We had a superior day today. We drove to the towns of Pitigliano and Civita di Bagnoregio. Pitigliano is a hill town at the very southern tip of Tuscany. I had wished Ann to see this town and have lunch where I ate alone in 2005. The Hostaria del Ceccottino then served me a regional dish called gnudi. Never before or since had I seen this pasta dish. Of course it was not on the menu that day. Rats. It was a nice al fresco meal anyhow.

Pitigliano is also interesting because it is the only Italian town that openly accepted Jews since the 1600s. There is a museum devoted to Jewish life located under the synagogue. The Jewish community was essentially wiped out during the German “occupation” of Italy. This town was also the site of a bombing raid in 1944. I was never able to find out if the bombers were American or German but 78 residents died. I like this town since it is enough out of the way that few Americans venture there and no tour buses bother to stop.

My favorite location in all of Italy is Civita di Bagnoregio. This is a “town” of 14 residents living on a 400’ vertical outcrop of eroding tufa (volcanic) rock. It was virtually unknown until our own Edmonds, Washington tour guide turned TV personality and travel book writer, Rick Steves, told about it. Still, few Americans find it but of the fifteen or so people visiting there, we heard voices of 10, including us, from the ol’ US of A.

Here Ann performed her most recent feat of magic with her bionic knees. She walked up this 400’ rise like a Sherpa. I was so proud of her and happy that the model year 2005 all-terrain mountain knee replacements helped so much. It brought a tear to my eye (Too much??).

Lesson for Day 25: Wine is cheap but eggs cost us $2.50 for SIX! So, obviously, drink wine and ingest no cholesterol. {Sometimes life is so easy}