Orvieto Market Day

Thursday from 8:00 to 12:00 is market day in Orvieto. The Piazza del Popolo, usually either empty or a parking lot at night if I recall correctly, is magically converted into an open air market. I don't know how long this market has been going on but I would be willing to bet a very long time. If not in this piazza than in another, probably all the way back to Etruscan times. And it is still thriving like mad to this day.

The market is primarily made up of food vendors, though discount clothing, shoes, fabric, bedding, yarn, toiletries, leather goods, and more make for a diverse experience. But by far, the most exciting part is the food. And it's not just fruits and vegetables. Although produce is the primary food good featured in this market, there were at least two trucks that were basically Italian delis on wheels. Every type of cheese, cured meat, bacala, etc; it was all there. I couldn't believe that. I've seen vegetable markets before but this was something else. There were at least two stands selling dried fruit, nuts, olives, and candies.

The vegetables were incredible. I wished that I had a kitchen. Not being able to buy anything beside a few carrots and radishes to go with my tomato and arugula salad was excruciatingly painful. Never have I been so emotionally moved by a crate of Tuscan Kale, piles of Fava, bundles of herbs gathered from the side of the road, whole bushels of dried hot peppers. And the characters of the maket; the friendly vendors, and the flocks of Nonna with their compression stockings and wire grocery carts. One day, I will be one with them, shopping at a market somewhere in Italy, but next time for real.
After a visit to the market, root vegetables, clementines, walnuts and licorice in hand, I moved on to my favorite little bakery in town. Everywhere I go, I end up finding a favorite little bakery and instantly become a loyal costumer. Unlike in Firenze, where I had a kitchen and bought loaves of bread, cheese, olives, etc. I couldn't do that here, so snacks are all that I buy. And this bakery had plenty of snacks. Aside from the amazing chocolate pistacchio biscotti that I've been using as cycling food, this bakery must be known for its grissini, aka breadsticks. They must have a dozen and a half different varieties of grissini. So far, I've tried: rosemary/sea salt (favorite savory type), sun-dried tomato/ onion, black olive, chocolate/ hazelnut, and fig/walnut (WOW!!). Just to get good fresh figs in the States is hard, none-the-less something like this. I'm in love. When do you walk in your local bakery and get something like this? And it's cheap, just like everything at the market. Good, quality food is the norm here and you don't have to go broke eating well. To quote an excerpt from an emotional Facebook post from earlier in the day, "People here eat whole foods without having to the pay the Whole Foods price."
All the while, it was raining quite hard. That didn't stop anyone. Every Nonna was rushing around like squirrels gathering nuts (some literally were, it's chestnut and walnut season here) unabated by the persistent rain. One observation about Italians is that even if it's merely drizzling, they have their umbrellas up. I felt one drop and bam, ten umbrellas went up in a matter of seconds. The don't like to get wet. You can always spot the British tourists when it rains. They're the ones without umbrellas wearing short sleeve shirts.
Because of the rain, my planned ride got pushed back further and further in the day. By the time I was able to leave, the roads still wet however, it was half past two. Definitely not enough time to get in the 100km I had planned and be back before the next downpour. I knew a shortcut for my route, taking out a climb and about fifteen miles, so I decided that would be the course of action. Ride distance at this time of year in Umbria is often determined by how much time you have between the morning rain and the afternoon rain versus how wet you are willing to get. If you have the motivation to get soaked through every day, then you'll be fine riding a lot in October. I got soaked and filthy yesterday. I wasn't about to do it again today. As I got into the ride, the wind really picked up, stronger than any wind I'd experienced in my time here. Then the black clouds rolled in. It was time to head home. Unfortunately my penultimate ride in Italy was cut short, but in 25 miles I was able to do 3000ft of climbing and see some amazing back-roads through vineyards and olive orchards as far at the eye could see. As the wind blew the moist air through the grapevines, you could smell that harvest time is soon upon us.
And my bike still got filthy. Wet roads lead to filth in farm land. At least when it rains, all that gets washed away.
With much less riding then I had hope for, but a lot more walking, I am through with Orvieto, moving on to Roma in the morning. I don't particularly like Roma. I don't really like big cities. You can have New York, Roma, Paris, London, etc. I'm fine with Philly, Firenze or better yet Hunterdon/ Bucks or Chianti. But it's off to Roma. All roads lead there apparently, but I'm taking the train. My final stop on this beautiful trip. In Roma I have a few unchecked boxes on the tourist list and it's not exactly a cycling city so no riding other than the Granfondo on Sunday. Tomorrow I go back into tourist mode, camera slung across my back. No matter what I'll still never stoop so low into the tourist scrum as to wear a backpack on the front or take iPad photos. Oh the horror!!

*Self-editors note: If I sometimes switch tenses, my bad. It drives me nuts, but lots of times I am writing these posts while lying in bed after a long day, ready to pass out. Please excuse these errors. I do my best to proofread, but sometimes things slip through.