with plenty of character but also sadly some earthquake damage from 2016. This is the first time I had seen any evidence of that disaster in the region. The main square itself half way up the main road is still being worked on – partly upgrade and partly repair works (I think). It is quite steep in places – think Cortona.
The roads are rarely straight very bendy and narrow in places – very picturesque. They have a flower festival here in May/June which I imagine would be fantastic.
I found the Chiesa Santa Maria Maggiore, which is a lovely little church. Quite a stunning chapel on the left with frescos by Pinturrichio – beautiful stuff and in good condition. The chapel in which the frescos are located is the size of a small room but the walls are totally covered with frescos. There are majolica tiles on the floor (which in turn are covered with a glass floor, so that you are walking over the majolica tiles which is a bit disorientating at first).
The ceiling has four sibyls painted. Each of their heads pointed to the centre of the roof. There are many other figures shown and my favourite detail was that one of the shepherds is missing a front tooth (if you look closely). Well worth the requested donation of €2. It is a pity that no photos are permitted here. Worse still, the remaining frescos in the church were still shut off because of the earthquake damage. Nothing to be done about that and given that I had been overwhelmed by the chapel which frankly would have been more than enough by itself, I just made a resolution to come back another time.
I then walked up a further way past the central square (tiny and all dug up) and passed the church which was described as “an architectural hodgepodge” in my guidebook (yup not a lot to see here). I like the carved wooden gallery at the back of the church on the right-hand side as you enter.
The church of St Andrea and the museum were both closed on Monday.
I then kept going up the hill until I got to a little church (which is next to the Capucchin Friars House) and which is totally missing from the guidebook. It was a lovely little church and it seems to be open for tourists. Very simple frescos on the ceiling and the windows had yellow glass in so there was diffused light throughout the church. Beautiful and peaceful. If you are looking for it, it is next to the Porta dell’arce – which is in the guidebook.
Lovely views from the front of this church down over the valley. Had a coffee in the coffee shop on the right-hand side coming back down towards the town square.
Note there is a walking tour guidebook for Spello. Good exercise – definitely worth a visit I think .

Spello – 1 September 2017

When back to Spello today because I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it with my wife.  Got to see the Pinacotecca – definitely worth a visit. As the only person there – the woman behind the counter who sold me a ticket had left her handbag on the other side of the room so she was clearly not worried about a flood of visitors coming in and someone making off with it.
The early paintings in there are better than the later ones – as is usually the case I find. But plenty to enjoy and a pleasure to wander round without being bothered by anyone else
I found a new car park at the bottom of the city walls. Although you can pay for as long as you want, you are only supposed to stay for one hour. I am not sure whether they check or not?
We also found the Enotecca Properzio which is a wine bar, cellar, restaurant combined with very persuasive sales staff. Just before the cathedral on the right hand side – One enters with caution. One leaves slightly poorer. One retreats to Valliano to enjoy…

Pienza

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27 August 2017
This takes about an hour and 40 minutes to get to and it goes very near Cortona and pretty close to Chiusi and Montefalco. If you come back via Chiusi then you end up driving along the south of Lake Trasimeno. Although I was keen to do this visit I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed with Pienza. It was built in a short period of time in the fifteenth century and it feels like it. All quite planned. Not quite a new town feel but it is very ordered, a bit too pretty, too twee for my liking with none of the organic growth that comes where somewhere grows up over a period of time, and is created by the people who live there and how they use the town. The old town itself is tiny and has no real depth to it. The best way of describing it is to say it feels a bit like a film set for tourists. It takes about 15 minutes to walk around the City walls, for example.
The cathedral in the main square is fine. Some nice gothic gold paintings hanging inside. It is quite small for a cathedral. The most disturbing bit is the rather worrying slope downwards from the main door towards the alter which is disconcerting especially if you look at the cracks along the floor you can see the church is under pressure and is probably sliding slowly down the hill.
I then went to look at the diocesan museum which is supposed to have some good paintings but it was shut – on Tuesdays – a point to note.
The church of San Francesco is down the road. Nothing to report on this at all. Frescos were very damaged. One of them is quite striking – Luca Signorelli but there is not a lot to see. I could have gone around the Ducal Palace as well but decided on this occasion that having a coffee and reading the paper would win out.
It is about 45 minutes’ drive to Chiusi from here – and on the occasion we drove it, we did it with Italian drivers who either drove 20% under the speed limit or disregarded it altogether and tailgated with gay abandon until I pulled over to let them past.

