No better way to launch my third annual “Annesitaly Inside Umbria Celebration” tour than with a buonissimo meal with an Umbrian family. Rural friends, Olga and Americo, welcomed us all into their home not far from Assisi. And Americo added a musical touch to the meal, playing the May songs typical of Umbria which would…
As an Umbrian newspaper put it the day after Gubbio’s May 15th la Corsa dei Ceri, the “winner” is the festival itself. La passione of the eugubini triumphs that day: it’s palpable. Feting St. Ubaldo, patron saint of Gubbio and 12th-c. bishop, la Corsa (“race”) of three saints crowning huge wooden pyramidical structures (Ceri) is…
What a surprise yesterday when I stopped near Assisi for fuel: drivers – in athletic shoes! – were hosing down the Gazzetta dello Sport van, on their way to nearby Foligno to join in the Giro d’Italia. This multiple-stage bike race – starting this year on May 5th and ending May 28th – celebrates its…
When our group of six headed to Montefalco this week for a hilltown tour, we were all “tickled pink” with an unexpected surprise: pink bicycles lined the main street, many with the bike baskets dripping pink petunias. The “rosy” welcome of this medieval gem – famous for Sagrantino wine, textiles and the stunning frescoes of…
The evocative early morning Assisi Good Friday procession is not to be missed. The 17th-century Cristo Morto image is carried through the Assisi medieval alleyways on a funeral bier, with stops at cloistered convents for veneration of the nuns. The route varies, year to year. I always try to go ahead of the procession to…
Our rural friends remain a treasure, not to be replicated. Ever. Now nearly 84, Peppe cuts, bales, transports and stacks about 5000 hay bales every June, still prunes and hoes his vineyard, makes his own vino, raises his pigs for prosciutto, capocollo, salami, and prunes his olive trees and picks all the olives for the…
Southern Tuscany hilltown gem, Anghiari, turns into an artisan market at the end of April for the Mostra Mercato dell’Artigianato della Valtiberina. This “Show-and-Sell of the Tiber Valley Artisans” festival fills the medieval vaulted walkways, frescoed Renaissance civic buildings and noble palazzi, ancient olive oil and wine cellars – and even a Roman cistern and…
The plethora of sagre and other food festivals burst out all over Umbria in April – and will continue to entice palates and unite families and friends all the way to late fall. One of the first of the year – and NOT to miss – is the late April Festa della Vernaccia in the…
If you ask little Thomas about his most memorable moment during our visit to the farm of Giuseppa and Paolo, he’ll probably cite climbing up into the tractor with his Uncle Jerome and sister Isabelle: …..or mastering the tongs for the serving up of Giuseppa’s fresh garden salad to his family: …and for highlight for…
Wild asparagus is now sprouting in our woods..and with a bit of luck- and ideal weather conditions – we’ll be foraging for the woodland goodness til late May. Our pasta at lunch today highlighted the tasty wild asparagus: spaghetti alla carbonara di asparagi. But in this carbonara, I substituted the pancetta (bacon) for tidbits of…