After that we tried to find the place I was told rented bikes, only to find that they don't. That wasted over an hour. Then we went looking for a couple of churches - San Giovenale and San Giovanni. Both are closed pending restoration work. However, we stumbled upon Sant'Agostino, which is currently a museum housing the 12 Renaissance statues of the Apostles that once graced the Duomo but were removed around 1890 to bring the church more in to line with its Gothic origins (ie bare and undecorated). This was really interesting - the 3m high statues have been in storage from 1890 to 2005. They were created between 1550 and 1720. The chap there told us that the paintings that once decorated the Duomo were on display in the Palazzo Papali - the Pope's Palace, part of the museum complex. Off to see those, which were 4-6 m tall and were painted between 1550 and 1620. Back in to the Duomo to see where everything used to be. It's very sad that all this art was removed, as the cathedral currently looks bare and unfinished, with patches, hooks and holes where the art used to be. In all of these places, taking photos was not allowed, so this will be a very bare blog post.
We had tea out tonight. We managed to find a meal that Phil would eat - sausages and chips (although the sausages were a bit too spicy for him). Caelli had ravioli and I had fettucini with mushrooms. Yum (although the serving size was huge, so it looked as though I didn't eat anything!) Back to the rooms to pack as we move on to Lucca tomorrow.
Gelato flavours: nocciola, yoghourt con fruitti del bosco (fruits of the woods), fior di latte, limone, cappuccino, capriccio (nutella).
How is Phil coping with the Italian meals ... I had forgotten he likes plain food :-)
ReplyDeleteAh I remember the Italian food and yes the portions were always too big to finish.