Montefalco

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August 2017

This is an Italian hilltop town about an hour and a quarter’s drive away. You go down the E45 and it is signed off the E45 past the airport turn off. It is really easy to find. Parking at the height of August was very easy. We turned left around the City walls and there was a free car park on the left one level down the hillside. The walk to the centre of town is about seven minutes going past the Complesso Museale San Francesco. Don’t be fooled by the entrance appearing to be shut. The actual entrance is slightly further up on the left-hand side of the road.
I went around the museum and the cathedral on my own (obviously). Equally obviously my wife was engaged in propping up the local economy.
The museum, really an art gallery, was very good. It was almost totally deserted. Lots of 14th to 17th century paintings/frescos. No protected glass or covering in any way so lots of opportunities for close up photos. Look out for two pictures of the Madonna as you are going round the gallery which showed La Madonna getting ready to hit a nearby devil. Very odd to see her as an action figure.
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The cathedral (deconsecrated I think?) is lovely. It is a bit damaged and must have been a quite gorgeous sight before wear and tear took its toll. Really interesting sets of frescos over the alter which are in such good nick I thought they were modern repairs but apparently they are not – they are by Bernardo Gozzolo. In front it of there is a sort of processional arch – very odd but very striking. They also have something in the cathedral that I have never seen before, a selfie zone in an internal wall of the cathedral (with various frescos etc on the side of the wall behind where you stand so people could take selfies in front of he (reproductions of the) fresoes without stopping those who wanted to enjoy the church – very canny
I see from the Rough Guide book there are a number of other places to visit in Montefalco but this was as far as we got. Bought a coffee at a small restaurant to the right-hand side of the road of the central square (which is more of a circle).
We then had lunch at the restaurant Olevm in Corso Mameli. This street has got a row of shops plus a series of pink bicycles outside each of the shops – not sure if we ever figured out what the bicycles were signifying. I did manage to get double Italian “I spy” points for seeing a nun eating ice cream a she walked past while we were lunching.
Afterwards we visited Eat Montefalco. It was a bit further down on the right and bought some wine, olive oils etc. The woman selling us the wine assured us that since the wine was organic, once opened you had to finish it. It would simply not keep otherwise. It sounds like a great excuse to me.

