January 15th 2018:
Italy sure has some great sights! Today, we trekked across some of the mountainous regions in central Italy. We started in the morning with a couple churches and the remains of a castle tower on a hill. From that vantage point we could see into two different valleys around us, and 4 different towns. The tower itself used to be used to signal invasions and communicate with other mountaintop towers, so it definitely was located in the right spot. Later on in the day we visited another mountaintop keep that was in sight of the one mentioned above, and this time more of the castle was intact. It was so high up that ice had formed on some of the path leading to the top. Again, the view was stunning!
The article we had connected to this outing was about the societies that lived in these regions for agricultural and pastoral purposes. Essentially it discussed how the people living in the plains and did mostly agriculture for a living didn't like the mountain-dwelling pastoral societies. To them, the mountain people were less civilized. The two groups held various disputes over how the land should be used, as agriculture required resources from the mountains and animal husbandry required resources from the plains. This sentiment continued through the age of the Roman Empire, as when the romans came in, they would kick the mountain people out and force them to live in the valley areas where the cities were.
Walking through these mountains, seeing the trails and paths that were used long long ago by the pastoral societies, was a neat experience; we were walking through history. On the second castle ruin visit, we could even see a herd of sheep on the countryside below, perhaps they were direct descendants of the sheep used in pre-roman times. All in all, we're doing exciting things here in Italy!
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