~ wander.essence ~

umbria: civita di bagnoregio & on to fiumicino

wanderessence1025 September 10, 2020

We left Orvieto late this morning, at 10:35, because we just couldn’t wake up! We felt discouraged because we knew rain was forecast for much of the day, and today was our last day in Italy. I think we were getting travel weary. I had been on the road since April 4, when I’d left for Morocco.

We ate breakfast in the Hotel Duomo: cappucino, blood orange juice, boiled egg, salami, and toast with blueberry jam.

Parts of our drive to Civita di Bagnoregio looked similar to the countryside west of where we live in Northern Virginia. We passed a beekeeping place with signs for Miele – Honey.

on the drive to Civita di Bagnoregio

At Civita di Bagnoregio, we encountered the worst possible thing you can encounter when traveling: fog. Fog has ruined many a vacation for me, and it seems this happens in some of the most scenic places. We stopped at a cozy cafe, hoping that the fog would clear. It never did.

a coffee break while hoping for the fog to clear

The 2,500-year-old village of Civita di Bagnoregio is a town about 120 kilometers (75 mi) north of Rome. Civita is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, famously known as ‘the dying city.’ It perches on a pinnacle in a huge canyon. No traffic is allowed, and it is connected to the world via a long pedestrian bridge.

The town is noted for its striking position on top of a plateau of crumbling volcanic tuff, or volcanic ash, overlooking the Tiber river valley. It is in constant danger of destruction as the edges of the plateau collapse due to erosion, leaving the buildings to crumble as their underlying support falls away. As of 2004, there were plans to reinforce the plateau with steel rods to prevent further geological damage (Wikipedia).

Civita di Bagnoregio in the fog

Civita’s history goes back to the Etruscan and ancient Roman times. In the Middle Ages, Civita had a population of about 4,000. Following a 1695 earthquake, many of the residents left as they feared their houses would collapse into the valley below. Apparently the population today is only 11 hardy citizens. Civita’s architecture is still stuck in the Middle Ages.

the valley at Civita

We crossed the pedestrian bridge and entered the village through Porta Santa Maria, a 12th-century Romanesque arch. This was cut by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago, when the town was a stop on an ancient trading route.

pedestrian bridge to Civita di Bagnoregio

the walls of the town

the valley around Civita

Porta Santa Maria

The town church faces Civita’s main piazza. The church, with its campanile (bell tower), marks the spot where an Etruscan temple, and then a Roman temple, once stood. A cathedral until 1699, the church houses records of about 60 bishops dating back to the 17th century. Inside are Romanesque columns and arches in Baroque-era whitewash.

town church of Civita

inside the town church of Civita

Leaving the church, we walked to the edge of town, passing eateries, olive presses, gardens, a rustic town museum, and valley views. According to Rick Steves: Best of Italy, “the rock below Civita is honeycombed with ancient tunnels, caverns (housing olive presses), cellars (for keeping wine at a constant temperature all year), and cisterns (for collecting rainwater, since there was no well in town). Many date from Etruscan times.”

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

We left Civita close to 1:00 and drove the rest of the way to Rome. We checked in at the Fiumicino Airport B&B Delux in Fiumicino, close to the airport, and then walked around the town, which ran along a waterway. We stopped into a restaurant for dinner.

restaurant in Fiumicino

trout and potatoes

Back at our Airbnb, as we prepared for our early morning flight home, we got a text from our youngest son (26) who had been struggling mightily. (His struggles have been perpetual). He asked if he could come home to live with us. He said he wanted to go to Massage Therapy School and get his life on track. We debated as to whether we should allow this as we had given him limitless opportunities to get his life on track, and he had let us, and himself, down every time. He had perfected the art of quitting everything meaningful he’d ever undertaken except for things that harmed him.

After much debate, we said we would allow it, but only under certain conditions. We made a long list of our requirements for him to move back in, and we sent it to him, telling him he would have to agree to meet our conditions in order to move back home. He agreed to the conditions, but I seriously doubted he would meet any of them.

*Thursday, May 9, 2019*

sioux falls to mitchell corn palace to the ingalls home

wanderessence1025 September 8, 2020

During my breakfast in Sioux Falls of egg, sausages, mandarin orange and banana, the talking head on AG TV said, “Grassland is a natural resource: it’s good for carbon capture and erosion prevention.” I had wondered about all the grassland I’d been seeing, whether it would eventually be converted to crops, but apparently it has a value of its own.

