Giuditta Brozzetti: “Heavenly” Textiles in Perugia

Giuditta Brozzetti: “Heavenly” Textiles in Perugia

In the backstreets of Perugia, a medieval church houses artisanal wonders. Very eager to visit the Perugia laboratorio/museo of the Brozzetti textiles, never had I imagined that the textile looms would line a church nave! Marta, great-grandaughter of founder, Giuditta Brozzetti, told me that her father had purchased a de-consecrated church in the 1950’s. Called “San Francesco…

Perugia’s Stained Glass Splendor

In Perugia, artistic treasures are innumerable. You’ll certainly want to include in your explorations, the splendid Renaissance masterpieces of Perugino in the frescoed Collegio del Cambio (Money-changers Guild),…. ……the medieval cathedral, backdropping the 13th-century Great Fountain,…. …. and the 16th-century papal fortress, la Rocca Paolina. These monuments are all linked to a perugino stained-glass master, Francesco Moretti (1833- 1917) and…

In-Foligno,-Palazzo-Trinci-Lauds-Nobility_1200X750

In Foligno, Palazzo Trinci Lauds Nobility

Foligno, often called “il centro del mondo” (“the center of the world”) was inhabited centuries ago (possibly as early as the 7th-century B.C.) by a native Italic people, the umbri.  In the 3rd-century B.C., the Romans colonized the ancient city (then called “Fulginiae”)  – and the area flourished after the Roman conquest, also due to its proximity…

In a Foligno Church, a Magnet That Needs to Be Seen

After discovering the medieval and Renaissance wonders in Foligno,  let yourself be drawn by a magnet.  An enormous one. You’ll find the 24-meter Calamita Cosmica (“Cosmic Magnet”), mammoth sculpture of Gino De Dominicis, in an 18th-century de-consecrated church, the Church of the Holy Trinity . Started in the mid-18th-century, the Church of the Holy Trinity was…

In Marino’s Cellar, Far More Than Prosciutto

While rural neighbor Chiarina was making her homemade pasta recently,…… ….her husband Marino took me over to their improvised “cantina” (wine cellar) in a converted garage near their farmhouse: Inside, guanciali (pork cheek), capocolli and lonza (meat cuts both made from the back of the pig) dangled over their wine casks and olive oil containers: Marino…

Umbria Bliss: the Homemade Pasta of Chiarina

Farm neighbor Chiarina was dicing the carrot for her pasta sauce when I dropped in one recent morning, her husband Marino nearby and how he beamed when I asked him about his wife’s culinary skills: And these are the ingredients Chiarina had prepared for her sauce which I told her I’d call “il sugo di…

With Giuseppa in Deruta, La Torta Umbra Takes the Stage

If you read my recent note on Giuseppa making her homemade fettuccine, you’ll already know that the best in the rural cuisine of Umbria reigns in the farmhouse kitchen of Giuseppa, in the Deruta countryside. Come with me for lunch at Giuseppa’s after our morning tour of Perugia and enjoy the feast. After the pasta,…

In Deruta: Giuseppa’s Homemade Pasta….with a Kiss

In the Deruta countryside,  Giuseppa opens home and heart to all. When you arrive,  Giuseppa comes out of her house, perhaps with her two beloved Jack Russells and  that welcoming smile says it all: On a recent visit there to video Giuseppa cooking up Umbria goodness, we stopped first to see the prosciutti aging in the cellar…