Last night in Italy

Today we slept in and did last minute gift shopping before lunch at 12:30. We had an official tour of Norcia and learned about its history. Norcia is famous for its pork and people specialize in the curing of it. Our tour guide, Margherita, told us of the medieval history including the 7 gates of the city. In addition to the 7 gates there are 7 fountains representing the 7 subparts of the city. Saint Benedict is the patron saint of Italy and Norcia is his birthplace. We visited where he lived and learned that the main center of Norcia has 3 main buildings (church, town hall and fortress) representing religion, politics and military. Later in the evening we all went horseback riding in the countryside of Norcia. It was beautiful! At dinner the Bianconi family presented us with gifts for our departure and told us, “we were not clients, rather family now and that we are all welcome to visit anytime and they will take care of us.” They had a cake with American flags on it and two people dressed in medieval attire played the drums to signify our departure and wish us well. We will have to leave our hotel at 4:30am to drive to Rome for our flight. We are all packing and getting to bed early tonight. We will see you in the USA!

Ciao!