At 8:07, as I got underway, it was 57°F. A sign for the World’s Only Corn Palace at Exit 332 told me I was on the right track. Soon there was nothing but rain in all directions. I took I-29N to I-90W, passing signs for 1880 Cowboy Town, Buffalo Ridge, Humboldt Bar and Sunshine Foods. A damp ozone smell hung in the air. I passed The Tumbleweed, Prairie Village, and the Vermillion River.

Along the road, I saw a rusty metal horse and a huge longhorn steer head. These were part of Porter Sculpture Park, a collection of over 50 welded metal sculptures, the vision of artist and farmer Wayne Porter. They are comprised of old scrap metal and disused agricultural and railroad equipment.

Then the signs began, especially the ones for Wall Drug, which lay further west along I-90W. I wouldn’t be heading there just yet. SOLD FOR SEX: IT HAPPENS HERE. WALL DRUG, AS TOLD BY GOOD MORNING AMERICA. FREE ICE WATER: WALL DRUG.

Wetlands abounded. The bones of an old teepee structure identified a rest area, where I stopped for a break.

STOCK UP ON CORNY SOUVENIRS. HOME OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER. DE SMET EXIT 350. WESTERN BRONZE DISPLAYS: WALL DRUG. LEATHER GOODS: WALL DRUG.

There were signs for The Tumbleweed. Emery. Farmer. Double T Leather. Cattleman’s Club. Fatima Family Shrine in Alexandria. Second Impression Palace: Antiques. RUN WILD: WALL DRUG. “Suddenly it’s like new” – Dick’s Body Shop.

Cattle grazed placidly along the highway. The Kongo Klub advertised itself as a Gentleman’s Club. I passed the Twin Dragon Chinese Restaurant and then crossed the James River, taking 37S to Mitchell, South Dakota.

******

I arrived at the World’s Only Corn Palace by 9:20. The 2018-2019 theme was “Salute to Military.” The World’s Only Corn Palace is decorated each year with thousands of bushels of corns, grains and native grasses.

The World’s Only Corn Palace 2018 Salute to Military 2019

The World’s Only Corn Palace

While much of the Midwest suffered from drought in 1887, Sioux City, Iowa looked like a green oasis in the middle of the desert. Abundant rainfall had produced excellent crops for over a decade. The city was the third largest meatpacking center in America with over 30,000 inhabitants. To celebrate their prosperity, citizens conceived the idea of a corn palace. In August 1887, the Sioux City Daily Journal noted, “St. Paul and Montreal have their ice palaces, which melt at the first approach of spring, but Sioux City is going to build a palace of the product of the soil that is making it the great pork-packing center of the northwest.”

From the 1880s to the 1930s, at least 34 “prairie palaces” sprang up in 24 towns across the Midwest. Entrepreneurs pummeled the newspapers with exaggerated claims of life on the prairie. Communities sprang up along railroad lines and experimented with the artistic nuances of grasses and grains while celebrating what was essential to their livelihoods. These palaces brought attention to the unique promise of each locale. However, only one prairie palace has endured – the “World’s Only Corn Palace” in Mitchell (from a plaque at the Corn Palace).

In 1892, Mitchell had less than 3,000 inhabitants. It had dirt roads, wooden sidewalks and gas lamps. The Corn Belt Real Estate Association, a multi-county organization, wanted to promote further settlement in the region and envisioned a harvest fall festinal. The demise of the Sioux City Corn Palaces in Iowa presented inspiration and opportunity.

On September 28, 1892, the first Corn Belt Exposition opened. Special trains brought potential land buyers at reduced fares. The Iowa State Boys Band provided music and the sixteen counties provided agricultural exhibits. The exposition attracted attention to Mitchell, the Corn Belt and the state. Remarkably the organizers profited despite the dismal economic climate.

The World’s Only Corn Palace was built in 1892 and was designed as a Moorish Revival Building: “supersized seed art meets the Taj Mahal of the Great Plains,” is how it is described in The Dakotas Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places.

Its debut occurred with Mitchell’s first Corn Belt Exposition. At that time, Aberdeen had the Grain Palace and Rapid City had an Alfalfa Palace, and more than twenty other towns also had palaces, but only the Mitchell Corn Palace survived.

