I went on a short vacation last week with some family members to Cortona, Italy. Most people recognize Cortona as the location from the book and movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun.” Cortona is a small city surrounded by a stone wall on top of a very big hill. We stayed in an Airbnb a little over half way up the hill. Our host said that the market square in the city is, “Just a short walk from the apartment”. He showed us a grassy path up the hill and said, “Go up to the big tree, take a right, and turn left after that.”
The next day my wife and I decided to walk to the market square and see what it had to offer. That grassy path turned out to be much longer, and steeper, than it appeared from the looking at it the day before. I had to stop near the top as my legs were starting to ache. I came up with two theories of why I should get so tired walking up this path. One is that I am out of shape and need to exercise more. The more favored second reason was that after a three-hour drive to Houston, an over-nine-hour plane ride to Rome, and another four-hour ride to Cortona, made for a lot of sitting. This aching in my legs was their way of telling me that the change from hours of sitting to walking up a steep hill was too drastic of a change. On the next section of road, it was just a gradual uphill walk until we came to the roads leading to the market square. Cortona has several roads leading up to the market square. Think of spokes of a wheel and they all lead uphill to the square. These roads were once again a long, stone paved road, leading uphill. And as with the grassy path walk I needed a rest stop near the top of the road.
Along these spokes are shops and restaurants for shoppers and people wanting to dine at the restaurants. We sat down at a local coffee shop for some something to drink and a much-needed rest. If you want just plain coffee you had to ask for “Americano” coffee. Otherwise you got espresso.
The market square is a stopping place for tourists from all over the world. I had a theory to distinguish people from tourists and local residents. The people sporting cameras was the easy part. For the rest it came to the fact that the locals were mostly very fit looking and thin versus a little overweight. I figured that anyone that had to walk up those steep roads to work every day, maybe two or three times a day, had to be in good shape. Even if they visited other shops they had to walk up or down to get to the other shop. No matter where you wanted to go you had to walk up or down. I do not recall ever seeing a flat or level area except in the center of the square, and even that area sloped a little.
The second day up the path was a little easier and the stop was almost to the top by the big tree. The third day was more like the host mentioned, “Just a short walk up this path to the big tree”. Even the roads leading up to the market square was an easy walk. I began to feel almost like a local walking around the square.
One group of people I saw in the square were bicyclists. Knowing that they pedaled up five miles of steep roads to get there made me respect and admire them. The group often had several senior citizens walking around in bicycle shorts and jerseys. They really impressed me as I know how hard it is to pedal up long hills. Some of the local children rode bikes through the crowd without a problem. I imagined this is how the local residents got their children in shape to ride those hills. One of the young boys that stayed above our apartment came home from school, hopped on his bike and took off. One way or another he was going to have to pedal up a hill, either going or coming back.
There were two things that I observed that were different from Texas. Every car was an economy car. I saw one pickup truck in the parking lot at the top near the market square. It was a Ford platinum model and the owner would have no problem finding the truck. It was the only pickup I saw in the entire week and it was by far the largest car in the parking lot. With gas prices at $1.60 a liter, the economy cars become the means of transportation. The one other thing that I noticed is that there were no buildings made from wood. Every structure was either stucco, brick, or stone.
On the way back we stopped in Rome for one day. Rome is on the coast and we stayed near the Tiber River where the terrain was flat. The difference from watching people in Cortona versus Rome was very evident. There were more people in the overweight category and even a few that ranged in the obesity category. The difference between the two locations in regard to fitness demonstrated what walking up hills all day versus walking on flat ground will do for a person’s health.
My wife and family that went on the trip very much enjoyed the visit to Cortona. If we ever go back for a visit I know that my walking routine will be up the hills around my neighborhood the weeks before the trip. I don’t know what I can do about my theory of long hours of sitting to stop the ache in my legs on the first day, but at least I can blame it on something.
