Called “Hispellum” by the Romans, majestic Umbrian hill town Spello perches on the lower slopes of Mt. Subasio…. …surveying below the Valle Umbra Nord. 500 square meters of the mosaic floor of…
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In the flowering backstreets of Assisi,…. ……friends and neighbors of all ages gathered on a mid-June afternoon to chat over boxes of flower petals as busy hands swiftly de-petaled flowers of myriads…
For four days in early May, the assisani welcome the month of floral abundance, fecundity, fertility and celebration of the rites of spring with passione. La Magnifica Parte de Sotto (Lower Assisi) will compete wtih…
(Photo above thanks to Assisi News – www.assisinews.it) You might consider St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of animals but Italians well-know that this honorific appellation belongs to St. Anthony Abbot,…
In elegant ancient Roman garb, blonde-haired Greta told me with pride about her performances in Bolsena’s July 24th celebration of the lake-side town’s patron saint Cristina, I Misteri di Santa Cristina (those scenes…
Perched on a double-crested hill overlooking the Tiber River, Umbria hill town Todi – “the world’s most livable city” – commands distant views in every direction. Its “livable” appellation was attached to…
Easter liturgies have incorporated early forms of performances and role-playing – varying from short text passages to long presentations – since the tenth century. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Passion plays…
January can be icy cold in Umbria but a month of warmth, too: the warmth of the locals celebrating January festivals. An Umbrian winter festival absolutely not to miss is the late-January…
Pino and I headed into Latium to the Franciscan sanctuary of Greccio on our first icy cold December day. We headed into the Valnerina and then south into Latium, medieval villages perched…
November is the month of the olive oil harvest all over Italy – and this year, it’s my month to focus on olive oils, subject of my two ZOOM presentations (- and…