Bare-chested, bearded Sergio, with brightly luminous blue eyes and a twinkling grin, was one of the shepherds showing his herd of sheep (450 in the herd, about 50 goats included) at the four-day August Rassegna degli Ovini (Sheep Show) of Campo Imperatore (“The Emperor’s Plain”), high (just over 1500 m) in the Abruzzo mountains. And all…
At dinnertime on a summer night, a small trattoria perched on a volcanic rock precipice outside Lubriano dishes out a sensory overload. It hits as soon as you sit at your table – one of three – on the tiny back terrace, lilac-tone table cloth in chromatic synch (accidentally or studied?) with the lavender and…
Summertime zucchini abundance in our garden means creative cooking challenges. Pastas for lunchtime now often include zucchini, in one way or another. I came up with this easy recipe today: so easy that you can cook the sauce while the pasta water is boiling! Ingredients: 1 small-to-medium sized zucchini per person (big ones will not…
Driving east from L’Aquila, Pino and I were in search of “three sisters”, le tre sorelle. After a wondrous trilogy of events, an elderly key-keeper – who welcomed us into his home – opened for us one of the three sorelle, a stunning Romanesque church. And these photos capture memorable moments of our “tre sorelle”…
On our Marches motorcycle trip a few years ago, we stopped in San Ginesio, once a fortified medieval castle (as were many of the marchigiani hilltop towns). The golden tones of sandstone and redbrick of the houses, fortified towers and circuit of fourteenth-century protective walls contrast with the hazy blue tones of the Sibillini mountain…
Our Marches region motorcycle explorations took us down from San Giustoon a serpentining dirt road to the main highway leading to nearby Tolentino. Encircled by softly-rounded hills Tolentino’s medieval streets lead to quiet piazzas bordered by redbrick porticoes which give no sign of past violence: Papal troops had battled against feudal overlords and during World…
Hilltop pastures, live oak and chestnut woods, springtime-green fields of wheat lined the twisting roads our motorcycle followed into the region of Le Marche on that spring day a few years ago. Le Marche is the only one of the twenty regions of Italy with a plural name and although the name of this region…
You won’t have the basil variety highlighting il vero pesto genovese (“the true Genovese pesto”), but this pesto recipe of a Genovese friend is closest you’ll ever get to the vero pesto goodness. Felicita’ shared her recipe with me when I visited her in Camogli, on the coast just outside of Genova. A superb cook, she’s…
A short distance south of Rome, pristinely white houses of Sperlonga stack up like children’s blocks on the rocky promontory jutting out over the Mediterranean. Follow the labyrinthine alleyways towards the 16th -c lookout tower, magenta bougainvillea and clotheslines of colorful dangling washes draped over your head, and you’ll come to “my” apartment. Well, “mine”…
When Umbria is cooking (today, July 18, 2015, over 40 C – or about 105 F – in nearby Perugia) – and what’s roasting is not grilled lamb but us – it’s time not to cook. This was our lunch today: Almost all ingredients from our garden. Simple. Flavorful. Easy to put together. Breakdown: Sliced…