Just ten miles from our home base of Soriano bel Cimino is the city of Viterbo, which is practically unknown internationally. However, this city of roughly 65,000 residents holds a place in history that is especially relevant as of this writing. A new Pope is about to be selected by the Roman Catholic Church, and the process we are all about to watch unfold before our eyes started right here.

Most think of the Vatican as strictly a Roman place, and a few are aware of the Avignon Papacy, when for a period the Popes actually resided in France. But even fewer know of The Viterbo Papacy, a period that lasted several decades in the 1200′s, during which Popes were living in Viterbo because it was just too dangerous for them to live in Rome. This is not just some short period that lives as a footnote of history, but a very significant period. It is where the tradition of the Papal Conclave began, and the story behind it is fascinating.

So as we are about to watch our televisions with images of black smoke coming out of a chimney in Rome. As we listen to the pundits talk about which Pope will be selected, and how long it will be before we see white smoke come out of that chimney, read on to see how it all started. After all, Viterbo is home to the longest papal election in history and the first ever conclave.

It all dates back to the year 1257, when Pope Alexander IV made the decision to remove the Papal Curia from Rome. At the time, violence in the city was increasingly troublesome, and there was a great deal of hostility between the church and the Roman commune. He decided to move roughly 80km away to what was once a bishop’s palace in Viterbo. The church enlarged the palace to create a new location suitable for the Popes.

When Alexander IV died, Jacques Pantaléon, the Patriarch of Jerusalem had just returned from the Crusades to seek help for oppressed Christians. While there, the Pope died, and after three months, he was made Pope, taking the name Urban IV, and marking the first non-cardinal to be elected Pope in the later middle ages. During his four year papacy, he lived partly in Viterbo, and partly in Perugia.

Once Urban IV died in 1264, Pope Clement IV was elected in Perugia. It was still far too dangerous for him to enter Rome, as the anti-papal Ghibelline party was in complete control there, and he ended up taking full-time residence in the Papal Palace of Viterbo for his three and a half year papacy. It was just after his death in 1268 when things began to get very interesting in Viterbo, and Papal history was made.

The Papal election of 1268–1271

The election has gone down in history as the longest papal election, lasting one thousand and six days! It resulted in major changes to the process that are still in use today, and it all happened in Viterbo.

In the beginning, the cardinals would meet once daily in the Viterbo Cathedral, then return to their respective residences. However, there was tremendous infighting between the cardinals at the time, who formed factions, mostly French versus Italians, that could not come to agreement. During this period, three of the twenty cardinals died, and another resigned his rights.

For roughly a year, the vote happened daily with no results. More than anyone, it appeared that the most likely choice was going to be Filippo Benizi. However, he felt unworthy, and when he realized he was the likely choice, he fled to avoid election.  It seemed it would never end.

This resulted in a complete deadlock seventeen months into the process. The people of Viterbo were getting restless, and were advised be St Bonaventura of Bagnoregio to take action. The people decided to finally lock the Cardinals in the Papal Palace. Still with no agreement, they began to ration the cardinals to bread and water. Finally, out of utter desperation, they tore the roof off of the cathedral to allow better access for the holy spirit to get to the Cardinals and inspire them!

Finally, under growing outside pressure, the cardinals agreed to elect a committee of six in September of 1271. Within two days, a new Pope was finally elected.

The new Pope was Teobaldo Visconti, a nobleman from Piacenza. He was the second non-cardinal to be elected Pope in the later middle ages, but to take it a step further, he wasn’t even a priest! He was crowned Pope March 27, 1272, and took the name of Gregory X.

The Papal Conclave

Pope Gregory X was determined to make sure another prolonged election would not happen. During the celebration of the Second Council of Lyon, he established the Conclave in the Ubi periculum constitution, heavily based on the measures the people of Viterbo took to stop the stalemate that resulted in his own election.

When a pope died, the cardinals with him were to wait ten days for other cardinals to arrive. Then, each with only one servant, they were to meet in the palace where the previous pope died. They would all be locked in “cum clave” (By Key) a common room with no partitions. This is the origin of the term “Conclave”.  Nobody would be allowed in or out, and there was to be no communication with the outside world. No messages were allowed to be sent out, and the penalty for breaking these rules was nothing less than excommunication. One window was allowed, through which food would be passed to the cardinals.

