Pino had warned me not to hang the braids of purple onions over the stove: “troppo caldo – spunteranno” (“too hot – they’ll sprout”). Of course, i knew he was right – but I loved the onion and garlic braids dangling over the stove. The other day, I decided to eliminate the sprouted purple onions…
Fewer guided Umbrian hill town requests in November means I have more time to join Pino on his frequent trips to L’Aquila. His restoration team – Impresa Edile Alagna – is nearing completion of restoration on three apartment buildings damaged by the 2009 Abruzzo earthquake. Pino might not miss his trips to the jobsite in…
When only green tomatoes remain on the plants, you know summer is over. But summer lingered on this year: we gathered our green tomatoes at the end of November – and picked quite a few ripe ones still on the plants along with them. They’ve been turned into a green tomato relish. Best way to…
I was “along for the ride” with Pino as he headed from L’Aquila to Atessa in southeast Abruzzo to check out a possible restoration project. Along our route, medieval hill towns clinging to forested mountains and here and there, in a field, a crumbling medieval church, needing restoration. Sweeping his hand across the burnished orange…
The last – and only time – we turned our own grapes into wine was in 1975, our first year on the land in Umbria. The land and farmhouse had been abandoned for ten years prior, detrimental to the vineyard. Phylloxera had taken over. As we picked our meagre yield with farm friends, Peppe and…
Sunday’s salad was a special one. The radicchio and salad greens came right from the garden and even though early November, I washed them outside in a warm and buttery sun. I now often wash our salad in a most special spot: at an old pump Pino has installed just outside our front door, beak…
Pino will be coming to L’Aquila three times weekly for a couple of years now, as his company is restoring an apartment complex (three buildings) damaged in the devastating April 2009 earthquake. If I do not have tours on one of the days he comes to L’Aquila to check on his jobsite, I join him…
According to legends, a myriad of la Madonna images have miraculously arrived in Italy from the sea. No one knows when the venerated Byzantine Madonna Greca image arrived in Isola a Capo Rizzuto (Calabria) but legend dates the arrival of la Madonna della Madia – not on a boat but on a raft – into…
Another wondrous day in Perugia..and then on to Deruta for lunch with farm friend, Giuseppa. Mark and Susan from Hong Kong remained captivated today by Giuseppa..and her cooking. Can’t you feel our good times in the photos below? Click here for more on Giuseppa – and her passione Read about Giuseppa, husband Paolo and a…
I’ve decided it’s time to offer more than just Umbrian hilltown guided tours. After all, my love for Umbria is tied to the land as well as to the art and history. This inaugural ten-day Annesitaly “Inside Umbria” Adventure in May will include guided visits to Assisi (more than once!), Perugia, Deruta, Bevagna, Spello, Spoleto,…