Rural friend Peppa is like a part of our family and we’ve savored countless rural feasts in her farmhouse. Every lunch or dinner is a buonissimo rural banquet, although she’ll always say “oggi ho…
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The Marches region borders our Umbria on the eastern side and one early summer day, Pino and I headed there to Amandola where he was to view a prospective job site. (Photo…
As we headed from Amandola to Sarnano in the Marches region, rolling wooded landscapes blanketed the surrounding hills: the foothills of the Sybilline mountains: Coming around a curve, the sign in front…
I toured many Umbria hill town gems with Joanne and Stuart, each toured highlighted by a memorable experience. Certainly a rural lunch in the Deruta countyrside with Giuseppa was an unforgettable moment…
Before leaving, Mimi wrote in our guest book, “ This was definitely the highlight of our trip…(and)…to be honest, I never want to leave this place.” And while staying here in…
Generally I don’t have bookings for guided tours in February: for me, February is dedicated to making videos, writing on my blog and exploring Italy. When Pino must head off somewhere to…
Near Pino’s childhood home in Cardillo, a small Palermo borgata (small suburb, urban outcrop), a grandissima pasticceria/bar, Pasticceria/Bar Gardenia, draws in customers from all over. The tempting goodness on rows and rows of shelves does it:…
Time passes quickly as you wait in line for fresh seafood at the stand of Claudio in Palermo. Pino, his longtime Palermo friend, Nino, and I joined the waiting customers there on…
Our olive harvest this year in mid-November took a couple of days. And here are the crates of olives after our first day of picking: …and here is the abundance at the…
I decided to title this blog note with a phrase from tour guest, Sharon. After our Perugia/Deruta tour with Sharon, her husband Jerry and friends (Linda and Glenn), she wrote me this…