The last time I was in Cascia, Pino and I were warming frozen hands over steaming bowls of roveja soup at a January rural festival. On a recent visit there (May 22nd)…
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It’s not just for the “aria fina” (“good air”) that you stop at the Agriturismo Aria Fina in the mountains on the Basilicata/Calabria border near the mountain town of Mormanno. Although we…
When you’re ready for the best in “farm-to-table” eating (called “kilometro zero” in Italian), head to the medieval hilltown gem of Scheggino on the Nera River for dinner at Osteria Baciafemmine where…
I’ll never be anywhere but in Gubbio on May 15th for the indescribable Corsa dei Ceri (“Race of the Candles”). I’ve heard it’s in the book A Thousand Things to Do Before…
“E vien Calendimaggio..” As the medieval ballad intones, “Calendimaggio will soon be here.” All over Assisi, you’ll see the signs of feverish preparation for our stunning medieval celebration of spring’s arrival, Calendimaggio:…
It’s official: countdown to the May 15th Corsa dei Ceri in Gubbio has started. Almost as if a gun at a starting line had been fired. Today, after a solemn High Mass…
Head to Gubbio during the first days in May and you’ll see signs of “Ceri fever” all over town. May 15th, la Corsa dei Ceri – one of the greatest medieval festivals…
“The medieval tower leapt straight up into the air when the bomb went off,” Signor Fausto told me, “….and then disintegrated into chunks of rock.” I asked if anyone was hurt. “No,…
Easter is a sacred time and in Umbria, even Easter breakfast must be sacred. Before Easter as you wander the Umbrian countryside, you might see whisps of smoke curling up out of…
A sunset private poetry-reading on the ruins of an 11th-c. Norman castle in Calabria? An unplanned pre-dinner treat on the drive down to Sicily last August. We’d booked a night at the…