A highpoint of springtime in Umbria – indeed, of all of central Italy – is Assisi’s stunning early May medieval festival, Calendimaggio, welcoming the arrival of spring in four days of glorious…
….and not just a kaleidoscope of flowers but seeds, wild field greens, wild fennel, leaves, and walnut, cypress and other seed pods blend in stunning floral tapestries to celebrate the Feast of…
Si! Good things can come in fours: try this buonissima pasta sauce made with four cheeses: Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi Ingredients (for 5 – 6 persons): about 1/4 cup each of four…
No doubt about it: Spello’s full floral blossoming is always the Sunday morning of Corpus Domini, sixty days after Easter, when the Host is carried in solemn procession over the stunning floral…
We just picked our last fava beans for this year and some are now in the freezer. The other day, the fava beans highlighted a simple tasty, pasta dish, pasta con le…
In 1971, Alice Waters basically launched a California version of the Mediterranean diet when opening Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, promoting farm-to-table fresh local ingredients. Although I’d studied at UCB in the…
With hot weather, nothing more refreshing than pasta with a fresh tomato sauce. Why have a sauce simmering on a hot stove on a steamy summer day, after all? You might ask,…
Sharing Umbrian rural culinary lore tidbits is always part of my U.S. Umbrian rural cuisine events (and when cooking with guests in our Assisi farmhouse). Like “fare la scarpetta,” that (acceptable) Italian…
What a catharsis, those Ceri moments in Gubbio in May and on June 2nd. Living those euphoric moments with the eugubini, you understand why they’re affectionately dubbed “i matti dell’italia” (“the madmen…
Perugia, “city of the infinite view,” (Henry James) might be dubbed the most elegant city in Umbria. [lcaption]Perugia, “city of the infinite view”[/lcaption] But this Umbrian provincial capital city tucks away hidden…










