On October 4th, a floral tapestry depicting San Francesco and the dove of peace carpeted the piazza at the entrance to the lower level of the Basilica di San Francesco. The floral…
Read Article
In a past note on the Assisi’s October 4th festivities for the Feast of St. Francis, I started by summing up Francesco’s top ranking for all of the Italians. This is what…
The hills undulating down from Montefalco are laced with vineyards of the Sagrantino, a prized grape indigenous a to very limited area of Umbria. ….and mamma mia, how these wines – and…
Up on the hill, Assisi backdrops the small (pop. 2500) village of Rivotorto, where Umbria’s traditional rural cuisine draws the locals – and not only! – for nine mid-August evenings of feasting,…
On an August Saturday night, groups of musicians and singers filled the Bolsena piazzas and wandered down the town’s winding medieval alleyways. With laundry baskets at their feet or on their heads,…
In early August in Bolsena, Pino and I (fortunately) ran into Stefano and Fabio, two protagonists of the Misteri di Santa Cristina festival a couple weeks prior. Both thanked me warmly for having included…
From late spring to late fall, revel in the Umbria countryside in one of our Assisi-area apartments…..and while here join us for a sagra, those delightful village food festivals. Just ask Louise and…
Probably an hour after participating in the 4th-c martyrdom scene of Santa Cristina – patron saint of Bolsena and feted in late July in two days of medieval street theater – young…
As we arrived in Bolsena on July 24th, the locals were gathering together in front of the 14th-century castle across the road from the San Salvatore church. At the conclusion of the Mass…
“Ospedaletto” literally means “a small place offering hospitality” – and in fact, the ospedale in the Middle Ages gave rest, respite, and nourishment to the pilgrims trekking through Europe. And not only: housing…