If, after three days, they had not come to a decision, their food would be rationed. If, after five days, no decision had been made, their rations would then be reduced to bread, water, and wine.

In fact, the next Papal Conclave after Gregory X’s death lasted only one day.   Since then, there have been many changes to the Conclave, but the general concept remains, and this was the first time it ever happened.

So as we wait for the white smoke to come up the chimney, think of Viterbo where the Conclave started.

This Sunday with the weather a little less conducive to wandering around an ancient village so we decided not to travel too far from home.

I had heard there is a regular antique/bric-a-brac auction in Vignanello (about 10 minutes from Soriano) & missing a little of our life in Oz where I’d frequently go take a look at these types of markets, I convinced my husband & boys that it may be nice to go for a small day trip & check it out.  After a few grizzles about the weather we finally headed off about 11am.

Vignanello is only a 15 minute drive from Soriano, so when we drove into the town and announced we had arrived both boys were relieved they didn’t have to endure a long car trip.  As we drove into Vignanello the first thing that struck us was the number of garages or boxes dug into the mountain. We would have driven about 2 kms along the main entry road and the whole way along the side of the mountain was rows of old garages dug into the mountain side.  Either the houses in Vignanello are small or people here just have a lot of stuff!  Have made a mental note to ask our friend who has recently moved here about why there are so many of these here.

After we drove into the centre of town we had quite a familiar feeling, even though we’d not been there before.  We worked out it was because a lot of the main buildings in the centre of town are very similar in architecture to those in Soriano.  I would think this would be expected given its proximity to Soriano.  And also just like in Soriano the usual crazy Sunday parking laws apply, that is where ever you think you can pull up without getting side swiped then just do so and park, love Italian parking mentality  So that’s just what we did, saw the first space we came across and parked.

Not quite knowing the location of the auction, just knew it was in Vignanello, we intended just to wander around & try to find it, but when we got out of the car and looked down the street we saw ahead of us a row of market umbrellas.

Apparently Vignanello is also known for its Sunday market, so another reason for the boys to enjoy the trip; they both love wandering around these types of more typical Italian markets.  The market was about twice the size of our Soriano Friday market with some of the same stall vendors.

We began making our way through the stalls and enjoying the atmosphere & came across a small stall outside an office type shop.  On the table of this stall sat a toilet filled with lucky dip type raffle tickets and a sign saying €1. The elderly gentleman standing behind the table with his hands in the toilet spoke out to our younger son trying to encourage him to put his hands in.  He must have thought this a bit odd as from his eye level he couldn’t see into the bowl to know it was only filled with raffle tickets!  After a bit of coaxing & convincing that there wasn’t anything else in the bowl he agreed to join in & have a lucky dip.  We’d already paid our €1, and received our prize, me a block of chocolate, my husband a chocolate pastry & our older son a can of tomatoes!  Our younger son dove his hand in and pulled out a ticket with ‘i cuore’ written on it.  Turned out this was a beautiful handmade Christmas tree ornament in the shape of a heart. So happy with our bounty for only €4 we went to wander on through the rest of the market.

As we headed off, one of the stall people said to the others, “ahh Inglese”, (Ahhh, English) and overhearing this I turned around & corrected him saying “ahh, no australiani”, the usual “ahh australia e molto lontano” (Oh, Australia is very far) came back, which started a little chat about what we’re doing here, where are we from and where are we living.  The same ‘ahh Australia, we have an aunt/uncle/cousin/ in Australia, in Brisbane/Melbourne/Perth.’  So many Italians we chat to have a connection to Australia I’m amazed there are not more Aussies living over here.  They then proceeded to tell us very proudly about their own Aussies living in Vignanello from Brisbane who own a pastry store.  It made us all smile a bit how they said it with such pride, “Well, we have our own Aussies!”   We all agreed that we’d have to try and meet them one day, said our goodbyes and wandered away, yet again amazed at the friendly, welcoming nature of these wonderful Italians. We spent a couple of hours exploring the markets, purchased a pair of dinky ear warmers each for the boys and a couple of other little things.  We then decided it would be nice to get something light to eat so wandered back up to Centro in search of a Pizzeria.

