After over a year’s work by skilled young fresco restoration experts in Assisi’s stunning Basilica di San Francesco, the late 13th-c. fresco Cimabue fresco la Maesta’ has returned to splendor: The unveiling in mid-February took place in late morning after a two-hour presentation by head of the Basilica restoration team, Maestro Sergio Fusetti ((on the…
For the past thirty years in late December, the Umbria Jazz Winter festival livens up the medieval hill town of Orvieto, bringing in the New Year with a musical blast of jazz, rock and country western, Pino and I never miss it. Musical events rebound in the medieval palazzi…. ….in the theater… ….in the piazzas….…
Lately, many a chilly January day has been warmed up with lunch at Peppa’s, for she often invites Pino and me for lunch. Now over 80, Peppa stil cooks up a rural feast at lunchtime, inevitably telling us apologetically as we sit down, “Oggi, ho poca roba da mangiare per noi….” (“Today, I only have…
Although Ray Gelato’s surname means “ice cream” in Italian, there was nothing “chilly” about his group’s performance in Orvieto at Umbria Jazz Winter this past December. Pino and I joined in the crowd gathered for an aperitif and Ray Gelato and the Giants music in the crenellated medieval Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. This medieval…
The illumination of medieval Assisi’s cathedral, basilicas and main square astounded visitors from all over Italy this year. Let me show you a few of the gems of luminosity….and we’ll start with the 13th-c. Basilica di San Francesco, built to house the body of San Francesco (died in 1226), patron saint of all of Italy:…