Norcia is a short bus ride from Spoleto in Umbria. Where Assisi was all about St. Francis, Norcia is all about the food - the meats and cheeses, the truffles and of course, the wine. The cured meats hanging behind Mark make reference to mules and grandfathers. I'll leave it at that. They had one cheese they called Viagra - presumably because it was such a hard cheese.
Norcia is a walled hill town. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the restaurant you see on the left of this next photo. The inside of the restaurant is huge, especially for such a relatively small town. It had a number of rooms, all exquisitely decorated, and one room featured a wood-fired grill where they grilled, not pizza, but meats.
The town was the home of St. Benedict and his sister St. Scholastica. (It's Italy, every town must be home to a saint.) We toured the church but photos were prohibited. There is a statue of St. Benedict in the piazza.
When we were in Assisi a few years ago, there was a statue of a lion that looked a lot like this one. Due to the proximity of the two towns, I'm going to guess that it may have been the same sculptor. Or maybe every sculptor learned from the same teacher.
I'm looking forward to another trip to Italy. Maybe next time we'll make it out of Umbria, although Umbria is a perfectly lovely place to be.
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