Farmwoman Novella had a couple tempting bunches of wild asparagus at her vegetable box (to call it a “stand” would be an exaggeration) in the Assisi “piazzetta” the other morning. I stopped by early to chat with Novella and husband Bruno as they unloaded their 3-wheeled Ape (“bumble bee”, literally, but maybe best described as a “scooter truck”) and set up their farm abundance for morning sale.
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Dramatically perched on a hill overlooking the ruins of its Roman theater, Gubbio seems suspended in the Middle Ages: time has stood still in this stunning medieval hilltown. But slumbering Gubbio erupts in frenetic euphoria on May 15th for the mad race, la Corsa dei Ceri…
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Pino and I will head to the meeting tonight (May 9th) in Assisi in memory of courageous young Sicilian Peppino Impastato, eliminated by the Mafia on May 9th, 1978 for his outspoken criticisms of Mafia crime via the Radio Aut he started (his brilliant broadcasts were often full of irony and cutting humor) in his small hometown of Cinisi, not far from Palermo.
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Since time immemorial, man has heralded the arrival of spring with ritual and festivity. In Assisi, committees meet nightly for months to plan the annual traditional salute to spring, the Calendimaggio. The three-day festival – which lasts three days – is a re-evocation of the medieval celebration of Nature’s rebirth and the initiation once again of the life cycle.
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