We’ll celebrate our Thanksgiving on the Sunday AFTER Thanksgiving, as we always do. Giulia and Keegan and friends are celebrating in Perugia on THE day – and have pre-dinner games planned on the Thanksgiving theme. I love their invitation, featuring a most original turkey, ie, our former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi all set to be roasted, with the usual smirk on his face as he heads for the oven.
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In early November, white truffles star at the 32nd edition of la Mostra-Mercato del Tartufo Bianco in Citta’ di Castello in the Upper Tiber Valley. But not only the prized white truffle, Tuber Magnatum Pico: all the many flavors of Umbrian fall goodness team with traditional culinary wisdom in this weekend dedicated to educating the taste buds and the mind through a kaleidoscope of conferences, cooking competitions, theatrical presentations and food tastings.
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The Chapel dedicated to St. Martin and frescoed by Simone Martini in the 14th-century is certainly one of the masterpieces in our Basilica di San Francesco. St. Martin of Tours, 4th-century saint, is pictured as he gives his cloak to a freezing beggar outside the walls of Amien. According to legend, the beggar will reveal himself as Christ. The association is there: St. Martin, the bringer of warmth….
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There’s only one way to greet guests at the 20th edition of medieval Trevi’s la Festa dell’Olio Nuovo: with a slice of hot bruschetta drizzled with just-milled olive oil, l’olio nuovo. Wearing white gloves and royal blue jackets, students of the local catering/hoteliers high school, la scuola alberghiera, worked in teams yesterday just outside one of the Trevi-area olive oil mills: two toasted the crusty bread slices on a grill, one rubbed the slices with garlic and the other poured – not ungenerously! – the mill’s oil on the slices. Musicians played nearby, welcoming visitors.
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As the Genovesi and the people of the Cinque Terre mourn their dead and shovel out the mud, the Torinesi keep a watchful eye on the Po, il Grande fiume, up 4.5 meters yesterday and swelling 10 to 15 cm an hour. They know their river – and that ravaging weather can turn it into “un padre ubriacone e malignazzo” (“a big old drunk and malicious father”). The mayor of Turin has ordered all schools closed and advised the locals to stay indoors.
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In 2002, I wrote about the Pope John Paul II’s sixth visit to Assisi – and my memory of a personal encounter (so-to-speak) during his 1976 visit. That note follows below.
On October 27th, Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to Asisisi, called “citta’ della pace” ever since the encounter of all the world’s religious leaders here at invitation of John Paul II in 1986. This recent Papal visit commemorated the 25th anniversary of that most significant inter-faith meeting…
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