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Bill Thayer

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image ALT: A double page of handwritten text. It is a sample page of my diary.]

A sample page of my diary: part of the entry for Sept. 24, 1994

The Web version is set up as text, of course. It's also photoillustrated: in 1998 and later years, many photos; fewer before that.

Chronological Index

This index is complete. Each month summarizes the daily entries, much like the index itself summarizes the months below. This is the place to go if you just want to browse. (If you're looking for specific information, see the Geographical Index below.)

March-April 1994

Business trip to Paris and Nantes.

September 1994

Travel to Italy at midmonth, to live in the Umbrian town of Todi; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Massa Martana, Collazzone, various small towns around Todi). Several day trips to Rome and the ice skating rink of Marino.

October 1994

Living in Italy, in Todi; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Perugia, Massa Martana, the Roman bridge at Ponte Fonnaia, various small towns around Todi). Two short stays in Rome. Day trips to Rome with skating in Marino. Spectator at an ice dancing competition in Mentana.

November 1994

Living in Italy, in Todi; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Monte­castello di Vibio; Assisi, the Eremo delle Carceri, and S. Maria degli Angeli; the Terre Arnolfe, Acquasparta, various small towns around Todi). Short trips to Rome (with skating in Marino), Rieti, Viterbo.

December 1995

The Christmas holidays in London; a daytrip to Rye — or for any Luciaphils out there, to Tilling.

December 1996

The beginning of a trip with an Italian pal over the New Year's holidays to Milan and Tuscany.

January 1997

Midnight of New Year's Day finds me in the fishing village of Talamone on the coast of the Maremma Toscana; I returned home to Chicago on the 10th.

August 1997

Only 2 entries: travel to Italy at the end of the month, to live in the Umbrian town of Spello, and start to get acquainted with the town.

September 1997

Living in Italy, in Spello; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Todi, Perugia, Assisi, Bevagna, Monte­falco). Day trips to Rome (with skating in Marino). A major earthquake hits Umbria on September 26: the epicenter is about 15 km from my house.

October 1997

Living in Italy, in Spello; walks or day trips thru eastern Umbria (Bevagna, Narni, Gubbio, the Terre Arnolfe, Carsulae, S. Brizio, S. Giovanni Profiamma, Norcia, Castelluccio, Stroncone, Città di Castello, Otricoli, Ocriculum, Trevi, the Tempietto del Clitunno). Short trips to Rome (with skating in Marino), Nemi, Ostia, Fano, Rimini, the Republic of San Marino.

November 1997

Only 3 entries: I wrap up my stay in Umbria at the beginning of the month with a second visit to S. Giovanni Profiamma and an investigation of the Roman aqueduct of Spello. Return to Chicago via a long train trip to Brussels.

August 1998

Travel back to Spello toward the end of the month; get my bearings (and 110 rolls of film).

September 1998

Living in Italy, in Spello; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Urvinum Hortense, Lake Trasimene, Amelia, Nocera Umbra, Perugia and elsewhere). Day trips to Rome (with skating in Marino).

October 1998

Living in Italy, in Spello; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Assisi, Spoleto, San Gémini and Carsulae). Side trips: two days in Orvieto, three in the curious town of Pitigliano (southern Tuscany), two in Amelia. Day trips to Rome (with skating in Marino).

November 1998

Living in Italy, in Spello; walks or day trips thru Umbria (Bettona, Gualdo Tadino, Trevi, Narni). Several days in Rome for the 2d International Ostia Symposium (including a visit to Portus). Return to Chicago.

June 2000

Travel to Italy at midmonth, to live in the Umbrian town of Fossato di Vico; walks in the area, including to Gubbio and the small towns of Branca, Corraduccio, Sigillo and Purello. A day in Trevi.

July 2000

Living in Italy, in Fossato di Vico; excursions to Rome; to Ancona, Cagli, Cantiano, Deruta, Fabriano, Foligno, Gualdo Tadino, Magione, Passignano sul Trasimeno, Pesaro, Rimini, Senigallia, Spello, Spoleto and Terni; a walk from Norcia to Preci and Cerreto di Spoleto; a walk from Orte to Orvieto covering a section of the Tiber valley; and a day at the beach near Anzio.

August 2000

Living in Italy, in Fossato di Vico; excursions to Rome; to Antrodoco, Ascoli Piceno, Calvi dell' Umbria, L'Aquila, S. Emiliano in Congiuntoli, S. Severino Marche, Spello, Terni and Tolentino; a walk from Chiusi (Tuscany) to Piegaro, Panicale and Castiglione del Lago; a walk of the Via Flaminia thru the Marche from Pontericcioli to Cantiano, Cagli, Acqualagna, the Roman road tunnel at the Gola del Furlo, Fossombrone and Fano; a walk from S. Giustino to Pistrino and Citerna; a walk from Narni to San Gemini; an unsuccess­ful attempt at finding Vespasian's family villa near Norcia.

