We just harvested our olives. Alleluia, alleluia! Last year, for the first time in our forty years on the land in Umbria, we skipped olive-picking in November: la mosca olearia devastated olive…
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I certainly love sharing the Umbrian hill towns with my tour guests. But sharing Umbrian rural lore while preparing Umbrian goodness in our Assisi farmhouse is just as fulfilling. Karen and Todd,…
To fully experience Umbria, “Italy’s green heart,” you’ll have to connect with the people. Meet our rural neighbors, those most directly connected to our Umbrian land. Each one, a “national” (as well…
Rolling around in huge metal bins over hot coals, chestnuts pop in the night in the medieval backstreets of Arcidosso, Tuscan mountain village. When the husks slip loose on the roasted chestnuts,…
Umbrian rural goodness was the link, uniting guests in our Assisi farmhouse from Australia, the UK, San Francisco and New York. Introductions took place as we shopped for the ingredients: first stop,…
Pino had been back and forth to Castiglione del Lago countless times during the months his company restored the massive medieval walls of this lakeside gem, often enjoying a lake fish lunch…
Two out of three nights on the magical island of Marettimo (western Sicily coast), we ate at Il Veliero and only because one night we arrived too late to nab a table.…
Say “cheese” in Palermo – but say it in Italian, “formaggio” (or better yet, in Sicilian “u caciu“) and ask where to find the best of it. Those who know cheese goodness…
If you’re coming into Trapani by late-morning ferry from one of the Egadi Islands – Marettimo, Favignana or Levanzo – don’t miss lunch at Caupona Taverna di Sicilia before your Sicilian adventures…
The blues of the island of Marettimo off the western coast of Sicily – one of the three Egadi islands (along with Levanzo and Favignana) – seem to harmoniously run together. In…