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:…
Linda and Tim and their wonderful gruppo joined me this fall for a memorable Deruta rural feast. See their enthusiasm in these photos – and taste the goodness! All were enchanted- and not just by the rural goodness. See a few comments: Lunch at Giuseppa’s is…..a truly authentic adventure which most travelers are not fortunate enough,…
A small hill town in the region of Emilia Romagna near Forli, Bertinoro, celebrates its centuries-old tradition of hospitality with an array of events in early September, culmination this year on Sunday, September 3rd. The Saturday night prior, Pino and I had booked a hotel right off the main piazza – Piazza della Liberta’ –…
Every year for the Feast of St. Francis, one of the 20 regions of Italy brings the oil which will burn all year in front of his tomb in the Basilica of St. Francis – for San Francesco is the patron saint of Italy. This year, that honor went to the Valle d’Aosta (often called…
At the end of October, Pino and I headed into the bellissima Valnerina (Nera River Valley)….. ….on our way to Cascia, medieval mountain town where St. Rita died in the mid-15th-century. Annually, the Mostra Mercato dello Zafferano di Cascia (“Show and Market of Saffron of Cascia”) animates this mountain town: As we arrived huge white tents…
I’ve often termed our bellissima italia “that land of the endless discoveries.” A recent early evening visit to an Etruscan find below Orvieto (of Etruscan origin, 9th-c. B.C.) confirmed this. Spreading out on a volcanic tuff rock plateau, splendid Orvieto overlooks an astounding recent archaeological find: the ruins of perhaps the most vast Etruscan sanctuary (and meeting…