Citta delle Pieve

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Citta Delle Pieve – 29 June 2017
This is about an hour and 20 minute drive via Perugia. You end up quite close to Chiusi (see elsewhere in this blog) so if you want to combine the trip to Citta Delle Pieve with another destination that is a good plan.
Parking is pretty easy. I found a free car park outside the city walls and it was only a 10 minute walk into the heart of the old town. I passed Oratorio Santa Maria Dei Bianchi on the way into town from where I had parked the car. It cost of all of €2 to go in. I had a lovely chat with the elderly Italian guy who was looking after the picture. The Perugino Fresco is definitely worth all of €2 and I had a free conversation in Italian thrown in for good measure. I do not know if there is a separate church connected or this is a single room with the Perugino Fresco on its own. I am also not entirely sure how it survived being taken away by Napoleon when he looted the rest of Perugino Frescos? Maybe someone forgot to mention to him that it was here?
Anyway this fresco is in a lovely condition (but has apparently been restored twice). It takes up the full side of one wall facing you as you go in. Although the notices said that you could not take photos the man selling tickest was quite happy for me to take photographs, provided I did not use flash. Maybe that was my reward for speaking Italian. The Fresco itself has a multitude of figures in it plus the landscape of Lake Trasemino, as it was at the time it was painted, in the background. Lovely colours.
There are also two handwritten letters where the artist and church were arguing about how much he should be paid. I think he may have been paid a mule for part of the payment (not sure about my Italian here! I may have misunderstood that somewhere down the line).
On either side of the door there are two large crosses which used to be used for possessions through the town. I commented to the old man that they looked heavy. He told me they were not and that in his day he had been the carrier for one of the crosses in the procession
I then walked up to the central crossing (it is not really a square). On it is the Palazzo Della Corgna which seemed to be shut and a street market almost all of its goods for sale being cheap clothing but some food at the far end of the market which stretched from the Duomo to the El Rocca (which was again shut today).
I then sat in an excellent coffee shop and listened to the British Lions fluking a win against the All Blacks – so all was well at that point.
The main cathedral is a study in mottled brown marble and a plain white ceiling. There are only two short sets of pews with a wide space between them. The two Peruginos are in the first chapel on the left and then in the main window over the alter. The first is immediately obvious. The second is not labelled (well not by the labels/notices nearby). So it took a bit more figuring out. There is no way to avoid comparing the first Perugino picture with its unnaturally tall figures, to the figure of the knight in the next door chapel whose legs are unnaturally short. On the other hand the painting over the organ facing the main window is bizarrely new and jarring – definitely out of keeping with the rest of the church.
Later, on my way back to the car, I passed the church again and saw that there was a wedding taking place in the cathedral. Very formal, very Italian. Bride wore a lovely red dress, two bridesmaids in white and they were all practicing tossing the bouquet to each other. I wonder if they have the same custom in Italy or whether it means something else?
I then visited Chiesa De Gesu which has a lovely Pomarancino picture on the right-hand wall of St John and Salome – with the sword about to descend on his head/neck. The two figures are both picked out by the light/contrast in colours. His skin is covered in fur – hers in colours and she is holding the plate which is about to serve us his head but holding it as far away from her to avoid getting any blood. Partly averting eyes but partly still watching.
Then I went down to Santa Maria Dai Servi – which meant turn left off the central spine (on our way back to the car) and then walking down about five minutes to the church just outside the City walls. It is now a museum with a very damaged Perugino Fresco inside, but you can go right up to it and look at it quite closely. I read somewhere that the plaster was put on for each section at the beginning of the day and then the painter would need to cover it before the end of the day. I wanted to see if I could see the panel works on the fresco. Not sure…
The rest of the art was mediocre apart from one incredibly striking (I assume fiberglass) sculpture by Wolfgang Alexander Kossuth of Maria Maddalena at the foot of the cross with her crouched contorted figure around the base of the cross from which Christ hangs. Her stretched out arms supports the Christ figure on the cross. Somewhat inappropriately, It looked to me like he was a bat about to swoop down on her. He had very short tuffs of hair which made him almost like an aggressive figure leaning over her. Quite extraordinary.

Deruta

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2 July 2018

We drove to Deruta after dropping our house guest off at the airport. It seemed sensible to make something of the trip down here. Deruta is about 40 minutes’ drive from the airport and because we did not come back straight from Deruta either I have no idea how long it would take to drive straight there from Valliano.
Anyway do not believe the guidebook if they tell you that the ceramics museum is open on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is not, so I accept we probably did not see Deruta at its best.
You park outside the city walls of the old town, having followed signs to Centro and then Centro Storico. The Centro Storico is pretty small and (with the exception of one church which was open) Deruta is all about majolica. I was not that keen on the stuff but having visited Deruta I think I would probably revise that opinion, because there are some beautiful objects.
So far as I can tell the old town stretches for a few blocks and most are majolica stores. We followed a man in a red shirt who had been part of the ceremonial precession we saw (the new Italian Minister of the culture was in town apparently). It turned out he owned the kiln museum and majolica shop. It was a lovely shop. He spoken very good English. The only other living thing in the shop was a bobtailed cat (also an antique – according to the owner). We bought some glasses and marvelled at the various different types of majolica over the years because he has a collection of older artefacts many of which are very beautiful. We took a couple of photos of some byzantine style jars.
We then made our way up to main street and got pounced upon by the owner of another majolica shop – who entertainingly was not above letting us know that we had made terrible mistake buying from the kiln museum guy which did mildly irritate me. Definitely a more obvious sale process going on but eventually we did buy some dishes which took our fancy. We paid in cash (of course).
We then had an ok cup of coffee at the Café Dei Consoli which is on the left-hand side passing the tourist information place. We did not stay for lunch because we could not find anywhere open – in fairness it was a Monday.

