Montifortino & Italian Scorpions

Italian Scorpion, about 3 inches long

I did not realize before this trip that Italy had scorpions and they are bigger and uglier than the ones we have here at home, I killed this one after I took his picture. Fortunately no one was stung.

On Tuesday morning we headed over to Montifortino, a hill town right on the edge of the Sibillini National Park. The Sibillini's are part of the Appenines, or Italian Alps. I am told that deep in the park is a glacier and that the glacier melt is what is piped to the houses and also sold as bottled water.

Town gate, Montifortino

church window, Montifortino

We parked below the town gate and hiked up to the top of the town. There was an empty church with this unusual brick treatment.

church door, Montifortino

Farther along there was another church, this one seemed to be in the process of restoration. Here you can see the original size of the doorway and how it was bricked in and made smaller.  This is very common in doors and windows in buildings all over.  There was a pretty park like area around this church and we were going to sit and draw. However, a quick black snake darted along and that made Elise quite nervous so we walked back down the hill into the more populated area.

buildings in Montifortino, note the recycling bins on the street

Montifortino

view from Montifortino towards Sibillini Mts.

Montifortino, laundry

If you live in town you hang your laundry out from your windows, like this.

Montifortino, base of the wall around the town

As we left Montifortino we drove around the base of the town.