The creche scene competition (Concorso Presepi) is always a highlight of the Christmas season in Assisi – for the first crèche scene was a “living” one created by San Francesco in 1223 in…
Magnificent illumination highlights Assisi’s medieval monuments during the Christmas season. Quotes of San Francesco – beloved patron saint of all of Italy – are incorporated in the illumination of the splendid 13th-c.…
A tractor adorned with fiscoli – those discs used in olive mills during the pressing – stood alone near the medieval church of Spello, Santa Maria Maggiore, an olive tree standing tall…
During an Assisi guided tour, tour guests often ask me if San Francesco is the patron saint of Assisi. Per niente! (“For nothing”, ie., “no way”). San Rufino, 3rd-century martyred bishop, is…
On September 8th – Festa della Nativita’ della Beata Vergine Maria (Nativity of the Blessed Viirgin) – the locals of the area of “upper Assisi” (near the Cathedral of San Rufino) join…
Floral tapestries carpet the winding medieval streets of more than one Umbrian town for the Feast of Corpus Domini (60 days after Easter – and June 2nd this year.,) but Spello, Umbrian…
The Feast of Corpus Domini is celebrated wtih astounding floral splendor in the flower tapestries winding through Spello’s medieval backstreets – as you can see in the Spello Infiorate Facebook page. Thousands…
For four days in early May (May 8 – 11 in 2024), the assisani unite in grande passione in their festival celebrating the arrival of spring, Calendimaggio. Work goes on for months…
Madonna Primavera – Lady Spring – will reign in glory over Assisi’s early May festival, Calendimaggio. On April 30th, five damigelle (damsels) from “Upper” Assisi, La Nobilissima Parte di Sopra (“The Most Noble…
In the Umbria countryside, our rural neighbors still bake even more than a dozen cheesebreads in their outdoor bread ovens…or nowadays, in their indoor gas ovens. Our dear rural friend, Peppa –…