We took the motorcycle to Gualdo Tadino at the end of September to a medieval festivals where donkeys star (a draw for Pino, who has a few asinelli). During our nearly forty…
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In one way or another, Umbria’s June rural rites rotate around the summer solstice. The ancients believed that on the vigil of June 24th (later designated as the feast of St. John…
La passione. It’s a recurring theme to life in Italy. As I often tell my tour guests while strolling the Umbrian hillltown gems, “If you don’t get la passione, you miss out…
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…
On every Good Friday, as day gives up to night, evocative medieval street theater unfolds in the winding backstreets. The dull bounding of a drum (the bells ae “tied” from Holy Thursday…
The day after the Festa, Oct 5th, the town becomes an open marketplace as the annual street fair, la Fiera di San Francesco, winds its way through the medieval alleyways of the…
Countless religious customs – and innumerable processions in particular – are rooted in medieval street theater. The Holy Thursday and Good Friday of Assisi traditions are living examples. On Holy Thursday night…
Perugia is not just proud of its chocolate, Etruscan artifacts and the Umbria Jazz festival: this provincial capital of Umbria also boasts not just one but three patron saints! Legend tells us…
Our beloved San Francesco di Assisi might be revered as the patron saint of animals in other countries but certainly not here in Italy: Sant’Antonio Abate, 4th-century hermit saint who lived in…
Onions and salt to predict the weather in the New Year? Over our years on the land, I’ve learned how farm women can take off il malocchio, how St. Anthony’s image in…