August 2019

We went back to Deruta today remembering to avoid the Monday closing that had caused us problems last time.
The journey directly from the house to Deruta took no more than an hour. Slightly dodgy bit going round Perugia trying to find the right road but basically it helps to realise that it is the E45 all the way down to Deruta. But rather quicker than I guessed from last time.
We parked at the same place outside the City Walls and there were still spaces at 1045 on an August mid week.
Went to the Ceramics museum, which was good but not brilliant. Some real testaments to bad taste in the products on show but some lovely items too. I thought that the best were some of the work based on images from Renaissance as they are really strikingly rendered. There is a section which has Roman and Greek vases too but sadly that was roped off,  so we could not go round it.
Visited the main church next door which definitely worth a visit. Some reasonable fresco remains on the walls, at least one of which looks pretty old to me.

We had lunch at Taverna del Gusto which is just off the main square and which provided a lovely meal sitting in the shaded passageway between the buildings adjoining the passage way. It is on the right hand side as you come into the square.  I remember the time before we had struggled to find anywhere to eat so we were pleased to find this.

I also managed to persuade the party to visit again the old furnace Antica Fornace in Via Fabbretti which is pretty well sign posted off the main square. The majolica collection is brilliant as always and various of the party found themselves buying things. Be warned it is a dangerous shop!  And sadly the cat is no more…..

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Activities near Valliano

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Cycling

I am not a cyclist so this is definitely from the perspective of someone who watches someone else cycle. But there are lots of good hill cycling around Valliano. My wife has found that a road bike is not brilliant as some of the roads are quite rough or not brilliant maintained. She uses a hybrid bike.

The paths that run up from the house into the hills would probably make good cycling for off road bikes and once up into the hills the white roads are perfectly suited to cycling.

We have found a cycle path along the Tiber river which is accessible from the road. If you go down to Promano but turn right (towards Citta – without going on to E45, you come to Cinquemiglia roundabout (just after the other Co op we sometimes use) Turn left at the roundabout and keep heading straight ahead (past Cornetto). When you come to the river bridge there is a track on the right that takes you down to a car park and miles of bike tracks.

You can hire bikes locally and/or get a bike repaired We use Bikeland snc – Via Morandi 16, 06012 Città di Castello Very helpful and speak enough English Other options are available….

Walking

Remember to take water!

Be careful about working up in the hills on Sunday mornings.  Frequently the hunters will be out (they often go out the night before and sit up in the hides you will see in the hills behind us) and you could end up blundering through hides etc (like I did once).

There are miles and miles of walks from the house and we have not begun to try any other walks from other locations. Top tip Get the Viewranger App for your phone. Really useful showing maps of the area, paths etc. I tried to do it by sense of direction only which can result in some quite lengthy detours. And you can record your routes if you want.

If you go past the little pond near our garden gate (just beyond our house main gate, on the right hand side) that will take you down into the valley. You can walk along the valley and come back out onto the road which will bring you back to Valliano. It is about a two and a half hour walk. It is a bit of a scramble on the way down to the valley but once you are there it is lovely

We did a walk from Migiamo up Monte Tezio.  Fantastic views from the top.  It took about 90 minutes from where we parked but I do not think we went the most direct way.  It is quite steep in places so it is definitely a good walk.  It was very hot on the day we went up the hill but the views are definitely worth it.  My best advice is to ignore the private road signs once you start walking.  There is not a lot of parking space in the village however so you may need to choose your moment.  There are undoubtedly other ways up Monte Tezio because I did the walk a few years back with someone else by a different walk, but if you are looking for an energetic walk this is a good one.  

