Baronissi to Firenze

As I left Baronissi, I watched a man herding a flock of sheep up the street towards the autostrada.  I thought I should get ahead of that parade, so I didn't stop to take a picture, which I regret now.  Who's going to believe I saw a sheepherder in a town, headed to the highway?

As I rode along, I reflected that the general sense north of Salerno was one of prosperity and economic stability, where as in Sicily and southern Italy, the economy seemed strained and depressed.  But the further north I rode, the better everything looked.  Even the roadways were better maintained.

Now I saw castles and churches and abbeys on hilltops all along the way.  But not just any hilltop.  The hill can not have any trees on it.  Here's how I think it happened, every single time:

Dude is walking along in the valley with his sword and his cudgel, whistling, taking in the sights.  Suddenly, he sees a bare, rocky hilltop!  After sweating his way to the top, he looks around and says ,"Hmmm.  I can see pretty far from here.  I think I will build a fort."  So, taking his cudgel, he wends his way down to the valley, finds himself some serfs, and using his cudgel, he rounds them up and tells them it's their lucky day, they get to build a castle!  But the serfs can't use the rocks on the hill to build the castle, because that would make the hill smaller, so they must carry rocks from the quarry on the next hill over down into the valley, and then up the hill to the top where the dude, by now having found some honey and made some mead, sits on a throne size chair he had one of the minions make for him.  And every time one of the serfs gets to the top of the hill with a rock for his castle, the dude yells "Serfs up!"  (Judge Burgess made me work that story in here).  And so rock by hand carried rock, the dude gets his castle on the hill.

After the dude gets his castle built, he has to have a priest minister to the serfs.  And when you get a priest for your castle, you have to build them a church.  I noticed that in almost every case, where you have a fortress-church pair, the church sits higher on the mountain than the castle.  Priests like to be closer to God than common folk.

Firenze is a beautiful city.  I stayed at the Best Western River Hotel, a traditional hotel right on the River Arno, close to Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, the Verdi Theater, and on and on.  I had a wonderful room on the ground floor opening onto the interior court, just fantastic, quiet, comfortable, and with wifi that worked.  Breakfast was an enormous spread, and I ate in the covered courtyard.  The staff was exceptional in their attentiveness and service.

I visited the bridge, the Duomo, the usual places.  I enjoyed watching the people, and looking at the buildings.  There were lots of students out on Sunday night, speaking many languages, having what seemed to be a lot of fun.  The dog walkers were out, with dogs of all ages, sizes and temperaments.  The older couples strolled, too, holding each other up and looking out for each other.  Warms your heart to watch them.