Actor Willem Dafoe’s comment about the Van Gogh film “At Eternity’s Gate” (at the Golden Globe awards) struck me: “It really deeply affects people because it changes how you see things. It deals with perception.” Pino and I saw the film the other night near Assisi and it truly did impact how I see things: I…
On the week-end after the feast of the beloved St. Anthony Abbot (January 17th), the blessings of the animals takes place all over Italy. Many a medieval hilltown fetes Sant’Antonio for days after with a string of folkloristic events. Like those in S. Maria degli Angeli near Assisi. A few years ago, we were in…
It was an icy January day outside but warmth enveloped in Peppa’s house. And it wasn’t just the warmth of the wood stove where Pino toasted us la bruschetta …nor the warmth of the steam rolling up out of the enormous pot where Peppa was making us spaghetti.. It was the warmth of Peppa herself. Perceptible.…
You might know that Norcia, Umbria medieval mountain-town gem, is famous for its norcinerie. “Norcineria” can’t be translated with a single word: “a pork-butchery store selling other local products” sums it up. And in just about every tiny mountain town near Norcia, you’ll find a norcineria. There’s one in Preci, too – but outside the town.…
To tell the truth, Pino didn’t order the homemade tagliatelle al tartufo nero to support Norcia’s post-quake economy but just because he loves truffles! At lunchtime, during our early January visit to Norcia, we found a favorite restaurant closed. A local recommended Il Tartufo just opposite a scaffolded medieval arch (damaged in the late October 2016 earthquake) and…
Often linked to black truffles, savory prosciutto, pecorino cheese and the baby lentils of nearby Castelluccio, Italians now think “earthquake,” too, now when envisioning Norcia. The August 24, 2016 earthquake shook up Norcia but the October 30th quake the same year caused the major devastation. The Basilica dedicated to Norcia’s beloved St. Benedict (born there…
In late December in Orvieto, Derrick D’Mar, drummer for the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra, brought the lunch crowd at the Ristorante San Francesco jazz lunch to their feet with an astounding gran finale. At the end of the band’s final piece, he leapt over his drum set to the front of the stage, headed to the…
Last-minute shopping forays, hours of cooking up a feast, gift-wrapping marathons, and a furious flurry of holiday party preparations: a few moments of Christmastime for many. But in some tiny mountain villages of Umbria, the locals live their Christmas in another way: by serenelybringing to life the first Christmas. Literally. San Francesco created the first…