More Peregrinations

Sadly, it was time to leave Matthew at the airport on Friday morning. Having had a wonderful visit with him over the past few days, we set off for Rome. A hasty hug at the airport, and we had to drop him there...but, hey, we were in Rome! Obviously an auspicious time for a field trip.

We had decided to visit the Etruscan tombs of Cerveteri. Not knowing what to expect (or, truthfully, exactly how to get there), we arrived in a dusty parking lot in the middle of nowhere. A quick consultation at the visitors' center, and we got started.

The Etruscan tombs here mostly date to 700 BC, and are largely carved out of the tuff ("tufo") rock. This is a volcanic rock with the interesting property that it is rather soft and easy to cut and work until it has been exposed to air. At that time, it will harden. For this reason, it made a fantastic building material for early civilizations.

A swift's nest! We got to see a parent arriving to feed the babies.

There is some speculation about where the Etruscans came from. The commonly held belief was that they were a tribe native to Italy; however, literature suggests that they came from Turkey following an extended famine. Pooh-poohed for a long time by the establishment, DNA analysis of isolated current-day populations in an Etruscan stronghold suggests that these peoples actually have stronger genetic ties to Syria/Turkey than they do to any European group.

The tombs were built to be like houses

Complete with rooms, supporting columns, and the grave beds

One of the many avenues

Life among the dead

Some of these tombs were huge! Even the smallest were 10 meters across

The women's grave beds had triangular headboards

Some were quite deep...

And looking from underneath, we weren't convinced of the staircases' integrity....

Checking on Matthew's status

An unusual multi-colored tumulus

Family plot

On our way home, we passed by a long section of aqueduct just sitting out there for anyone to clamber on. We didn't...just took photos.

Once arrived in Todi, we were greeted by the first afternoon of Todi Fiorita! Our view coming down from the garage:

We got home to discover that the peregrine falcon (which had been hanging out in our cortile since his meal) had just been taken off by the carabinieri. There was some jurisdiction issue...our neighbors had called Leo Wild Park to ask about it, and he had arrived with what Jeremy described as a rather large butterfly net. He captured the poor bird and stuffed him into a carrier box. However, since it was a whatever type of wildlife, it actually fell under the jurisdiction of the carabinieri. The wildlife specialist from the carabinieri showed up, and the bird was transferred to a cardboard box with holes punched in it so that there would be no problems getting the carrier back to Leo Wild Park (!). The carabinieri then marched off with our falcon.

Jeremy found out from research that the ground hopping kill is actually highly unusual, since falcons unsurprisingly prefer to catch their prey via a dive from above, on ground or in mid-air. The Leo Wild Park fellow told me via Facebook that our friend was a "fine male specimen."

We still aren't allowing the rabbit onto the balcony.

Love,

Alexandra

Planet Earth Come to Todi

There I was, minding my own business, when two pigeons burst into the living room through the open french doors. Hm. Strange. They did seem rather in a panic, but I was busy, so didn't think much of it. It was a first for pigeons, but we have had bats and swifts, so whatever.

Until. Until, that is, Florence went into the kitchen, looked out the french door, and said, "Hey! There's a hawk out there!" It wasn't "out there" in the sense of floating around in the general vicinity. Nope. It was "out there" in the sense of being on the satellite dish that is right next to the balcony.

Turns out, there was another pigeon in the boys' room, also driven to escape.

That alone would have been cool.

But there was more in store for us: As I was standing in the boys' room looking out, the falcon descended onto the balcony, out of sight of the living room. A pigeon took advantage of his perceived opportunity to escape and also landed on the balcony. A hop, skip, and jump, and that pigeon was done for.

The kids all piled onto the balcony (except Ashley, who declared, "That is gross" and disappeared) to watch the entire meal. After about an hour, there was nothing left but a few blood spatters, a pillow's worth of feathers, and a memory.

There was a problem, though: the hawk was now full. Meaning heavy. Meaning that taking off was no longer child's play. The difficulty was that we were watching it, and it was not a happy camper. A few tentative goes and it was clear that leaving wasn't much of an option. It waited. We waited. It *ahem* lightened its load a few times.

After 30 minutes or more of suspense, it half flew, half clambered up the netting on the balcony and ended in the flowerpots. I suspect those plants are not very happy right about now. Anyway, it sat there for another little while, then crossed its fingers and hoped for the best, and...took off...tried to grab the wall of the courtyard...and ended up crash landing in the plants on the ground in the opposite corner. Not impressive flying, ace.

This poor bird then proceeded to hop up the steps, and eventually ended up in an outside windowsill on the second-floor landing. By then it was dusk, so its chance of flying was over for the day. After much research and consultation, we have concluded it is a peregrine falcon.

(And, yes, we gave it a wide berth when we went for gelato later).

The Baby Car Turns 50!

As promised, we threw a party for the baby car, complete with prosecco, cake, and a bow! We even invited its sister (dating to a day after ours) for a playdate!

My English students also came to meet Matthew (and work on their English!), so a grand time was had by all.

Birthday car on left, with friend on the right!

We tailgated from the Panda

Love,

Alexandra

Visiting Albano

Matthew has enjoyed seeing our local artisans at work, and it became obvious that a visit to Albano was in order. Albano is pushing 90 and is still blacksmithing on commission for clients all over the world.

He gave us a warm welcome (although not quite warm enough, in the sense that he didn't have his fire going! He was doing some work that involved welding instead), and showed us around his forge.

A suit of armor in progress

The piece will be incised

Reproduction cannon made by Albano;
 some of the nails are from the 15th century (he had them
kicking around his workshop and figured he'd use them)

A bellows he has lying around...dating to the 16th century

What you don't see is his sunny smile, because he's concentrating in all of these photos. Thank you Albano!

Love,

Alexandra

Little Attraction

We wanted a nice, relaxing day on Saturday, so took off for some "mild car tourism." This meant a meandering trip to the world's smallest box theatre located in Montecastello di Vibio, checking out a few small towns on the way. Plus, of course, checking out coffee.

Todi is on the rise on the left-hand side of the background

 I realized that I forgot to take photos while we were inside, so I appropriated this photo from Wikipedia. The thing about wide-angle lenses, though, is that you have no idea of the scale. I remember how cute the theatre is, but I always forget exactly how tiny it really is. The columns on the bottom are barely taller than I am...maybe 7 feet tall, max? And the boxes? They hold between two and four people seated. It is a treat to visit in person because it's like the Fiat 500 in that it's so beautifully scaled that you don't understand how tiny it is until you are actually in it!

Love,

Alexandra