In the 14th century during the first three days of May, Narni town criers called young riders to join in the races over the next few days: the race for the ring…
Read Article
Fanciful legends, myths, age-old folktales, medieval morality plays, ballads and poetry are woven into the rich tapestry of Calendimaggio, Assisi’s three-day May celebration of the arrival of spring. A much-loved Assisi legend…
In Umbria, you know spring is in the air when the balestrieri (“cross-bowers”) compete in the piazzas seated behind their crossbows, one eye closed, taking aim. The crossbow is an inherent part…
“L’Italia e’ libera. L’Italia risorgera'” (“Italy is free. Italy will rise again”) announced the headlines of the newspaper Il Popolo, referring to the liberation from Fascist control of Milan and Turin April…
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…
In 2002, I wrote about the Pope John Paul II’s sixth visit to Assisi – and my memory of a personal encounter (so-to-speak) during his 1976 visit. That note follows below. On…
Maybe not the last of the many castle-villages in Umbria, but certainly one of the most picturesque, pink limestone gem, Collepino, slumbers on a mountainside above Spello in almost monastic quiet. Befitting:…
Certamente, the brutality of the martyrdom of Bolsena’s Santa Cristina in the fourth century contrasts dramatically with the serene bucolic beauty of the Lake Bolsena area. The fifth century text of the…
Every year on June 22nd in Gubbio, a solemn procession led by the bishop heads to the Mausoleo dei Quaranta Martiri to pay homage to the forty civilians shot by the Germans…
A recent visit to La Scarzuola, in northern Umbria – where our region almost merges with Tuscany – plopped me right into a surreal world of Dali-Miro’-Escher-Fellini-like bizzarities. The name “Scarzuola” derives…