A gentle start, then dump grey water, take on fresh water and empty chemical toilet before paying the bill and setting off. We wanted to try one of the many Agritourism sites listed in the Camperstop Europe book and had chosen one on the way to Venice. This was only a relatively short drive, so we decided to take a diversion to a town marked on our Europe map with a blue underline, indicating that there was something of interest there. This was the only reason that we had stopped at Venzone and that had worked well.
The journey started inauspiciously when the speedometer resolutely refused to move from zero as we pulled off. This turned out not to be a momentary problem and I had to estimate the speed using the rev counter. I had, however, remembered that the Garmin could be set to display the speed and so I stopped and fiddled with the settings until I could see the speed. This turned out to be very efficient and made things much easier. We then spent the journey deciding where we would take it into a garage and keeping an eye out for Ford garages – there weren't any!
Cividale del Friuli turned out to be another medieval town with Roman roots and we drove right through the town, often down rather narrow, medieval streets, to find a large car park on the other side of the river. Like Venzone, the tourist board had helpfully provided a guide to the town available free from a dispenser in the car park. A short walk took us over the river on Il Ponte del Diavolo (The Devils Bridge) and into the town and we followed the map to view the sites. There is an archaeological museum in the centre of the town and we took the opportunity to visit it. The Roman town was founded in 50 BC and, being a very important military base, it was elevated to the status of a 'Civitas' and this was corrupted over the years to become 'Cividale'. There was not a great deal of Roman material on display as most of the Roman remains are buried under the modern town but the highlight of the museum were the grave goods from a number of 7th and 8th century graves from cemeteries within the town. These showed a strong Celtic influence with Celtic patterns on the brooches and dress fastenings. These and the other jewellery were beautiful and in excellent condition after expert restoration. Unfortunately, the only English translations in the museum were two boards about the early church architecture, probably the least interesting area. I must try to improve my Italian and Friulano!
We intended to have a snack at lunch time and chose 5 euro (£3.50) pizzas at a small, very popular restaurant. Well, it would have been a snack if we had one pizza between the two of us – they were enormous. We simply couldn't finish them all and, like most other people in the restaurant, we left the less interesting parts of the rim. Dinner was cancelled that night and we just had a snack!
One of the places that we visited was the 'Celtic Hypogeum', which is a complex of man-made interconnected grottos with many niches cut into the rock at different heights and reached by steep steps down from the road level. Some experts believe that they were used for Celtic funeral rites, others that they were prisons used by the Romans and Longobards. The more likely explanation is they they were Jewish ritual bathing places used between the 13th and 17th centuries and associated with a nearby synagogue. Still the Celtic explanation sounds much more exciting!
A miracle then happened – when we set off from Cividale, the speedometer worked! So, we decided to wait for a few days to see if the problem returned.
We used the Garmin to direct us to the Agritourism site using the address in the Camperstop book. The book also has GPS coordinates but when I entered these, it indicated a place 5 km away from the address. The Camperstop book was published with an erratum correcting some of the GPS coordinates for the UK and France, so it was quite likely that these coordinates were also wrong. They proved to be incorrect as using the address took us right to La Via Antigua at Torre di Mosto including one kilometre down a dirt track. We were greeted by barking dogs (Jane wasn't at all keen) and the owner Ciro. After completing the paperwork Ciro offered us a glass of local organic wine and we chatted about his business and our travels. After studying Economics at university, Ciro became a business consultant before giving that up at the age of 35 to take over his parents' farm. He now runs an organic farm and restaurant with a few camping places and also spends time studying. That however is a much too simplistic description.
On his farm, Ciro has pigs, wild boar, pig / wild boar crosses, two types of moufflon, sheep, goats and buffalo. He also grows cereals and vegetables – all organic and all for the table. He also has dogs and horses but, I hope, these are not for eating. Ciro is also interested in cross breeding and hopes to purchase mountain goats from Austria to cross breed with his goats. He even has his own mill, made in Austria, that uses proper millstones. As you can see, he is a real enthusiast!
Unfortunately, the restaurant is only open at weekends, otherwise we would have certainly had a meal. Instead, it was back to Henrietta and a non-organic tuna salad.