For those who want to walk on the level, there is a long walk which goes from at least Citta di castello to Umbertide alongside the Tevere/tiber. It is marked as Itinerario ciclabile (brown signs) and the easiest place to join it is by driving through Cornetto, (i.e turning of the Promano Citta di Castello back route) and about two minutes beyond Cornetto there is a bridge over the river. Before you get to it, there a car park on the left of the bridge, with 12k walks in both directions. It is very pleasant and partly shaded which can be a relief in the heat of the summer. We did a stretch of the walk from Umbertide away from Citta so it clearly goes some way further than Citta di Castello, though a portion of it was on road, diverging from the river. Mind you, I did see my first kingfisher, and there were herons, so plenty to see.

Magione (but really the Lake Trasimeno music festival)

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Magione

29 June 2017

We visited Magione twice today. Once on the way to Chiusi for lunch and once for the Lake Trasimeno music festival to see Angela Hewitt play Bach pieces. Although we did spent relatively little time on either occasions in Magione, the concert was at the castle of the Knights of Malta. It was outdoors in the courtyard area of the castle. We were sitting right at the back but to the right of the piano so we could see her play. I think the enjoyment of a piano concert depends on seeing what the pianist is doing as much as listening. Watching her play she had her wrists raised very high or completely flat but never dropped below completely flat and she had wonderful supple movements whilst playing. Not above a bit of am-dram holding a pose at the start.

We found the concert by accident because we saw a single advert at the airport, and I followed up on it, to get the very last four tickets for the concert that evening.

The weather forecast had been terrible and we were told it was likely to rain so she indicated at the very beginning that she was going to go straight through and any would be shortened because if it rained that would be an end to the concert. We had no way of covering the piano so it would be off and so would she…

In the end all was well and there was no rain and the wind that had caused problems held off.

There were about 200 people in the concert space and the audience was completely hooked on her playing throughout. No talking, photographs, sweetie papers rustling etc. amazing audience, in an amazing location

She was playing a Fazzioli piano (first I have seen) and the music score was on an ipad. Again, another first.

The courtyard space was fully enclosed (but no roof) by the walls with two story buildings around the side. The main wall behind her had a buttress from which hung the Trasimeno festival poster) but unfortunately they had hung it squint to the annoyance of one of our number.

We were told no photos etc and I remember a member of the audience telling a stranger sitting next to him to stop filming covertly because it was disrespectful.

The only audience reaction came at the announcement of an encore. As a reward for our patience and because she had been playing unfamiliar Bach pieces, she said that we had earned the Goldberg Aria. The audience’s reaction which was a sigh of pleasure just as if we had collectively all stepped into a warm bath together. The only time I have heard anything like that was when I saw my friend Donald and his band playing on his 50th birthday and they did an unexpected cover of “I want to know what love is” . Same reaction, to a song which everyone in the audience decided they really liked on the spot and were pleased to be allowed to hear it. It was of course magnificent.

Found a new favourite though which was Andante movement of Sonata in D minor No 964. Really beautiful stuff. Went on line that evening, printed off a copy and was trying to master it that evening. Only printed score I could find was from a Polish second hand book store. Thank god music is international and that we have the internet.

Keep a look out for the Trasimeno music festival if you are in the area. It is well worth a chance to get some tickets. The dress code is smart casual at most and you are not paying a fortune to see her in far worse conditions in concert halls in the UK.

Home

We subsequently found a good restaurant to eat at before the festival, if it is happening in Magione.   Al Sottobosco ristorante  Via Del Quadrifoglio Magione.  We parked just outside, had a lovely meal and had plenty of time before heading up the hill to find the concert venue.  Which basically is up the hill and head right.  Not left.  Like we did…….

Bettona

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25 June 2017

It is about a 15 minute drive to get here.  You go down towards Perugia and then take the Chiusi road  before heading off to the left.  It is very close to Torregiano.  We saw signs to the wine museum at Torregiano when we were about five minutes from reaching Bettona. 

