On January 19, 2020, there was no water in the Bologna piazza –and certainly not desired by the forty-thousand sardines there. In Bologna, Pino and I joined the protesting Sardine who have been filling Italy’s piazzas since November, 2019. Who are these Sardine? Where did they come from? The movement started with the Internet-solicited flash…
Pino and I were grateful for invitations to the annual mid-December Assisi Christmas concert in the upper level of the Basilica di San Francesco (always televised nationally on Christmas Day). In anticipation, we walked quickly to the entrance on that icy night, passing the crib scene with nearly life-sized figures backdropped by the glorious white…
No, not quite. Not a Peppa pig but Peppe‘s pig stars in this note. When Peppe told me the December date for the transformation of his butchered pig into prosciutto, capocollo, sausages, salami, coppa and lard, I knew I’d be there. At eighty-four, Peppe is the oldest of our rural neighbors to continue this winter…
The late December days were icy cold in Orvieto – but jazz, blues, soul and Motown warmed up the Umbria Jazz Winter appassionati gathered in this Umbria medieval hill town gem perched on a volcanic rock plateau. Including us: we never miss this event, such a perfect way to celebrate our December 30th anniversary. The…
In late December, icy lips blow into trumpet mouthpieces while chilled fingers grip drumsticks, fly up and down the keys on many a sax and clang cymbals as musicians in jeans, navy blue hooded sweatshirts and red tennis shoes leap and dance down the medieval Orvieto backstreets. The Florentine marching brass band, Funk Off, never…
On December 14th in Rome, we met our first Sardine heading up the escalator from the San Giovanni Metro stop. A woman in a red jacket – from Parma and in Rome for the Sardine gathering – had a blue and yellow cardboard sign on her back with a message in rhyme, “SARDINA PARMIGIANA –…
Our family celebrates Thanksgiving here in Assisi, too, but the Sunday following the holiday. Pino needs the weekend to fulfill his role, a major one: the creation of il tacchino di Pino. For years, we’ve ordered the turkey a few days prior from Assisi’s best butcher, Francesco, who well knows “che serve a Pino per…
That huge crackling and spitting focaraccio (literally, “big ugly fire” i.e., “bonfire”) near Assisi’s massive medieval fortress, La Rocca Maggiore, is said to light the way for the arrival of La Madonna (for December 8th, feast of the Immaculate Conception). I’m not sure about that but the traditional December 7th bonfire certainly does gather together…
No, Perugia Sardines don’t swim. They protest. Le Sardine are gathering by the thousands in cities all over Italy demonstrating their opposition to Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right La Lega (the League) and former deputy prime minister (in a coalition with the Five Star party). Born as a spontaneous online movement, the “sardines” oppose…
Yes, our olive oil just back from the mill certainly is “green gold.” And this gold is more precious than ever: olive oil production in our region of Umbria is down 28% and our own yield is about 1/3 that of last year, reflecting the overall statistics. The situation could be bleaker: in Emilia Romagna,…