Verucchio featrued on Windows 10 Spotlight

Verucchio, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy

[Featured now on Windows 10 Spotlight; I'm back-dating this from July 30]

The town of Verucchio isn't large—it ranges over just ten or so miles of hilltop—but its elevated position means this location has long been strategic. The spot has been inhabited for some 3,000 years and was once ruled by the Etruscans. Later, the town was named Verucchio (or Vero Occhio) translating to 'True Eye' in reference to its peak position: It affords sweeping views over a wide swath of coastal countryside in the Emilia-Romagna region of northeast Italy. Besides cozy winding streets and charming tiled-roof houses, Verucchio boasts the magnificent Malatesta Castle and an early 13th-century Franciscan convent. Legend has it that eight centuries ago, Saint Francis of Assisi planted the cypress that's still growing outside of the convent.

Many people are unaware that the Etruscan civilization went right up to southern Lombardy, and after the Roman conquest they migrated into the Alps and merged with several other ancient peoples to form a particular Rhaetian state BCE, which itself was later conquered by the Romans.

In Italy, they're historically very good at not scaring a landscape; not blocking out views of mountains, lakes, etc. All of those towns and villages; the sightly old buildings of tan and orange, amid the plains of green, the blue skies, and white clouds. The landscapes are like works of art in of themselves.

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