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otricoli |
| OTRÍCOLI , 15km south of Narni, is almost the last town in Umbria
and a reasonable miniature of all the region's hill-towns. Its medieval
delights, though, are eclipsed by the remains of Roman Otriculum , a
ramshackle collection of ruins within easy walking distance of the
village. To reach them get on the main road that bypasses the village,
head downhill for 200m and take the signposted track that strikes off
right towards the Tiber. So far no more than a trickle of tourists
visits the colony - still largely unexcavated and evocatively draped in
clinging undergrowth - but plans by the state to make them the centre of
a vast archeological park mean they're headed for the big time. Unusually, the settlement has no walls, mainly because it was more a pleasure garden than a defensive site, built as a sort of holiday village for Rome's hoi polloi, who travelled up from the capital by boat on the then still navigable Tiber. Turner stopped off to paint a picture (now in the Clore wing of the Tate Gallery in London), and in the sixteenth century Montaigne described the spot as "infinitely pleasant", though it probably won't stay that way for much longer. You can find rooms up in Otrícoli at the one-star, seven-room hotel Umbria , Via Roma 72 (tel 0744.709.013; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48). |