Cold but pretty

Yesterday, that being Friday, was predicted to be the best weather day of the week. That's a relative distinction, of course, but sunshine was the order of the day so we had the date earmarked for a drive out to the east of Spoleto on a loop to include Norcia which is the land of truffles and sausages (and you know how the British love their sausages). So we caught probably the best of the day at lunch in Norcia (certainly nice sausages and a lovely lemon fettuccini) and then carried on to the Piano Grande.

The Piano Grande is a huge plane in a vast valley in the snow-capped, Sibillini Mountains known for its stunning displays of wildflowers. Unfortunately we were a wee bit early or what with the summer weather being a wee bit late the mountains tops were clouded by, well, clouds and only a fraction of the flowers (mostly yellow ones) were beginning to bloom. (Even the red poppies that are abundant by the roadsides down below were nowhere to be seen.) But you still can't help but be struck by the grandeur.

So far we are still only getting snippets and brief windows of typically gorgeous Italian vistas, but on the way home we did catch a very nice view of our home base of Todi (with a bit of blue sky). Now that's what I'm talkin' about!