Umbria’s’ mountainous Valnerina – Nera River Valley – unveils splendors at every curve in the road: And at the foot of tiny mountain village Piedivalle, a small restaurant in a pre-fab now…
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Poet Gabriele D’Annunzio (1910) called the area around Pisa’s Duomo (cathedral), a “prato dei miracoli” (“a field of miracles”). You know you’re gazing on miracles if you stroll around that piazza in the silence…
For years now, Pino and I have raised our glasses and clinked “saluti!” to each other in Orvieto on December 30th, our anniversary. We’re always there for a couple of days for…
Years ago there were horses munching hay under the stone vaults of that stall but these days, ebullient groups of hungry diners fill the plank tables at La Stalla. The atmosphere is…
Crispy bruschetta with a hardy red wine, tastes of pecorino cheeses, and roasted chestnuts were a buonissimo prelude to Cascia’s January song competition of rural Epiphany-time music, The groups competing in the song contest would…
Actor Willem Dafoe’s comment about the Van Gogh film “At Eternity’s Gate” (at the Golden Globe awards) struck me: “It really deeply affects people because it changes how you see things. It…
On the week-end after the feast of the beloved St. Anthony Abbot (January 17th), the blessings of the animals takes place all over Italy. Many a medieval hilltown fetes Sant’Antonio for days…
It was an icy January day outside but warmth enveloped in Peppa’s house. And it wasn’t just the warmth of the wood stove where Pino toasted us la bruschetta …nor the warmth of…
You might know that Norcia, Umbria medieval mountain-town gem, is famous for its norcinerie. “Norcineria” can’t be translated with a single word: “a pork-butchery store selling other local products” sums it up. And…
To tell the truth, Pino didn’t order the homemade tagliatelle al tartufo nero to support Norcia’s post-quake economy but just because he loves truffles! At lunchtime, during our early January visit to Norcia, we found…