On Saturday we left Umbertide to visit the EXPO in Milan. They call it EXPO here but it is the same as the Worlds Fair. The theme is Feed the World, all about food. I had never been to a worlds fair before so I didn’t want to miss my chance. It opened in May and closes in October. The word at first was that it wasn’t really ready to open when it did so we waited a little.

We left Saturday and returned Monday with only one full day to see the Fair. As luck would have it, it was the hottest weather so far. In the upper 90s. It was broiling. We took the train to Florence. Then we changed to the fast and super nice, Frecciarossa, or Red Arrow. There were four classes of travel from opulent to nice. We were one up from nice.

We stayed at the Spadari al Duomo right in the Centro near the cathedral. It was a lovely four star place with great service and comfy beds. They left strawberries for us…

You could take the subway out to the EXPO from the hotel very easily. It took around 30 minutes to get there. We left about 9:30 so got there when it was opening.

There is a main thoroughfare which is very wide and covered with giant sun screens. If they hadn’t been there you couldn’t have stood the heat. The very wideness of this space gave the impression the crowds were light.

But no, if you tried to go into a pavilion the lines were long for the most part – and in the sun. They were handing out umbrellas to some suffering people. The Italian pavilion had lines 2 1/2 hours long early in the day. Many others had one hour waits. We did manage to go into the Israel pavilion, the Quatar pavilion, the Slovenian pavilion and the USA pavilion. All had presentations of their foods, or how their country was helping to feed the world, or something unique about themselves. The USA had the worlds largest vertical garden. Around the back was the Food Truck Nation. Four food trucks selling BBQ, Hamburgers, Lobster Rolls etc. Israel had a very nice multi-media presentation about how, after it became a nation in the mid twentieth century, it made lush gardens in the desert. They invented drip irrigation. They produce a tremendous amount of food in a very hostile environment.

USA pavilion vertical garden.

Outside USA pavilion

Inside Quatar pavilion.

Outside the Slovenian pavilion.

Here are some random peeks at the Fair. Vietnam pavilion.

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

Italy pavilion – inside.

On the way back home, after changing trains in Florence, our slow, hot, local train decided to break down. We sat, sweltering for 40 minutes before they finally got it going again. The joys of Trenitalia.

Finally, here is a picture of my christmas tree which is residing for the summer on the terrace. It must be happy because it is growing!

We had a lovely day trip today to Urbino. It is a World Heritage site in the Marche district just next door to Umbria on the Adriatic. It is fully walled and on the top of a formidable hill. It has a long history, of course, where it went back and forth being independent or a Papal dependency depending on when you looked. It’s most famous inhabitant was Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482. In 1626 the city again fell to the Pope. I won’t go into further history but we visited Federico’s Ducal palace while we were there.

It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there through mountainous terrain. The highway ran parallel to the old Roman road running to the sea. A pretty little river did the work of cutting an enormous gorge making a natural route.

We parked below the town and walked up. The streets were steep and small. It is a university town with a school of design as well as a school of pharmacy. There were lots and lots of kids everywhere making for a lively scene. We went into the Duomo of Urbino which was begun on the foundation of a 6th century church in 1021. It was finished in 1604. In 1789 it was destroyed by an earthquake. It was rebuilt in Neoclassical style and finished in 1801. It is beautiful, clean and modern feeling inside with a soaring dome.

We entered the Ducal Palace and toured the rooms. Beautiful paintings, stone work, and especially beautiful inlay work in wood. Following are some pictures. We were there for about 2 hours. Believe it or not the next two pictures are of the magnificent inlay work entirely of wood. The perspectives are perfect. Check out the folds in the gown. Amazing work. AND it was created in the 1400s!

This is the ceiling and walls in the same room above the inlays. All the walls are inlaid in wood. It was the Duke’s study. Very beautiful

Luther standing in one of the gigantic fireplaces.

A huge reception room where the Duke did his work.

I loved the scene of lower Urbino viewed through a very old window with wavy glass. I thought it looked like a painting.

We left the palace and wandered the main Piazza. This is the student chapel; beautiful in it’s symmetry.

Now it was time for lunch. We had several places that we had researched but none worked out. We went to a place in the Piazza San Francesco in the center of town called Il Girarrosto. They had tables outside in the leafy, inviting square. Unfortunately we had to eat inside. It turned out to be just lovely. They made dishes of the region. We split a pasta with a local cheese that was very good. Different from Umbrian cheese. Kind of reminded me of cheddar. Then I had the grilled chicken diavalo and Luther had the beef. I went back to the facilities before we left and I was amazed at the large cooking fireplace that I had to pass on the way. So now I saw where our grilled meats were prepared. Here are two pictures. The top one is the fireplace. See the glowing coals at the back? It has an electric rotisserie and grilling racks over the coals they pull from the back. Other picture was taken outside. The weather was beautiful.

We drove back via a different route. It went north of the one we’d come over on through a lovely verdant valley and up up up into the mountains via a road full of switchbacks. There was hardly any traffic. We never came up on another car.

It came out in San Guistino north of Umbertide by about 20 miles or so. I liked that route better mainly because the southerly route is the main road. It is still mostly a two lane road and full of trucks all headed for the coast. A fun outing.