We came across the beautiful big duomo and also the castello which actually has an old moat around it with a real drawbridge, the boys thought this was really cool.  Unfortunately it wasn’t open so we agreed we’d be back for another visit and look around the castle one day soon.

Wandering back to the car we came across La Cantina del Gusto which sounded like a nice place to eat so we headed down 30 metres of stairs to a building on the side of the mountain.  It was fabulous, really nicely decorated and a view across the valley to Monti Cimino.  We didn’t want too much to eat so ordered a couple of mixed plates of antipasto, buffalo mozzarella & cingiale misto of prosciutto, salami and other meats.  It was absolutely delicious!  The meal came with pane and acqua and we enjoyed a mezzo litre of the house white.  The waiter was really friendly and chatted with the boys and was impressed with their Italian & joked with us about them teaching us.

It was a lovely way to finish off our day in Vignanello.  We wandered back up the hill to our car & the short trip back to Soriano.  We will return to explore the castello and other parts of this really beautiful old town and maybe even discover the antique auction, which we never did actually find….

I’m a big fan of recycling, and I was really happy to hear that our town, Soriano nel Cimino, was planning on implementing a recycling program.  Better yet, it would include garbage pick-up. Cool!  The fact is, that much of Italy is full of litter, many towns have garbage bins that overflow, and the concept of responsible dissposal isn’t quite what I am accustomed to.  So this is fantastic, right?  Ummm… not so much.

There is a popular joke that compares the strengths and weaknesses of various European societies.  It goes like this:

Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs Italian, the mechanics German, the lovers French, and it’s all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, and it’s all organized by the Italians.

If you are really familiar with these societies, this is quite funny.  The point here is that Italians are famous for being extremely disorganized, and that little problem often causes good ideas to turn into incredibly complicated nightmares.  The complexities cause people to ignore policy, and that causes the government to couple new programs with stiff non-compliance penalties.  So you end up with a bunch of complicated, impossible to understand or follow laws that have insane fines for non-compliance.  Such is my fear for our new recycling program that starts tomorrow.

The Way It Is Today

Before I get into the disaster that begins tomorrow, let me tell you how it is now.  There is no garbage pickup service. There are public bins all over town.  Residents generally keep a tiny trash can in their homes, and take the trash out daily.  This is good, since Italian homes are generally very small, so they don’t have room for large trashcans.  Some of the public locations have several bins, including various recycling containers.  It doesn’t matter much, because it is common that all bins get dumped in the same truck, anyway…  but we’ll not go there for now. The downside of this is obviously that some people have to walk a little to take their trash out, and the bins are unsightly… especially when they have not been emptied for days.

Soriano’s Recycling Extravaganza

Step right up and get a front-row ticket, ‘cuz this is gonna be the greatest show on earth! Tomorrow morning everything changes.  All public bins go the way of the Dodo.  Garbage pickup service begins.

Each home must now keep FIVE garbage cans in their home:

The standard can is for fruit, veggies, leftovers, coffee, tea bags, paper napkins and towels (only if dirty with water), etc.

Then you have a can with GREY bags that are provided by the city.  This is for most (but not all) plastic tableware, saran wrap, feminine pads, light bulbs, pens, cigarettes and lighters, rubber bands, feminine pads… I won’t do the whole list.

Next are the Light Blue bags, which are for other plastics that do not belong in the GREY bags. These include plastic bottles, Styrofoam, plastic bags, veggie and fruit nets…  again, I won’t go into the whole list, but be careful not to confuse plastic for the GREY bags with plastic for the Light Blue bags.  That would be non-compliance.  See below for the penalty!

Then we have the Green Bin, which is for cans, glass, lids (what kind?), and foil.

Finally, we have the Yellow Bin. This is for papers, newspaper, magazines, milk cartons, etc.  Be careful not to throw paper towels or napkins in here!!!  Those are for the Standard Can.

