2019 SEPTEMBER 22 to 25, ITALY, Vitrochiano and more

Relaxing day in today. It rained most of the day so it was nice to have a day off sight seeing and what better day than Sunday.

Still overcast, but not raining today, so we decided to go out for a drive to the Decathlon store we passed a few days ago. As always could not resists a few purchases.

Our Airbnb

We stopped for a cafe latte.

Then on to the town of BAGNAIA. Walked around the old village.

Next place was just a random pick on the map, but SORIANO NEL CIMINO turned out to be a little gem.

Time for a gelato.

Our last full day in Italy, sun was shining so we ventured out to Bomarzo to visit the Park of Monsters, this was an interesting place.
Then on to ORTE for a walk around our last medieval town.

History: SACRO BOSCO DI BOMARZO. Bomarzo, a village in Lazio at the foot of Mount Cimino, possesses a unique work, the Villa of Marvels, also called the Sacred Wood or Park of Monsters. lt was designed by Prince Vicino Orsini and the great architect Pirro Ligorio in 1552. The park is unique, even if it belongs to the erudite architectural-naturalistic culture of the second half of the sixteenth century. Refined ltalian style gardens follow geometric and perspective rationality with embellishments such as wide terraces, fountains with water games and mannerist sculptures. On the contrary the learned Prince of Bomarzo dedicated himself to creating an eccentric "wood" having the blocks of peperino emerging from the ground sculpted into enigmatic figures of monsters, dragons, mythological subjects and exotic animals, a crooked house, a funerary temple, fountains, seats and obelisks with carved mottoes and inscriptions. The Sacred Wood is an unusual solution which does not follow sixteenth century usage; the different elements have no perspective relationship between each other and have no coherence or common proportions. Everything is invented with iconological criteria which escape even the most impassioned scholars, a labyrinth of symbols which envelopes anyone who enters. They inspired many artists at the time including Annibal Caro, Bitussi and Cardinal Madruzzo. After the death of Vicino Orsini nobody took charge of the place and it only began to be appreciated by intellectuals and artists such as Claude Lorrain, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Salvador Dali, Mario Praz and Maurizio Calvesi after centuries of neglect.

Picnic lunch.

Orte.

Time for gelato!

I drove from Vitrochiano to Fiumicino Airport this morning, no hassles.

Returned hire car, then checked in for our flight to Bangkok. We were 10kg overweight with our luggage, but the bags were sent through without a mention. Bit of drama about Indo visa but all sorted in the end. Lyn and I had a quick snack at airport before our long 11 hour flight.