You know our early May medieval festival, Calendimaggio, is around the corner if you walk the stunning backstreets the end of April: those banners are flying. Blue ones in la Parte de…
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The tall medieval watchtowers on Lucignano’s main piazza are testament to its bellicose history: ferocious battles raged when nearby Arezzo, Siena, Perugia and Florence vied for dominance of this hill town perched…
Long contested in ferocious battles by Arezzo, Siena, Perugia and Florence for domination of the fertile Valdichiana below, the sleepy labyrinthine backstreets of the fortified medieval hilltop village of Lucignano belie its…
In updating my website, I came across this note on a fascinating festival. Enjoy. I’ve lived here in Umbria, “Italy’s green heart”, for well over 25 years… and finally this past year…
Years ago, Pino and I spent a memorable week-end with friends, Silvana and Mauro, exploring Abruzzo abandoned hill towns. Rocca di Calascio was a highlight. A curvy mountain road winds up to…
Pino often asks, “Quando andiamo di nuovo a Tagliacozzo?” (“When are we going again to Tagliacozzo?”) Tagliacozzo (population about 6000) seems to hang on to the limestone cliffs backdropping it and the…
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…
We’ll be heading often to L’Aquila now: Pino’s restoration company has just won a bid to restore three buildings there, damaged in the April 6. 2009. As the job will take two…
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 north Casentino valley tortelli di patate aren’t made with just any potato: the key ingredient is the Chetica potato, a red-skinned round tuber of rosy-toned white flesh, cultivated at 500 m.…