Near Assisi, Truly Living Italy

It’s my mantra: you can’t know Italy if you don’t know the people. And Italy today is rooted in rural traditions and the rural people remain Italy’s “national treasures.” Lois and Larry from Wisconsin came along with me to visit these rural “treasures.”

Peppe is one. At age eighty-five, he is still working the land.

[lcaption]Peppe reminisces about his hard years on the land[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Peppe offers Lois his vino rosso[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Salute, Larry, Lois and Peppe[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Peppe, proud of his sheep[/lcaption]

[lcaption]…and you can’t leave his farmhouse without seeing those prosciutti[/lcaption]

and Peppa is another “rural treasure”……

[lcaption]Peppa shows us her outdoor stone bread oven where breads and roasted meats were once cooked[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Lavender to take home as a Peppa gift[/lcaption]

[lcaption]Peppa raises rabbits for meat – as do all our farm neighbors[/lcaption]

[lcaption]In Peppa’s wine cellar, we see the grapes drying for raisins[/lcaption]

[lcaption]…and Larry and Lois must try her wine..[/lcaption]

..and after our time with these farm friends, tasting their wines, seeing their animals, hearing their stories, on to our farmhouse for an apertivo:

Last stop? The home of Chiarina and Marino (….and what a rural feast Chiarina cooks up!). A stop first in their wine cellar – with other guests there to join us for the feast: