The town has a number of churches and museums and they have set things up to make it easy for tourists to enjoy their cultural heritage. There are 6 major museums in town, and with one ticket, you have access to all of them. They also have a pamphlet with a map and information about the major sites.
The Rocca Flea - 12th Century Fortress
We started off at the Rocca Flea, a fortress from the 12th Century originally erected by the emperor Fredrick Barbarossa of Swabia. Over time it changed hands many times and served many functions, fortress, papal residence, and prison. Now it houses the Civic Museum, the Archeological Museum and an art museum. They was also a special show of Contemporary art dedicated to Walter Guidobaldi, Wal.
The Ceramics Museum
Our next stop was the Ceramics museum, which also had a contemporary art exhibit by Marco Ercoli and an archeological exhibit as well. Some of the mosaic work is truly extraordinary. Many of the items displayed were from the 1930s.
Monumental Church of St. Francis
Cathedral of St. Benedict
Regional Museum of Immigration
Our final stop was the Regional Museum of Immigration that showcases the experiences if those who left Umbria and Italy to work in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the US, and Argentina from the late 1800’s to the 1960s. Many of the men worked in iron and coal mines and in factories. The women worked in factories, as nursemaids, and as seamstresses. There are documents, travel brochures and video clips. We were really impressed with the presentations in this museum. It’s definitely not to be missed if you ever visit Gualdo Tadino.
Some Wandering and then Lunch!
After all that exploring, we were hungry. We wandered around town looking for an open place. The restaurant we finally chose, among the small number that were open, was Ristorante Gigiotto. Our lunch was excellent. We split a guanciale appetizer that also had a smear of fruit puree and sliced toasted almonds. Virginia had the Pappardelle with Ragu Bianca and James had a steak with a Jack Daniels sauce. The desserts looked fabulous, but we were full from our meal so we just finished with a couple of espressos.
