A Day Trip To Norcia

Norcia is a small town about 40kms from Spoleto.  On Tuesday we caught the local bus for the 50 minute bus ride through the Umbrian countryside.  At 6 euros each it was a bargain.  We decided to catch the morning bus, have lunch in Norcia and catch the early afternoon bus back to Spoleto.  It was a beautiful sunny spring day, so was perfect for our outing.  We drove through olive groves and vineyards as we left Spoleto and passed by market gardens and many hilltop towns on our way to Norcia.  In parts, the roadside was covered with red poppy flowers. 

Norcia is known for it's salami, pulses and white truffles.  It's in a valley so it is quite different to the hilltop towns we've seen - and it's flat to walk around.  There are many shops selling pasta, polenta, truffles, salamis and cheeses.  Many salami shops are decorated with boar's heads.  We bought some of the specialties and will try out some culinary delights over the next couple of weeks. We also saw a number of metalworking shops selling household goods, copper and iron cooking utensils and wrought iron work.

The main piazza and basilica are named after St Benedicto who was born in Norcia.  The crypt in the Basilica San Benedicto marks the birthplace of St Benedicto and his sister.








There is also a good museum with many artefacts from pre-Roman Etruscan times and the Roman era.  Norcia was settled around the 4th century BC and in Roman times it was known as Nursia.  The museum has a good display of Etruscan household goods and also grave goods from locally excavated ancient graves.  There is a display relating to the Roman Vespasian and his family with fresco and statues.  This statue is a combination of a 1st century youth's body and a 2nd century woman's head and is thought to honour Vespasian's mother.  The museum is built on the site of a Roman house which is still being excavated.

A children's festival had been taking place in the Town Hall in the morning and there were lots of costumes.  This little girl was very proud of the certificate she received.

We had lunch at one of the many restaurants before heading back to the bus stop just outside the city wall for our ride back to Spoleto.