Inside was a showcase of Oscar Howe (1915-1983), one of South Dakota’s most revered artists. He was born on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota and was a full-blooded member of the Yankonai Sioux of the Dakota Nation. Having developed a skin condition as a youngster, Oscar became a recluse to avoid those who would tease him, but he found enjoyment in drawing. He was a graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University. Oscar Howe drew many of the panels for the murals over the years, from the 1948 Indian Theme to the 1971 Mother Goose Rhymes.

Oscar Howe’s panel drawings

Inside the Corn Palace I found a decade-by-decade history of political and social events and themes of the Corn Palace. There were also photos of the Corn Palace throughout the years.

photos of the Corn Palace through the years

Farmers plant twelve different colors of corn for the murals. To decorate the palace requires 275,000 ears sliced in half and nailed to the Corn Palace Walls. The murals are “accented with other locally grown grains and grasses that include: bundles of ryegrass and sour dock, bromegrass and bluegrass, wild oats, rye, straw and wheat,” according to The Dakotas Off the Beaten Path.

Local pigeons and squirrels begin to devour the murals after Corn Palace Week in late August.

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

The Corn Palace also serves as a multi-use center for the community and the region with stage shows as well as sporting events. It is home to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and the Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.

inside The World’s Only Corn Palace

tractor display at the The World’s Only Corn Palace

corncob columns inside The World’s Only Corn Palace

The World’s Only Corn Palace

Inside can be found corn ceramics, corn husk dolls, and other corn-related items.

corn ceramics

In the Gift Shop, I bought some Tree of Life earrings, a magnet, and postcards. Across the street from the Corn Palace was Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle, which was said to include a Bible Land walk-thru, a Hebrew Tabernacle model, a tableaux from the 12 tribes of Israel, and a jungle room for the kids. I didn’t go inside.

Valtiroty

I was on my way to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder.

********

On 37N, I passed Lake Mitchell and finally the rain had let up, although the skies were still low, gray and woolly. I passed a lot of lakes, waterways, gently rolling terrain and cornfields. Greenfield was dotted with hay bales. Hank Snow sang “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

Soon the land had flattened out and I found corn, tumbledown barns, and more ponds, lakes and wetlands around the James River. I was welcomed to Artesian. I wondered how people have so many interesting ideas and organize and put them into action. I listened to Mama Mia! as I drove through more cornfields and muddy land. I passed Fedora and the Kieffer Oil Company. Now that I was heading east, the rain picked up. A dead skunk lay in the road and a stench effervesced around him like a halo.

Giant silos rose up out of the landscape ahead. I felt like I was approaching Oz in The Wizard of Oz. In Howard, I stopped for gas and some Cool Ranch Doritos. As I headed on 25N, sheep with black tails and black feet stared at me. At Lake Carthage, cows and corn dotted the land. A sign informed me that INTO THE WILD WAS FILMED IN THIS AREA. I found that hard to believe. The Mama Mia! characters were singing “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! a man after midnight,” someone to “chase the shadows away.” White cows lay resting in a field.

********

I arrived in “De Smet: Little Town on the Prairie (pop. 1,082)” at 11:30. I visited the Ingalls Home & Museum, which bills itself as the real setting for Little House on the Prairie. As it was Sunday, the main house and museum were closed, but I walked around the grounds.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) moved here as a child in 1879 and this prairie town figured prominently in six of her pioneer adventure books.

The Surveyor’s House is the oldest building in De Smet, built a year before there was even a town. It was built around 1879 as a railroad company house. It originally stood on the north shore of Silver Lake until it was moved to town in 1884.

According to Pa’s journal, the Ingalls family moved in to this house on December 1, 1879. The family spent their first winter here, the house often serving as a hotel for the many homesteaders coming through the area. Laura wrote of the many experiences of that first winter in her book, By the Shores of Silver Lake.

Railroad Surveyor’s Shanty

The first school of De Smet was built in 1880 by the citizens. They not only furnished the materials but actually did the work. Laura Ingalls Wilder attended this school as a child.

Laura’s childhood schoolhouse

Laura taught her first term of school at a very young age (just under 16). The Brewster School was located twelve miles southwest of De Smet and proved to be a trying experience for Laura. She lived with the Brewster family and one night awoke to find Mrs. Brewster threatening her husband with a knife.

Some of her students were older and taller than she was, and she had to sleep away from home for the first time. Laura was miserable, but every Friday, no matter what the weather, Almanzo Wilder arrived to take Laura home to her family for the weekend. Laura was determined to finish the term of teaching as the money she earned would help send Mary to the college for the blind in Iowa.

