Gubbio - Italy

  Gubbio, Umbria, Italy
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Next food stop - Parma, naturally....for stocks of parmaggiano regiano (parmesan) - smallest block size.....almost a kilo (which we had to cut up to get in the fridge!), proscuitto, and to our absolute delight, 3 MASSIVE bunches of local asaparagus for E3 ($5 for those playing at home).  Oh, yes, and next stop Modena for some of the real deal Balsamic.  The roads were truly aweful (as we were trying to avoid the tolls roads) - saw heaps better in Asia (and given our track record...that's a big call!)

We headed for a festival in Gubbio, near Perugia, that dated back from medieval times, in this quaint little walled village (about 30,000 people).  The whole town barracks for one of three saints (known by us as the blue, black and yellow saints), then dresses up in their colours.  The teams then hoists these massive wooden pillars with an effigy of their saint on the top and race each other around this massively steep town - it's a really big affair, with over 250,000 people from around the area, and passions run high - in true Italian form!  An awesome experience.