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January 14, 2011

Amelia, Umbria: A view from the Historic Center


by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

This view from inside the historic center of Amelia is of Via della Repubblica looking down to the Porta Romana, the main gate of the town. The street is lined with shops. A coiffeur salon just inside the Porta Roma extends like a well-lit cavern alongside the medieval walls. Continuing up the street are clothing and jewelry stores, a fabric store, a pharmacy with the town's longest lines in the morning and evening; a hat shop; and Giampiero's shoe store where he can be found most mornings greeting his friends and clients with a smile and "Ciao, Ciao!" When Giampiero is not too busy at the shoe store, he walks up two doors to help his brother-in-law Luciano Rossi serve lunch at Punto Divino. A deconsecrated church, San Giovanni Decollato, once the Ospedaletto, a hostel for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome, opens sporadically to display and sell art and crafts for charity.

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