04.10 - Day 263 - Silvignano, ITA

Friday 4th October - Silvignano, Italy (Day 263)

With heavy rain forecast for the afternoon we drag the kids out in the morning to Spoleto, 15 minutes down the road. 

Another of the recommendations from a Balmain library book our focal point was the Ponte delle Torri, a 14th century aqueduct. 

It appears after walking around the back of the old castle and spans a deep valley, ferrying water from the forested hillside to the old town. It’s almost 90 metres tall and again it’s impossible to imagine it being built 700 years ago. 

The kids are happiest when we scramble down the valley a little - like some of those buildings it's so neat you almost assume it must be newer. A very impressive structure. 

Completing the walking loop around the castle walls we descend in a rather more modern addition - a series of covered escalators. Although mostly hidden from view, it rather clashes with the historic nature. 

If the downside of October travel is the weather, the upside is no crowds; there’s hardly another soul here and as we walk into the Duomo di Spoleto in the main plaza, which receives an RJ review of ‘better than most of the ones in Assisi’. 

Unbelievably, after almost daily wear since March, Sienna’s fake Adidas shoes have a hole in the sole so we head to the safety of Decathlon, on the way home, in time for the heavens to open. 

The rest of the afternoon then is in the house, trip planning, Lego building, reading and learning Italian via Paw Patrol dubbed in Italian.