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| Sansepolcro |
The journey itself passes a few things worth seeing, especially an old hill town with huge surrounding walls; the kind of place you would feel drawn to dip into if driving.
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| Sansepolcro Cathedral, Sansepolcro |
Sansepolcro itself seemed pretty quiet – almost too much so – but was small enough for an easy wander, and yet large enough to see a good number of impressive buildings, including the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.
The actual building has been repeatedly renovated and rebuilt, but there has been a church here since around 1012, and it is claimed that St Francis of Assisi preached there in 1211 or 1212.
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| Statue of Adele and Ginni Marcelli, Sansepolcro |
The town is the birthplace of painter Pierro della Fransesca, whose work, in particular his portrayal of perspective, gained more fame after his death, as he mostly worked just here and in Arezzo, rather than in the bright lights of Florence.
It is also the home of a type of bobbin lace. A statue in the town commemorates Adele and Ginni Marcelli, who invented the new method, and in 1900, set up a school for around one hundred women, giving them a new skill and ability to earn money.
And it lays claim to having the first pasta factory in Italy, established in 1827, by Giulia Boninsegni and Gio Batta Buitoni. Buitoni is one of the brands that you might still recognise from your supermarket shelves, although it is now owned by Nestle
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| Sansepolcro |
Talking of food, Nic and his mum stopped for lunch in Osteria Il Giardino di Piero, which was great food, wine and service. In season, they do a lot of dishes with courgette flowers, which sounded very interesting even if not available then.
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| Sansepolcro |
After lunch, they went into the nearby Aboca Museum, which is all about medicinal plants. It sounds like it would be intended just for enthusiasts, but is done very well as they are dedicated to passing on knowledge - so the collection is good and is supplemented by an informative booklet.
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| Sansepolcro |
Aside from old workshops and a locked poison room, which is guarded by a ironwork snake, the contents included a large number of mortars of different types, some of them very big and impressively decorated. So this was an interesting hour or so.
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| Sansepolcro |
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| Sansepolcro |
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| Sansepolcro |
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| Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Poison room (left), Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Poison Room, Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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| Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro |
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