No better way to launch my third annual “Annesitaly Inside Umbria Celebration” tour than with a buonissimo meal with an Umbrian family. Rural friends, Olga and Americo, welcomed us all into their…
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As an Umbrian newspaper put it the day after Gubbio’s May 15th la Corsa dei Ceri, the “winner” is the festival itself. La passione of the eugubini triumphs that day: it’s palpable.…
What a surprise yesterday when I stopped near Assisi for fuel: drivers – in athletic shoes! – were hosing down the Gazzetta dello Sport van, on their way to nearby Foligno to…
When our group of six headed to Montefalco this week for a hilltown tour, we were all “tickled pink” with an unexpected surprise: pink bicycles lined the main street, many with the…
Only the facade of the Basilica dedicated to St. Benedict still stands in his Norcia following the earthquake of October 30, 2016: a sobering backdrop to the celebration of his feast day…
In early February, 1998 I headed to the U.S. to lecture coast-to-coast on Assisi’s 1997 earthquake. My objective? To tell the world, that yes, two vaults of the Upper Basilica di San…
An area newspaper summed it up recently, coining this winter in Italy of snowfalls, earthquakes and avalanches, “a never-ending nightmare.” As I write, 50,000 are without electricity and have been for days…
Pino headed to Norcia today to inspect a few job sites where earthquake restoration is needed. He took this photo of the Basilica di San Benedetto, only the façade survived the October…
Assisi’s towering Christmas tree, rising tall outside the entrance to the lower level of the Basilica di San Franceso, is dedicated to all the victims of the central Italy 2016 earthquakes and…
Can there be a more sublime setting for a sublime concert than the grandiose Upper Basilica di San Francesco, adorned with the late 13-c frescoes depicting the life of our San Francesco?…