Floral tapestries carpet the winding medieval streets of more than one Umbrian town for the Feast of Corpus Domini (60 days after Easter – and June 2nd this year.,) but Spello, Umbrian…
The Feast of Corpus Domini is celebrated wtih astounding floral splendor in the flower tapestries winding through Spello’s medieval backstreets – as you can see in the Spello Infiorate Facebook page. Thousands…
For four days in early May (May 8 – 11 in 2024), the assisani unite in grande passione in their festival celebrating the arrival of spring, Calendimaggio. Work goes on for months…
Madonna Primavera – Lady Spring – will reign in glory over Assisi’s early May festival, Calendimaggio. On April 30th, five damigelle (damsels) from “Upper” Assisi, La Nobilissima Parte di Sopra (“The Most Noble…
As you enter the 13th-c. Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi, head to the right to see the baptismal font where St. Francis and St. Clare were both baptized; following this tradition,…
In mid-March, the Umbrian city of Foligno becomes an open market – il Mercato Europeo – as over 80 vendors offer cuilinary goodness and artisan creations from their booths lining the Foligno…
On a recent visit to friends near Pisa, Pino and I decided to head off the usual autostrada route for our return trip to Assisi. We had a full-day ahead of us…
After over a year’s work by skilled young fresco restoration experts in Assisi’s stunning Basilica di San Francesco, the late 13th-c. fresco Cimabue fresco la Maesta’ has returned to splendor: The unveiling…
Every year for the Feast of St. Francis, one of the 20 regions of Italy brings the oil which will burn all year in front of his tomb in the Basilica of…
At the end of October, Pino and I headed into the bellissima Valnerina (Nera River Valley)….. ….on our way to Cascia, medieval mountain town where St. Rita died in the mid-15th-century. Annually,…