Photos: Cividale - river and town walls; Lovers' padlocks with The Devil's Bridge in the background; Celtic Hypogeum.
The journey started inauspiciously when the speedometer resolutely refused to move from zero as we pulled off. This turned out not to be a momentary problem and I had to estimate the speed using the rev counter. I had, however, remembered that the Garmin could be set to display the speed and so I stopped and fiddled with the settings until I could see the speed. This turned out to be very efficient and made things much easier. We then spent the journey deciding where we would take it into a garage and keeping an eye out for Ford garages – there weren't any!
Cividale del Friuli turned out to be another medieval town with Roman roots and we drove right through the town, often down rather narrow, medieval streets, to find a large car park on the other side of the river. Like Venzone, the tourist board had helpfully provided a guide to the town available free from a dispenser in the car park. A short walk took us over the river on Il Ponte del Diavolo (The Devils Bridge) and into the town and we followed the map to view the sites. There is an archaeological museum in the centre of the town and we took the opportunity to visit it. The Roman town was founded in 50 BC and, being a very important military base, it was elevated to the status of a 'Civitas' and this was corrupted over the years to become 'Cividale'. There was not a great deal of Roman material on display as most of the Roman remains are buried under the modern town but the highlight of the museum were the grave goods from a number of 7th and 8th century graves from cemeteries within the town. These showed a strong Celtic influence with Celtic patterns on the brooches and dress fastenings. These and the other jewellery were beautiful and in excellent condition after expert restoration. Unfortunately, the only English translations in the museum were two boards about the early church architecture, probably the least interesting area. I must try to improve my Italian and Friulano!
We intended to have a snack at lunch time and chose 5 euro (£3.50) pizzas at a small, very popular restaurant. Well, it would have been a snack if we had one pizza between the two of us – they were enormous. We simply couldn't finish them all and, like most other people in the restaurant, we left the less interesting parts of the rim. Dinner was cancelled that night and we just had a snack!
One of the places that we visited was the 'Celtic Hypogeum', which is a complex of man-made interconnected grottos with many niches cut into the rock at different heights and reached by steep steps down from the road level. Some experts believe that they were used for Celtic funeral rites, others that they were prisons used by the Romans and Longobards. The more likely explanation is they they were Jewish ritual bathing places used between the 13th and 17th centuries and associated with a nearby synagogue. Still the Celtic explanation sounds much more exciting!
A miracle then happened – when we set off from Cividale, the speedometer worked! So, we decided to wait for a few days to see if the problem returned.
We used the Garmin to direct us to the Agritourism site using the address in the Camperstop book. The book also has GPS coordinates but when I entered these, it indicated a place 5 km away from the address. The Camperstop book was published with an erratum correcting some of the GPS coordinates for the UK and France, so it was quite likely that these coordinates were also wrong. They proved to be incorrect as using the address took us right to La Via Antigua at Torre di Mosto including one kilometre down a dirt track. We were greeted by barking dogs (Jane wasn't at all keen) and the owner Ciro. After completing the paperwork Ciro offered us a glass of local organic wine and we chatted about his business and our travels. After studying Economics at university, Ciro became a business consultant before giving that up at the age of 35 to take over his parents' farm. He now runs an organic farm and restaurant with a few camping places and also spends time studying. That however is a much too simplistic description.
On his farm, Ciro has pigs, wild boar, pig / wild boar crosses, two types of moufflon, sheep, goats and buffalo. He also grows cereals and vegetables – all organic and all for the table. He also has dogs and horses but, I hope, these are not for eating. Ciro is also interested in cross breeding and hopes to purchase mountain goats from Austria to cross breed with his goats. He even has his own mill, made in Austria, that uses proper millstones. As you can see, he is a real enthusiast!
Unfortunately, the restaurant is only open at weekends, otherwise we would have certainly had a meal. Instead, it was back to Henrietta and a non-organic tuna salad.
Photos: Cividale - river and town walls; Lovers' padlocks with The Devil's Bridge in the background; Celtic Hypogeum.
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