No Need To Remember All Of This.  We Have Labels!

Law requires all products to have a label that will assist you, so if you are not sure if a paper towel should be thrown in Grey Bag or the Blue Bag, just go back to the packaging of the paper towels (you still have it, right?) and see which of the above symbols it has.  Then compare that symbol with the bins and bags you have, and you are all set.  Don’t forget to do this for every little item you throw away, because a mistake is punishable by law.

Don’t Get Your Days and Times Mixed Up

Now they won’t have an army of trucks running around each day.  Instead, there is a pickup day for each bag or bin.  We will have pickup service five days a week, and each day has a corresponding bag.  Be sure not to put your blue bag out on green day, or your yellow bag on grey day.  These are serious offenses, of course.  But wait!  That’s not all!  You are allowed to put your bags and bins out between 10:00 PM and 4:00 AM.  Not before, not after.  If you have any plans of going to bed early tomorrow night, forget about it.

Unresolved Questions

There are more questions, of course.  So Paola made a call to the City Hall office that deals with these things.  The city will provide us with a certain number of bags.  Will they provide them regularly?  We don’t know.  What if we need more?  We don’t know. Are they rationed?  We don’t know. What if my bin is lost or stolen?  We don’t know.

The Old Lady and the Storm

Soriano is a hill town.  Tiny streets, winding curves, cobblestones and lots of hills.  I can imagine a winter storm (often) that would wash these bins all down the hills.  They will be everywhere.  They will be thrown together… it will be a mess.  The hills are filled with elderly women that have lived there for ages.  How will they find their bins?  We don’t know. How will this be dealt with?  We don’t know.

Penalty of Non-Compliance

Ok, I saved it for the end.  It is all so much more complicated than what I am saying here.  And Italians are great at ignoring laws, so you must strike fear in their hearts.  Should you elect not to comply with the above, you are to be fined €500.00.  That is roughly $700.00.

Is it just me, or is a disaster in the making?

I’ve been wanting to write about this for ages.  Not about wine actually being better on the other side of the fence, but the impression that it is.

We take groups to wineries in Tuscany and the surrounding regions several times a week, and once you have done it enough, you can’t help but befriend the winemakers.  The more you talk to them, the more little secrets come out.  Here are a few of them.

Brunello di Montalcino

Perhaps the most coveted wine in Italy.  A very small area surrounding the ancient hill town of Montalcino is designated as The Brunello Zone.  There are a few very well-known wineries here.  The best known is Banfi, and the most elite is arguably Biondi Santi, followed by Casanova di Neri, and perhaps Fattoria dei Barbi.

As you a certain road from Montalcino to Castelnove d’Abate, on your left you will see a vineyard surrounding a breathtaking villa.  Signs on the vineyard read “Greppo”, which indicated that you are in the presence of the ultra-elite vineyard of Biondi Santi.  As you continue, when you reach the edge of their property, there is a small dirt road with a sign pointing to ‘Croce di Mezzo’, and after that, you are immediately in front of Fattoria dei Barbi’s vineyards.

You have probably never heard of Croce di Mezzo before.  It is a small, family run place with low volume, and happens to be sandwiched between two of Montalcino’s most famous vineyards.

Their slopes have the same basic incline.  They get the same sun, and the same water.  They produce Brunello, meaning that they use the same grapes,  They maintain the vineyard in the same way, and harvest during the same week.  Their vinification process is controlled by the Brunello Consortium the same as the others, and they age their wine in virtually identical barrels made of the same wood, from the same forest, for the same period of time.  The barrels have the same age restrictions, and are cleaned on the same schedule.  They are bottled by the same process, and aged for the same period of time in the same conditions.

What is different?  For all intents and purposes, they key differences are the side of the fence the grapes come from, and the label on the bottle…. Oh yeah, and the price.

The better-known wines will cost you up to 1,000% more.  Marketing, Marketing, Marketing.

