Hiking in Spoleto
This past Friday the ever-intrepid Umbra Professor Cynthia Clough led a group of students on a mountain ramble. Clough, who teaches Creative Writing at the Umbra, is an accomplished hiker and decided that the weather was perfect for a hike up Monte Luco. The students met up with Clough at the Spoleto train station and from there they hiked up the street to the town of Spoleto. This main street is called the “Rubber Road” by the inhabitants of Spoleto because of the rubber traction on it (Spoleto is on a step hill). Up, up, up they went to the Rocca, Spoleto’s imposing fortress, and then on to the summit of Monte Luco, where the group had a marathon three-hour lunch at the hilltop Ristorante Ferretti. Ferreti’s specialty is ravioli filled with porcini mushrooms in a lemon sauce. The group also indulged in a few bottles of Montefalco wine and a classic Spoleto dessert, crescionda (made from almond and chocolate dessert). Students later laughingly commented that despite the heavy lunch, the walk down was much easier than the five kilometer climb.
In Photo: Student hikers posing in front of Spoleto’s Rocca.