Day 19 (4/9/11)

Today we woke up after a fantastic night of sleep (one of those nights when you wake up where you laid down and the sheets didn’t move either) and hopped on the bus headed for Civitella del Tronto, a pretty small hill town about a half hour out of Ascoli. The bus ride was pretty awesome; we drove through some beautiful countryside before we came to the hill, where we took a harrowing trip up some narrow switchbacks in a pretty big bus. The views were unbelievable the whole way up, but they were nothing compared to the summit.
Once we got up there, we disembarked and took some photos off the edge looking at a fantastic valley filled with small groupings of houses as well as some gorgeous mountains. From there we walked into town and gathered in the main piazza to talk about the area. After some more pictures of the mountains and valleys on this side, we set out for the fortress above. The original (steep as hell) path was closed so we had to (thank goodness) take the new escalator system up that looked like Space Mountain from Disney World. Once at the top, we walked through a few spaces before coming to the main Piazza of the fortress itself. The views were absolutely amazing and the area was stunning.
From there we moved into one of the accessible points of the giant system of cisterns and tunnels that run below and through the fortress. It was pretty awesome in there (no Basilica Cistern for those who remember my adventure in Istanbul…) and the cool shade felt pretty great after the scorching sun outside. After some relaxing in there we split up to explore on our own. First stop for almost everyone was back across the amazing Piazza to the very front corner of the fortress, where the views were absolutely stunning. The corner was a pretty awesome place, like the prow of the Titanic! From there we moved up another level to a higher Piazza that featured the beginning point of the residences and town portion of the fortress.
First up was a pretty great church that was small and very intimate, and appeared to be still in use for something by the amount of chairs (new) inside. From there we walked through some pretty amazing and surprisingly intact ruins of what we thought were houses. After exploring the maze of ruins above, we found a pretty ominous staircase down into the mountain, which led us to some dungeon-like rooms and a pretty neat exhibit on weapons. We also found an amazing passageway that was so dark we had to use our cameras’ flashes to see where we were going. It ended with a fantastic view out from what appeared to be the side of the mountain. There was also an amazing skylight that lit up the corner in a very ethereal way.
From there we returned to the surface in the midst of some more ruins, before continuing down (the fortress was very linear, more of a rectangle than the standard square plan). One of my favorite moments was looking out over the edge and seeing the roofs of the various houses just below the fortress, all of which featured a similar tiled roof, but nearly everyone faced a different direction than the one next to it; this created a pretty amazing mosaic-effect that gave way instantly to a steep descent into wilderness and out to mountains. After admiring this moment, I continued out along a newer pathway that ran along the edge of the mountain. There were some pretty awesome sights up there: from a lonely house on top of its own hill to a sand strip-mining operation for the concrete in the area, and of course the snow covered mountains surrounding the area.
Finally I made it to the end of the pathway, which provided some more amazing views out. Next up I walked down into the original end of the fortress, which was an amazing courtyard filled with beautiful trees and an awesome pathway that was almost perfectly intact. The view back into the residential area of the fortress along this path was stunning, as the axis was almost perfect. After admiring this area for a while I found a small little staircase that led out of the main walls of the interior and out into the grassy area between them and the exterior walls. This area was pretty fantastic, full of wild flowers that contrasted quite nicely with the cold concrete of the walls on either side. One fun little thing was a small hole in the wall that was filled with perfect shells. It was kinda spooky, and as I grabbed a few souvenirs I kept expecting some animal to jump out at me.
Thankfully, I escaped this area unharmed and went back up to the main pathway. After a short walk back in, I came to a commercial-type space, filled with various small buildings that housed a museum that focused on the military aspect of fortress life. The exhibits were pretty great, and some more shade felt pretty good. Next up was the bookstore, where a bunch of us congregated together by accident. After some perusing (and some shock at the prices) we walked back to the entrance for some lunch. On the way, we saw a pretty awesome battering ram, with a front part made to look like a ram’s head (a ram ram, get it?) as well as a few excursions into some creepy, dark spaces along the way. Lunch was a disappointment, as everything was either closed or expensive, so we ended up snacking on ice cream treats and 10-cent gummy candy (both were fantastic!) before heading back to the bus.
The ride home was pretty uneventful (since I slept…) and when we got back we said goodbye to our Italian friends for possibly the last time and a group of us left for a second lunch. We walked down into Piazza Arringo where there was a great market. We had already planned on a location for lunch, so we just walked through and stared at the glorious assortment of meats, cheeses, and breads. However, when we found our planned restaurant, it was closed. So back to the Piazza we went where we got some homemade pizza from one of the vendors. Sadly, this was a horrible choice as the pizza was extremely tough (like chewing a leather jacket that was an inch thick) and rather pricy, co we walked over to Yoghi for some gelato to drown our sorrows. After lunch we wandered around for a little while and visited some pretty great shops, before heading back home.
But the gods were smiling on us this day, and our lunch-failure was avenged by the grand opening of some clothing store that hired a cart selling roasted pig-sandwiches to sit outside and give them away for free! That coupled with Coke from a tap (awesome!) and desserts inside (awesomer!) made me completely forget about the market. After some schmoozing and eating we embarked on our last journey back to the hotel, stopping for some money from the atm on the way. Once we got back we relaxed and read for a little while, with some packing mixed in there as well.
Once the sun went down four of us decided to head out on a run! It is amazing to run here (as I think I mentioned before), and it was amazing. We ran out to the Castellano (the architecture school not up on the hill) first, and there Joe and I ran off on our own. We went across town to the river, through a maze of streets and alleys that I am sure I could never find again, and finally made the decision to run up the steps to the Aranciatta (the architecture school on top of the hill). As described earlier in this blog, the 308 steps were killer. Once we made it up, we walked around and checked out the view of the city at night before heading back down the other side. The run back was pretty great, especially since the flat streets felt much better than the stairs.
Once home, we showered and got ready for tomorrow! We are leaving the hotel at 8 for Assisi, where we will be spending two days exploring! All in all, Ascoli Piceno was a pretty amazing experience filled with some great moments and some pretty hilariously awkward situations.