We happened to visit Bettona one Sunday lunchtime/early afternoon.  The place was deserted.  We parked up against the city walls and had about five minutes walk to the Piazza Cavour.  Very little was open.  It felt indeed more like a film set than a town.  It looked as if the remnants of a food festival with placards around advertising each of the restaurants and their particular dishes.  We lucked into the Straccaganasse which was on Corso Marconi.  Lovely welcome from the owner and his wife and we had a fantastic starter of ham and figs.  Then I had some wonderful chicken, rocket/tomato combo.  Coffees. To follow 

There were a couple of  exhibits which were open, where they have glass fronts across the opening to the church but you cannot actually get in.  There were some lovely looking  frescos.  The main church is very white with a few interesting paintings but my lack of glasses and my wife waiting (not so patiently) outside meant I did not linger.  The most impressive bit of the building was the almost complete silence.  There was a real sense that the building was almost murmuring to itself just out of hearing. 

The museum Bettona on the left just after our restaurant had the great merit of being open but there was relatively little to see unfortunately.  Some very odd shaped headstones.  Definitely during the midst of life we are in death etc.  You will see what I mean if you visit the museum. 

The gallery upstairs was, to put it bluntly, awful.  Uninspired and insipid,  and let us not forget that I would kill for a fraction of the artistic talent that was on display there.  One semi-decent Dona Doni.  Maybe this would be a place to visit on market day? 

Chiusi

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15 April 2017

We have visited Chiusi four times now but only ever to eat at the completely and utterly wonderful La Solita Zuppa.  For some reason we have never looked around Chiusi itself until now.  I do not think you need any other reason to visit Chiusi other than to eat at the restaurant which, without a word of a lie, is probably my favourite restaurant in the world. I know that I am probably overselling it a little but we have been coming here for something like 10 years now and whenever we have been in the area  whenever we can we come here and it has never disappointed us.

The sat nav took across country from Umbertide via Antignolla and then past Panicale.  The drive took about 90 minutes.  It is pretty bumpy and the roads were not great it has to be said.  I strongly suspect there is a better and smoother route.  If you are using a sat nav to find Chiusi it is listed on our sat nav as Chiusi SI (Sienna).  I think there is more than one Chiusi in Italy,  so be warned.  It is not that near to Sienna so assume it is simply in the province of Sienna.

The meal we had at the restaurant was as fantastic as ever.  Although we made the mistake of having cheese before the dessert course so when they served a cheese selection with honey we were left regretting the remaining wine that we had which really did not go.  The cheese selection was described as a “composition” by the owner to his wife and it certainly was.  Isn’t Italian a wonderful evocative language?  Seven different cheeses and three dips (all with an ounce of honey).

Before lunch we had walked down the Vie Porzenna which has the restaurant at one end and then goes down to the archaeological museum at the other end (San [●]).

The church (San Secondiano) is spectacular inside but sadly it is all fake.  The mosaics are dated from 1915 but they certainly do look the part.  The church itself is fine.  All roman arches and a bit gloomy.  You have to go down several steps as you enter the church.  Presumably proof that the ground has risen in the 1500 or so years since it was built?  The cathedral musuem was closed by the time we had finished so we have never been around it.

 The Museo Nazionale Etruscan di Chiusi is a small collection.  The ground floor is Etruscan and then one floor down is really life in roman times.  The guide book mentioned that some of the best bits were taken by other museums,  which the museum itself pointed out – quite endearingly.  The best bit is actually here – with the red/black figure vases.  Mind you the tourist shop on the corner of the same road was selling tacky Etruscan copies,  including one of a very graphic threesome – I am not sure entirely sure what my mother thought of the tacky Etruscan items when she enquired if we really needed to go around the museum having been able to see the tourist shop.  The museum is probably worth half an hour’s visit but there are better museums around. 

I also visit Chiusi San Francesco as it was mentioned on TripAdvisor.  It is a bit nondescript but interesting spiral pillars on the outside of the main door and a bizarre design habit of building pillars for the side aisles which then obscure the murals some of  which had some nice touches but the others looked very basic.

I see from checking it out afterwards that San Secondiano  was a martyr between 250 and 258AD.  This seems to be based on a long list of his actions drawn up 200 years later but given he is a local Tuscan martyr I suspect he was/is a big thing?

The address for La Solita Zuppa is Via Porsenna 21.   https://lasolitazuppa.it