such will be forthcoming, and possibly the residents don't even want it. We passed behind it and continued on, driving between peaks like Monte Lieto (1,944m) and Monte Argentella (2,261m), and it was very beautiful. Eventually, after winding out way back down again and at the same time leaving Umbria and entering Le Marche, we came across another unexpected ruined rocca, at Visso; but our main memory of that little town was that when we stopped the car and got out (to take a photo) next to a fence surrounding a chookyard, it became immediately obvious that this was the very spot in which their owner would stop *his* car to get out to feed them -- all the birds approached the fence at breakneck speed, very vocal, very enthusiastic !
Camerino looked nice from a distance, but the approaches were confusing, even on the map, and as we neared it we could see that it was big. So, as usual, we didn't go inside. Matelica was ghastly -- well, industrial (same thing, no ?). And after that we were back into Umbria again -- but one is obliged to admit that the countryside of Le Marche was just as nice as any we saw in other regioni !
Camerino looked nice from a distance, but the approaches were confusing, even on the map, and as we neared it we could see that it was big. So, as usual, we didn't go inside. Matelica was ghastly -- well, industrial (same thing, no ?). And after that we were back into Umbria again -- but one is obliged to admit that the countryside of Le Marche was just as nice as any we saw in other regioni !
We'd taken this route deliberately, because CS thought he'd read somewhere that Gualdo Tadino had a rocca or two; so we duly made our way into that town -- not without difficulty because its signage left a lot to be desired -- and parked up in the top piazza.
We ate a fairly awful foccaccia and went back to the car, at which point CS cried, dramatically, "Smoke !", and we realised that the car parked next to ours appeared to have something inside it on fire. He rushed into the Bar we'd just emerged from, and managed to make them understand enough so that they all spilled out onto the footpath, where I was calling out "Fuoco! Fuoco !" and pointing at the car; and a gormless and grubby bloke in indescribable clothes finally got the point and rushed at his car, where he found that the driver's seat was well alight and burning merrily, and he beat it out with his hands !
Did anyone say "Thank-you !", or even "Grazie !" ? -- they did not. We left Gualdo Tadino grumpily, but that was because we didn't find its rocca, *and* our lunch had been horrid !
We ate a fairly awful foccaccia and went back to the car, at which point CS cried, dramatically, "Smoke !", and we realised that the car parked next to ours appeared to have something inside it on fire. He rushed into the Bar we'd just emerged from, and managed to make them understand enough so that they all spilled out onto the footpath, where I was calling out "Fuoco! Fuoco !" and pointing at the car; and a gormless and grubby bloke in indescribable clothes finally got the point and rushed at his car, where he found that the driver's seat was well alight and burning merrily, and he beat it out with his hands !
Did anyone say "Thank-you !", or even "Grazie !" ? -- they did not. We left Gualdo Tadino grumpily, but that was because we didn't find its rocca, *and* our lunch had been horrid !
