Saturday, August 25th, 2001 -- Mountains of Northern Italy

We had a wonderful day trip to the mountains of northern Italy, above Udine,  near the Austrian border in the Alps.  It was about a 2 hour drive from home, but well worth the time.  It was just above a little village named Zuglio.

    We went to a little village named Zuglio (pronounced Zoo-èel-yoh) in the lower Alps of northern Italy.  Beverly and Toby are seen among some ancient Roman ruins.  The church in the background at the top of the mountain was our next stop.

  All of the homes and stores are adorned with beautiful flowers.  This is very typical.

  We drove up a winding road what seemed to be at times straight upward, for about 1 1/2 miles until we found this sign at the head of a trail.  We parked and walked the beautiful trail through the forest up the hill toward these two churches.

  We found these stairs leading to the first church -- seemingly abandoned for some years and badly needing repairs.  The 2nd church's bell tower is in the background.  These steps must be centuries old.

  Couldn't pass up this great photo opportunity at this first church.

  Along the trail we can see little hamlets nestled in the mountain forests.  So very beautiful!

  Finally, at the top where the church of Santa Maria in the Mountain is found.  We discovered that the entire grounds around the church are a graveyard!  This picture looks southeastward in the direction from where we came by car.  Notice the gravel riverbed in the bottom of the valley.

  From the church, I shot this panoramic view of the valley.  Simply incredible.

     The grounds were packed with graves with a small walking path between the rows.

  This view looks toward the Austrian border in the distance, to the north, from the church.

  A Kodak Moment to be sure -- from the arched walkway by the front of the church.  See the little hamlet in the distance!