On the grounds was a replica of Brewster School.

Brewster School

The final house Pa built for the family in 1887 after giving up the homestead now serves as the museum in the complex, but it was closed.

Ingalls home after 1897

This prairie schooner is a typical wagon that pioneers would have used in the late 1800s. Oxen were the most reliable draft animals to pull pioneer wagons. They could survive well on poor grass, were less expensive than horse and their strength was welcomed when it came time to pull the plow through the dense prairie sod on the newly acquired homestead. Once on the road, the wagon might travel 15-20 miles per day. A team of horses pulled the Ingalls family across the prairie.

This was a “barn find” in Iowa and was restored by the Hansen Wheel and Wagon Shop in Lechter, SD. Based on the wagon’s wear and tear, it was most likely used for only about 10 years, leaving it in good condition for its age.

The public bathrooms said MA and PA and, stupidly, I thought it was an abbreviation for Maryland and Pennsylvania until I saw that Wilder called her parents Ma and Pa. Sometimes I don’t have a lick of sense! 🙂 Obviously, I never read the Little House on the Prairie books! 🙂

*******

The Ingalls Homestead is the actual land the Ingalls homesteaded in 1880. I looked through the cute shop at the Little House on the Prairie books and thought I’d surely buy the set and read it to any granddaughter I ever have, but at this point I wonder if I’ll ever have any grandchildren.

bookstore at Ingalls Homestead

books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I enjoyed a bird’s eye view from the lookout tower.

birds eye view of Ingalls Homestead

I saw the hay roof barn and Ma’s little house – a reconstruction of the Ingalls’ claim shanty built by Charles Ingalls in the spring of 1880. He got the land under the Homestead Act.

According to Homestead National Monument of America, which I would visit later in my trip, The Homestead Act was signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln.

This Act turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens. 270 millions acres, or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act.

A homesteader had only to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Settlers from all walks of life including newly arrived immigrants, farmers without land of their own from the East, single women and formerly enslaved people worked to meet the challenge of “proving up” and keeping this “free land”. Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for 5 years before they were eligible to “prove up”. A total filing fee of $18 was the only money required, but sacrifice and hard work exacted a different price from the hopeful settlers.

Charles Ingalls built a 16’x24′ hayroof barn into the hillside west of the claim shanty. He specified the dimensions and the hayroof in his homestead proof papers. The Ingalls family often referred to it as a stable.

The hayroof barn sheltered the horses, Sam and David, the cow, Ellen, and the chickens Ma received from Mrs. Boast.

A manure spreader is a farm implement that distributes manure over a field as fertilizer. Manure spreaders like the one here are ground-driven, meaning that as the wheels turn they power the chain and beaters, which move the manure through the wagon.

hay roof barn

inside the hay roof barn

manure spreader

Ma’s Little House

the washroom

Ma’s Little House

Inside Ma’s Little House

inside Ma’s Little House

A wildflower display showed typical prairie flowers, such as Wild Bergamot, or beebalm, purple and white Prairieclover, Showy Partridgepea, Compass Plant, Pitcher Sage (Blue Sage), and Black-eyed Susan, New England Aster, Plains Coreopsis, Dwarf Red Coreopsis, Greyhead Coneflower, and Butterfly Milkweed.

The livestock barn sat on the grounds.

wildflower display and livestock barn

windmill

livestock barn

livestock

I walked around Flindt’s Garage, and through the cornfield and native grass prairie to the West Bethany Church, built in 1905. The church was originally located 10 miles from the Ingalls homestead. Pa Ingalls met all the requirements necessary to make a claim to the land: he had to build ta home, farm a certain number of acres, etc.

The Native Grass Prairie consisted of Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Western Wheat, Side Oats Grama, Blue Grama, and Green Needle Grasses.

The Ingalls farm is on the western edge of the tallgrass prairie region.

Flindt’s Garage

inside Flindt’s Garage

cornfield

grasslands

path to West Bethany Church

grassland

path to West Bethany Church

West Bethany Church

corn

corn and Flindt’s Garage

I walked back across the homestead and made my way past the native grass prairie, the ten acres of cropland (corn, oats and wheat), past the livestock barn and the wildflower display.