September 2000

Living in Italy, in Fossato di Vico; excursions to Rome; to Bologna; a walk of the Via Flaminia thru the Lazio from Prima Porta to Civita Castellana; 2 attempts, the second of which I like to think was success­ful, at finding Vespasian's family villa near Norcia. Return to Chicago.

February 2004

I travel to Italy towards the end of the month, to live in the Umbrian town of Umbértide; first excursion in the neighborhood; overnight trip to Trevi.

March 2004

Living in Italy, in Umbertide; walks around Umbertide, and also to: Corciano; Lisciano Niccone; Monte­castello di Vibio; Monte S. Maria Tiberina; Pietralunga; Torgiano and Deruta; Treia and Pollenza (Marche). Excursions to Rome; Brisighella; Cervia; Cesenatico; Città di Castello; Faenza; Foligno; Macerata; Perugia; Sant' Arcangelo di Romagna; Savignano sul Rubicone; Sansepolcro.

April 2004

Living in Italy, in Umbertide; walks to Allerona and S. Pietro Aquaeortus; Bastardo and surroundings (Barattano, Collesecco, Marcellano, Torri); Canoscio; Città della Pieve; Colle Plinio; Fabro; Ficulle and Sala; Giano dell' Umbria (and S. Felice and Castagnola); Montecchio (di Giano); Monte­falco; Monte­gabbione and Monte­leone di Spoleto; Piegaro; Porano; S. Terenziano; Spello; Trevi and surroundings; Valfabbrica; Viepri. Excursions to Arezzo, Anghiari, Caprese Michelangelo and Monterchi (Tuscany); Fossato di Vico.

May 2004

Living in Italy, in Umbertide; walks to and around Bastardo; Bevagna; Marsciano; S. Venanzo; Treia and Urbisaglia (Marche); and from Leonessa (Lazio) to Cerreto via Monte­leone di Spoleto, Poggiodomo, and Ponte. Excursions to Acquasparta and S. Faustino; Arrone; Chioggia (Veneto); the Madonna dei Bagni; Mercatello, Pierle (Tuscany); Otricoli (and Ocriculum); Pieve S. Gregorio di Castelritaldi; Preggio and S. Bartolomeo de' Fossi; Rovigo (Emilia-Romagna); S. Brizio, Spoleto, the Tempietto del Clitunno, Todi, Trevi and Bovara. Visits to Rome: the Vatican Necropolis under St. Peter's, the American Academy. Return to Chicago.

November 2005

Twelve days in Jenkins, Kentucky: a coal mining area with some interesting history.

June 2006

Another twenty days in Jenkins, bracketed by a bit of northern Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee.

Geographical Index

This index is partial: I spent so much time in the places listed below that it seemed useful to provide a topical index of each region. This is the place to go if you're looking for specific information. If you have a choice, go to the lowest-level index, i.e., the one shown below on the darker background.

Italy Fano, Rieti, Rimini, Viterbo
Rome

All the monuments of Antiquity that people usually see (Forum, Pantheon, Capitoline Museums, Via Appia, Colosseum, Trajan's Column), but also pieces of the Servian wall, large patches of the Aurelian wall, the Velabro (Arch of the Argentarii, Janus Quadrifrons)

Weak on churches, but some: S. Croce in Gerusalemme, S. Giorgio in Velabro, St. John Lateran, S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Maria sopra Minerva, St. Peter's, S. Prassede, S. Pudenziana, etc.

Lots of visits to ice rinks, mostly the one at Marino but also the one at Mentana.

Milan

Duomo, various churches, especially S. Ambrogio; Castello Sforzesco, the amphitheatre

Tuscany

Arezzo, Chiusi, Empoli, Forte dei Marmi, Grosseto, Monte­merano, Pitigliano (especially a detailed account of the Etruscan "vie cave"), Saturnia, S. Gimignano, S. Miniato al Tedesco, Serípola, Volterra.

Umbria

The bulk of my diary and the most valuable part: for a foreigner, I know Umbria in depth. The diary may be of particular use for anyone interested in the via Flaminia.

Acquasparta, Amelia, Bevagna, Campello sul Clitunno (the Tempietto and the famous springs: Fonti del Clitunno), Carsulae, Città di Castello, Costacciaro, Foligno, Fossato di Vico, Gubbio, Massa Martana, Monte­falco, Narni, Nocera Umbra, Norcia, Orvieto, Otricoli, Perugia, Scheggia, Sigillo, Spello, Spoleto, Terni, Todi, Trevi, Tuoro sul Trasimeno; and many other lesser places: almost any place of consequence in Umbria, in fact.


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