And Then There is Banfi

We hear it all the time.  BANFI BANFI BANFI.  Yes, they are also in this area (as well as others).  Banfi is like the McDonald’s of Tuscan wine.  They are a very large American Wine Importer that started making their own wine in Italy in the late 70′s.  It is the largest in Italy, and very industrial in nature.  Many know them because they are the largest US importer of Italian wine.  I see them as being more about quantity than quality, and I’ll leave it at that.

The Hatfields and The McCoys

Down the road from Montalcino, there is another ancient hill town called Montepulciano.  They are famous for a wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. They are in fierce competition with Brunello, and many (not all) would argue that their wine is far superior, but are not marketed as well as Brunello, and as such don’t call for such a high price.

One of the things I find interesting is that there was a huge scandal a few years back with some of the major Brunello wineries.  They were mixing in ‘illegal’ grapes in an effort to make it more appealing internationally.  Without getting into details, they were making their wine more like Vino Nobile!

Wine From The Wrong Zip Code

A little south of the areas I just wrote about is another well-known wine region called Orvieto, which is in Umbria.  They are well known for their white Orvieto Classico.  Just south of Orvieto is an invisible border, and a little town called Castiglione in Teverina, and IT is in the region of Lazio… not so well known.

To give you something to compare to, imagine I am a winemaker with a vineyard in Napa Valley California.  Cool… Impressive.  You are probably itching to try my wine.  Now imagine if Napa bordered with Nevada, and you could walk from a Napa Valley vineyard to another one in Some unknown town in Nevada.  If my vineyard happened to technically be in Unknown Town, Nevada, I would be significantly less popular at parties, wouldn’t I?

In fact, some truly fantastic wine comes from Castiglione, but they just aren’t popular at parties because their labels have the wrong town name and the wrong region name.

We visit one of these places on our tours, and I would love to have you try them.  The price is about 1/3 of the others, and I challenge anyone to to tell me which is which.

Calcata is an ancient hilltop village that is about 45 minutes from Soriano, near Rome. What makes this village so special is that in the 1930′s, it was condemned, and became a ghost town. However, in the 60′s hippies and artists began to squat here, and over time it developed into a thriving artist colony of sorts. There are currently about 60 local residents of the village, who have restored it over the years and opened restaurants, cafes, and art galleries.

The town swtill carries with it the vibe that set it on its current path. The art galleries are very non-traditional, the cafes serve mostly vegetarian fare, and the people are without question the modern version of the hippies of the 60′s. In fact, the vive is very similar to that of Sedona, Arizona, except that it has an Italian flavor to it.

As though all of this were not strange enough, Calcata has one more odd claim to fame: The Holy Prepuce of Calcata. That’s right, this is where what the Catholic church believes to have been Jesus’ foreskin reseided for hundreds of years until it was mysteriously stolen in 1983.

Related Links:
New York Times article about Calcata
Slate Magazine Artile “Fore Shame”
Link to the book: An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town

7 months, 17 tours, 56 cooking classes, 144 guests and over 35,000 miles of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are behind us.  That was the 2008 season for us at Culture Discovery.  As with last year, after coming back to the US, I have gone into video mode.  Here is the first video I have made since coming back, which essentially sums up the season:

What a wild ride it was.   It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work…. but always very rewarding.  Most of all, we made a ton of new friends and had the opportunity to share something we love with so many new people.

Some new stuff in 2008…

We started the year unexpectedly using our ‘old’ kitchen down at the villa. We had started construction in September 2007 on a new 700 square foot kitchen, where the barn had once stood.  Our old kitchen was too small for us to comfortably do classes for more than 6 people at a time, so the new kitchen was a matter of urgency.  The new kitchen was supposed to be finished in April, but of course, we are in Italy. So in April we had a structure and nothing more.  It wasn’t finished until late July, so we had quite a few groups crowd into the old kitchen for a while.

The new kitchen, which Paola and I designed ourselves, came out even more beautiful than we imagined.  All of the counters are travertine marble, the sink is a solid carved block of travertine, all of the tiles are hand-painted, and the masonry for the separating wall and fireplace came out breathtakingly beautiful.  The large lighting fixtures and our 90-bottle wine rack (which we found ourselves restocking every 2 weeks) were all hand-crafted in iron; and everything was finished by local artisans.  What a pleasure it was to begin using it!

