Norcia

Norcia is a city in the Region of Umbria about 60 miles and an hour and a half from us. As good as seeing Norcia is getting there. For about half the drive, the road follows the very scenic Tronto river valley with high hills and mountains on both sides. Then to get over the mountains, you can choose to take the old road which is a well maintained but very twisty climb up, across and then down the mountains or the new road which is much straighter, partially by reason of a long tunnel, and quicker. The old road is the sort of classic mountain road that reminds me of scenes out of movies. The new road is much more convenient, not as scenic, but still a good drive. The old road does get a scenic road designation from the Italian Automobile Club.

Norcia sits in a relatively flat valley surrounded by high hills and mountains. It is famous for sausages and ham made from wild boar, for prosciutto crudo made from domestic pigs and for truffles. The area around Norcia is famous for mountain climbing, hiking and skiing and the city serves as a base for those activities. Not unexpectedly, what one finds in Norcia are meat stores, truffle stores, restaurants and sporting goods stores.

The meat from Norcia has a recognizable taste and is almost always designated as coming from Norcia. Most of the sausage shops hang sample of their sausages outside so a walk through Norcia is filled with the smells of the sausages.

An interesting fact about Norcia is that the old walls of the city have remained intact despite some severe earthquakes and that the walled in center of the city is essentially flat. Norcia is also the birthplace of Saint Benedict, the patron saint of Europe, and his twin sister Saint Scholastica. A functioning Benedictine monastery is in Norcia and it would be an unusual trip there not to see Benedictine monks walking through the city, always very quickly as though they are in a hurry to get somewhere.

Norcia has changed to accommodate tourists; however, it is not as swamped with tourists as many other Italian cities. It remains a pleasant place to wander about and the scarcity of vehicles in the central part of the city allows you to imagine life without the automobile. Large parking areas are located outside the city's two main gates and this is where most people leave their vehicles. Inside the gates things range from touristy to residential areas that appear to be unchanged by the modern world. Certainly inside the buildings plumbing and electricity have been added but a walk down the narrow streets today is probably much like it was when most the buildings were constructed. The tourist shops, for the most part, specialize in sausage, mountaineering equipment and antiques. The sausage shops, while touristy, are also genuine, in the sense that they attract many locals and other Italians who make the trip to buy the unique sausages and meat products of Norcia. Besides these shops Norcia has a full array of shops one would expect to find in a medium size city.

While there is some art to see in Norcia, for the most part, the thing to see in Norcia is the city itself. An ancient city, it is a pleasure to spend a half a day learning the city and then eating in one of the local restaurants. Being flat, walkable and walled, you can never get too lost and are constantly exposed to how the residents live. It is not a Rome or Florence but you will probably learn more about how Italians live by spending half a day here than either of them.