Aquamarine and varied shades of blue highlight the waters of the Sicilian island of Ustica, not far from Palermo. Over the years, our many trips to Palermo – hometown of my husband Pino – have almost always included a few days on this island gem, where the one small village of Ustica rises up on…
Floral tapestries carpet the winding medieval streets of more than one Umbrian town for the Feast of Corpus Domini (60 days after Easter – and June 2nd this year.,) but Spello, Umbrian gem not far from Assisi, takes the stage. This year, 40 floral carpets adorned the medieval alleyways as welcome to the sacred Host…
The Feast of Corpus Domini is celebrated wtih astounding floral splendor in the flower tapestries winding through Spello’s medieval backstreets – as you can see in the Spello Infiorate Facebook page. Thousands arrived in early morning to take in the splendor as the multitudinous Infiorate (°”flowerings”) were being complete in preparation for the procession winding through…
For four days in early May (May 8 – 11 in 2024), the assisani unite in grande passione in their festival celebrating the arrival of spring, Calendimaggio. Work goes on for months prior as la Nobilissima Parte de Sopra (“the Most Noble Part of Upper Assisi”) and la Magnifica Parte de Sotto (“the Magnificent Part of Lower Assisi”)…
My Perugia/Deruta tour is a favorite…and a rural feast with dear Giuseppa at her farmhouse near Deruta is always a highight of that day. Recent tour guests, Scott and Sheryl can confirm that as you can see in this video. Giuseppa started our feast with the Umbrian cheese bread – starring in an Umbrian traditional…
Madonna Primavera – Lady Spring – will reign in glory over Assisi’s early May festival, Calendimaggio. On April 30th, five damigelle (damsels) from “Upper” Assisi, La Nobilissima Parte di Sopra (“The Most Noble Part of Upper Assisi”) in elegant medieval dress pastels and bearing bouquets of spring flowers paraded slowly, elegantly into a small piazza near…
In the Umbria countryside, our rural neighbors still bake even more than a dozen cheesebreads in their outdoor bread ovens…or nowadays, in their indoor gas ovens. Our dear rural friend, Peppa – now over 80 – used to bake her multitudinous Easter cheese breads in this outdoor oven near her farmhouse: This year, she made…
As you enter the 13th-c. Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi, head to the right to see the baptismal font where St. Francis and St. Clare were both baptized; following this tradition, all the Assisi children are baptized in this church but in a side chapel. A bouquet of lilies crowned the baptismal font during…
In mid-March, the Umbrian city of Foligno becomes an open market – il Mercato Europeo – as over 80 vendors offer cuilinary goodness and artisan creations from their booths lining the Foligno streets. Various countries, too – Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Austria, France, Poland, Argentina, Spain among others – offered their specialties, both artisanal and culinary.…
On a recent visit to friends near Pisa, Pino and I decided to head off the usual autostrada route for our return trip to Assisi. We had a full-day ahead of us so we headed south into the Tuscan countryside towards Volterra for our return trip, passing splendid Tuscan hill towns….. . ….surveying vineyards and…