…..or at least the central backbone of the Italian peninsula had a good shake-up on a recent late October evening. And coincidentally, both our Giulia and Peppa had cleaned wild woodland mushrooms just hours before our farmhouses trembled. Giulia had found a few on an an early evening hike and Peppa’s son, Giancarlo, had brought…
It was time for lunch and as we pulled off the highway not far from Notaresco (tiny Abruzzo town near Teramo), a sign dangling before a two-level stone house caught our eye: “Antico Frantoio Bar”. An “ancient olive oil mill” sounded promising as a place to eat. The restaurant, Ristorante ai Friscoli, was above the bar…
Within forty-eight hours of picking, those olives should arrive at the mill: pressing must take place before the moisture of the fruit starts to dissipate. Pino had called the mill even before our olive-picking was finished, arranging delivery to the mill near Assisi within 24 hours of the conclusion of harvesting. At the mill… The…
Our son Keegan (36) put it this way, “Well, definitely the best year since I was born.” Not only: the best olive harvest we’ve had since we first picked our olives in 1975. And miraculous considering that the parasite mosca olearia (literally, “olive fly”) has hit again. Perhaps not with the devastation of 2014 (when…
When the rains come and the air chills, it’s time to pick all the tomatoes: those few remaining red ones and all the green ones that never made it to full ripening. Summer’s behind us now; autumn is stepping forward. A favorite October task for me is deciding how to use those green tomatoes. After…
Tucked away in the northeast corner of Umbria – with no railroad access – the splendid medieval hilltown of Gubbio hides many wonders. One is Sabrina, painter and ceramicist. Just ask Nora and Marilyn who recently toured Gubbio with me. They’re now “Sabrina fans.” Marilyn and Sabrina have yet another special link: that same color…
About half of our grapes went to the birds this year. Literally. Pino picked the rest, filling two crates (about 100 kilos of grapes). He bought a small press for our small quantity: we might have about 60 liters of wine. It’s now maturing in the steel barrel in our storeroom. We’ll taste our new…
We always enjoy having our apartment guests to dinner in our Assisi farmhouse. But Ann and Warren – staying in our Nido Tranquillo apartment for a month- actually paid for their dinner, as did we all that night. Well, it was a benefit dinner: the funds we collected went for the rebuilding of the Amatrice…
Giuseppa gives us far more than an “Umbrian” welcome when we arrive at her farmhouse for a rural lunch. No one opens home and heart to visitors like Giuseppa. No one. Just ask Nora and Marilyn. And have a look at the feast – and good times: Before leaving, a visit to see the prosciutto,…
“I won’t paint subjects guaranteed to earn me money: I have to paint the memories of my rural childhood,” Nino told me with a grin as he held up the painting of his Nonna brandishing a small hoe over her head like a banner of victory, chasing her turkeys. “She struggled every night to herd…