Castiglione del Lago

Despite being happily stuffed on stuffed zucchinis, mushrooms, turkey and an amazing lasagna from the previous night, we were able (eventually) to get ourselves to the car and visit Castiglione del Lago.

Here's a quick link to show the local geography.  Rome is about two hours south of this area while Pisa and Lucca are a couple hours to the northwest (seen if you collapse the directions in this link):

https://www.google.fr/maps/dir/I+Casali+di+Colle+San+Paolo,+Vocabolo+Muserale,+8,+06068+Tavernelle,+Panicale+PG,+Italy/06061+Castiglione+del+Lago+PG,+Italy/@42.8837987,12.1789516,8z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x132eac2edb853e79:0x31f653ca20eed914!2m2!1d12.153711!2d43.037779!1m5!1m1!1s0x1329551a90b950bf:0x4a3437a725706c4e!2m2!1d12.0478399!2d43.1264498?hl=en

The day felt more like early summer than late fall.  The bright blue sky had scattered puffy white clouds and seemed to stretch on forever.  

This particle area has been hotly contested over the centuries, resulting in the need for some strong fortifications.  A site that has a nice review of this area can be found here:
http://countryslowliving.com/castiglione-del-lago


It's also known for its wild boar, a delicacy in these parts.  The boys were introduced to their first boar.  They did not think it appeared that delicious.

We then walked through the little castle town.  The hilltop vantage did allow us to glimpse the light blue waters of the lake through the various gates.

As we walked further down, the church and the battlements became more clear.  We toured the small museum which displayed beautiful wall to wall paintings as well as some relics from the town.

The museum connected to the battlements and an impressive view of the surrounding Lake Trasimeno.

Looking more closely at the defenses, it became even more impressive how extensive they were.  

To get to the castle turrets, we traversed this long tunnel. Joey was excited!  Sammy was excited - it was one of the longest highways for his new formula 1 racecar! 

We all made it through and emerged up on the battlements for an impressive view.

We felt incredibly secure atop these walls, especially with Alisa and Lanna patrolling.

The boys enjoyed the view but they enjoyed racing their cars along the walls even more!  Lanna and Ella sat down and focused on the fine stonework.

After touring the walls and ensuring the safety of all, we returned to the small city center for a late afternoon snack.   Given that we had struggled ordering since our arrival in Italy, it was a pleasure listening to my sister use her fluent Itaian and order a much needed early dinner.


With the weak afternoon sunlight streaming through the exit gate, we slowly walked back out to the parking area and returned to the peaceful hillside villa.