Besides the kitchen, this year we got sick of renting vans, and decided to buy a new one.  We headed to Germany and got a perfect 9-passenger Opel Vivaro that soon became lovingly known as ‘Shultz’.  When we have 8 or fewer people in a week, Shultz is always there to take care of us.

We started the season with five homes for our guests:  La Campana, Vecchio Forno, Ponticello, Chiosco, and Trinita.  By the end of the year, we added two new places, called ‘Caminetto’ and ‘Santa Maria’.  Santa Maria is perfect for our guests that don’t do well with hills, as it is just a few steps from Soriano’s Piazza.  It just went through a complete remodel, and makes for a beautiful place for up to four people.  Caminetto became available in August, so a good number of our 2008 guests had the opportunity to stay here.  It is the largest of the homes we offer, and boasts the largest terrace we have, with an amazing view out toward the Tiber Valley.

2008 also fostered some new relationships in Italy for our future guests.  During the season we began to take guests to a winery and olive mill near Orvieto called Madonna delle Macchie, which has proven to be so popular that we have built it into every week we offer in the future.  Moving into 2009, we will be offering our future guests the ability to actually rent part of the vineyard or olive orchard for their own personal wine and olive oil!

In April we met the incredibly gracious Prince Riccardo Nobile-Vitteleschi in the town of Labro, Umbria.  He lives in the 1,000 year old castle of his ancestors, and has personally taken our guests on tours of his ‘home’.  This has been so popular, that it is a staple for our 2009 itineraries now.

During the year, our travels through Tuscany and Umbria have brought us to new wineries, new monasteries, new restaurants, new towns… all of the more popular ones are in for next year, while the less popular are out.  So as I look at the 2009 calendar, I can honestly say I am VERY excited!

So to those of you reading this that were with us this season:  Thank you so much, it was a blast!  To those of you reading this that are still looking forward to your time with us, know this: I’m looking forward to it as much as you are!  We’re going to have a fantastic time.

CultureDiscovery.com is a proud sponsor of this year’s Jazz Festival in Soriano. We hope you will come and see us! We’ll be filming a great deal of the festival this year in High Definition, as well as conducting numerous interviews.

This is the preliminary schedule for the 2008 Jazz festival in Soriano. Most performances begin around 9:00 PM in Soriano’s main Piazza. Some performances will take place in the City Hall Courtyard. Keep in mind that more events are likely to be added to the schedule as time drawn near. Additionally, performances end at midnight as the Rotezzia Pub in Soriano (Located in Catacombs below the main Piazza) opens up for all-night Jam Sessions.

This year wasn’t my first time seeing the Chestnut Festival, but through the years, I have never made it to the Palio.  

First things first, What on earth is a ‘Palio’ ?  Those who have heard the term generally know of it it in connection with the famous ‘Palio di Siena’, which is a horse race.  But Palio is really  a term that can be used for any kind of competition in Italy.  The word Palio itself refers to a large banner that acts as a trophy for the winner of whatever competition is being held.  In other words, the Palio is the prize, not the contest.

Soriano’s Palio, unlike that of Siena, is not a horse race.  Instead it is a half-day event that is made up of an archery competition and a jousting competition.  It is one of the main events in Soriano nel Cimino’s Sagra delle Castagne (Chestnut Festival).

During the festival, the town divides into 4 ‘contrade’ districts, each with their cavalier and archer that will compete in the Palio.

The contradas are ‘San Giorgio’, ‘Rocca’, ‘Trinita’ and ‘Papacqua’.  This year, San Giorgio swept the competition.  Luckily, Paola’s family belongs to San Giorgio.  Actually, Paola’s father was one of the founders for the festival, and he was the president of the San Giorgio contrada for years.  Still, I lived in the Papacqua district when I lived in Soriano, and our rentals are all in the Rocca district.  That said, I had a 75% chance shot at being connected to victory!

The opening event of the festival is the ‘Blessing of the Cavaliers and Archers’, during which the cavaliers ride (and archers walk) into the main square in a grand procession, accompanied by their districts trumpeters and drummers, all followed by a magnificent parade of villagers in medieval dress.   They take formation in front of the cathedral as a priest blesses the competitors and the opening ceremonies commence.

