Italy was suffering from an extended drought.

It's hard to tell from these pictures, but many of the fields were extremely dry, and the crops were stunted.

As we entered the mountains, we got some spectacular views.

But the streams were small, due to the drought.

A bird's eye view.

Look at the exposed riverbed.

Winding through the mountains.

We stopped at a roadside ristorante, sort of an Italian Stuckey's.  Daniele warned us not to look at the souvenirs, as some of them were ... um ... "bad."  "Just turn your eyes," he said.  Now what could he have been talking about?

Could it have been the Hitler beer?  Or the Che Guevara beer?  Or the Josef Stalin beer?

Good grief.

There were even Mussolini and Hitler wines. 

But they did have some decent panini and cheeses and such.  So we filled our tummies and hit the road.  I think nobody bought any Hitler wine.

According to Daniele, this lake is formed by damming the Tiber River.  Look at the shoreline.  Even this big lake is drying up.

It's still pretty, though.