The normal venue for Professor Cynthia Clough’s weekend hikes are sides of mountains. Clough, who lives in Spoleto and teaches Creative Writing at the Umbra Institute, leads frequent hikes in the valley that runs between Perugia and Spoleto. This past weekend, however, she changed gears and took students to Lake Trasimeno. The outing was not to go suntanning, though, as after a local train and then a brief ferry ride, students hiked on the lake’s larger island, the Isola Maggiore.

 In addition to Clough, four students and former Umbra Institute Director (and current professor) Charles Jarvis were along for the hike. The group made their way up the steep slopes of the island, through ancient groves of olive trees where Saint Francis once prayed during an Easter fast. The hilltop villa was unfortunately closed for renovations, but the group later found the Ristorante L’Oso open, and stopped for a fish menu that included lake trout freshly-caught from the end of the dock that was on the edge of the restaurant’s outside patio. Gelato made the perfect follow-up to the meal.