On the day of the Palio competition itself, thousands of people march down to the fields where the event will be held to cheer for their their respective contradas.

The even begins with a round of archery, followed by a round of jousting for rings.  Naturally, this is 2007, so the cavaliers are not jousting one on one.  Instead, they ride a course that is marked with a series of poles.  Each pole has three rings of different size.  They are scored based on how many rings they get, how big those rings are, and the speed at which they maneuvered the course.

With the second round, the archers take more distance and the cavaliers get a second shot at their remaining rings, again judged by ring count, ring size and speed.

A third and final round puts the archers at a greatly increased distance, and the cavaliers that their last run around the track in an effort for the perfect score.

When it is all done (It lasted about 5 hours), all of the scores are tallied and the contrada with the highest combined score wins this year’s Palio.

From that point forward, the losers go home deflated, while the winners parade all the way back to town for an evening of extreme celebration.

The event is strongly felt in the town.  Emotions run deep.  I watched losers in tears and winners rejoice at their supremacy. 

I have to admit, I started out really not caring, but with all of the tension in the air leading up to the event, I found myself really excited, too. It was truly a blast!

Ask around Soriano about ‘Fosso Mulino’ (River Mill) and you will get mostly blank stares. So it is no surprise that after all of these years I had no idea that it existed. Very few people do.

One day I was out with my friend (and our contractor) Andrea D’Alessio. He asked me if I had ever been to the waterfalls. My immediate answer was YES! There is a place in Soriano with some beautiful waterfalls that few know about, and I had been there. In fact, years ago I was telling Paola about them, and she didn’t believe me until I showed her.

Anyhow, Andrea didn’t believe that I had been to ‘The waterfalls’, so he asked me to describe them. As I did, he laughed and simply explained that there were other, more breathtaking, waterfalls in Soriano. So he took me. He explained that not only was this a beautiful fork of the Tiber with awesome waterfalls, but there were the ruins of a 13th century Olive Mill. Cool!

We drove just past the Viterbo-Orte Superstrada, right at the Soriano-Bomarzo exit, and hung a left. We drove down a road which is well known as a hangout for some extremely vile looking prostitutes (another story there) and parked along a little dirt road. After exiting the car, we went down a small trail into what appeared to be complete nothingness.

At one point, I noticed beneath my feet there was some ancient concrete road, which was ribbed. Andrea explained that this was the path the mules used to cart the olives down, and the oil up.

Next I found myself in a tunnel of sorts, created by massive rocks around me, and extending about 200 feet down the hill. All the while, this ancient road ran beneath my feet.
After exiting the tunnel, immediately to my right was the river. As I walked toward it, I was struck by an absolutely beautiful set of waterfalls as I saw the water that had literally carved its passage through this ancient volcanic rock over millions of years. To say it was stunning would be an understatement.

We walked around as I cursed my lack of a spare battery for my camera. It had a little juice left in it, so I took what video I could. How could I never have known about this place?
As we crossed back to our entry point, there was an old structure in ruin. Andrea told me to look to my feet. There, sitting in the middle of this little forest was an ancient olive mill wheel. We then entered the structure, and a few more wheels were just lying there haphazardly. Wow! What a great experience to see all of this in such an untouched state.

Such was my morning visit to what I now know of as ‘Fosso Mulino’. You won’t find it in any tour books, and you won’t find any ‘professional’ guides that can show it to you. It is just one of those hidden treasures, like Corviano, that you just have to be with the right person to see.

I’m pretty sure I will make this a tour stop with my groups that are into nature and hiking.

For those of you that will be coming to Soriano for the Chestnut Festival, I thought I would post a video that shows a few of the highlights.  This video is a promotional piece by Soriano nel Cimino’s Medieval Swordsmen.  While they perform at many festivals all over the world, being from Soriano, they perform at each and every festival in the town.

This video concentrates on them, but many of the video clips are taken during the Chestnut Festival (Sagra delle Castagne) over the years.   Enjoy!