Ma’s Little House

wildflower display

Ma’s Little House

I stopped into Laura’s Travel Exhibit, which tells about the covered wagon travels of the Ingalls family across the Midwest.

Laura’s Travel Exhibit

carriage

Laura’s Travel Exhibit

The Ingalls Family

Prairie Heroes

Wagon

By this time, it had started raining more heavily, so I hopped in my car and was on my way to Brookings, South Dakota.

*Sunday, September 8, 2019*

orvieto in southern umbria

wanderessence1025 September 6, 2020

After leaving Spoleto, we drove south and west through mountain passes, arriving in Orvieto, in Southern Umbria, around 3:15. We checked into the annex at the Hotel Duomo, handing over our car to valet parking. It was cold and rainy upon our arrival.

Our hotel was right next to the Duomo di Orvieto, so that’s where we started our walk. The Gothic cathedral, dating to 1290, boasts a black-and-white banded exterior fronted by a breathtaking facade with an exquisite display of rainbow frescoes, jewel-like mosaics, bas-reliefs, and delicate braids of flowers and vines. The bas-relief panels between doorways tell the story of the Creation and the Last Judgment.

The building took 30 years to plan and three centuries to complete. It was started by Fra Bevignate and later additions were made by Sienese master Lorenzo Maitani (c. 1275-1330), Andrea Pisano (of Florence Cathedral fame) and his son Nino Pisano, Andrea Oreagna and Michele Sanmicheli (Lonely Planet Italy).

Duomo di Orvieto

Duomo di Orvieto

bas-reliefs at Duomo di Orvieto

more bas-reliefs

interior of Duomo di Orvieto

Duomo di Orvieto

shop in Orvieto

From the Piazza Duomo, we headed northwest along Via del Duomo to Corso Cavour and climbed up 250 steps in the 13th century Torre Del Morro, or Tower of the Moor, where we had sweeping views of the town.

At the end of the thirteenth century, the medieval Commune of Orvieto was at the height of its economic power and political stability. Public buildings became symbols of this authority: the original Town Hall was restored and the Palazzo del Popolo and the Cathedral were built. Extant buildings were restructured, forming a new urban layout with at its fulcrum the Palazzo dei Sette and the Tower known of as del Papa. From the top of the Tower, 47 meters high and almost perfectly oriented to the four cardinal points, the eye could sweep over the “contado” with its rural parishes, its hamlets, and its many castles and over the vast territory subject to the city of Orvieto. To the west, it stretched all the way to the sea.

In the 16th century, the name of the tower appeared as “del Moro,” probably after Raffaele di Sante known as il Moro. In 1865, the reservoir for distributing water from the new aqueduct was installed in the tower at a height of 18 meters. After restoration in 1866, the mechanical clock was set up and the two municipal bells were hoisted to the top.

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

We strolled through the town, admiring the ancient buildings and trying our best to keep warm.

Orvieto

butcher market in Orvieto

Orvieto

We stopped to visit Pozzo della Cava, or Well of the Quarry, the short version of the “Città sotterranea,” or the Orvieto Underground, a labyrinth of caves and tunnels hidden in the dark cliff.

The Etruscans were the first to settle here, digging a honeycombed network of wells and storage caves out of the soft volcanic stone known as tufa. The Romans attacked and destroyed the city in 283 B.C.; since then it has transformed into a charming maze of alleys and squares, all built from the tufa that was removed and used as building blocks, or ground into pozzolana, which was made into mortar.

Over the past 3,000 years, those who lived on top of this high plateau dug a huge number of cavities into the soft volcanic rock on which Orvieto stood. The series of 440 caves, cisterns, secret passageways, storage areas, and cavities (out of 1200 in the system) that overlap and intersect beneath the streets and buildings of the modern town have been unearthed. This reservoir of historical and archaeological information found in these underground structures showed that locals used the the caves over millennia for various purposes, including WWII bomb shelters, refrigerators, wine storage, wells, and as dovecotes to trap pigeons for dinner. Some caves were used to ferment the Trebbiano grapes used in making the region’s popular white wine, Orvieto Classico.

At times the subterranean path runs parallel to the cliff wall, and panoramic openings let in the light, revealing an endless succession of tunnels, stairs, unexpected passageways, and superimposed rooms with innumerable small square niches.

Orvieto Underground

out back at the Orvieto Underground

We then walked ever upward to the highest point in the town for views off the cliff into the valley below.

Orvieto

view of Orvieto