Leaving Gradoli, picturesque Latium hilltown on the western shore of Lake Bolsena, you might miss that old stone ruin on the left, but if you stop – as a friend and I…
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The Saturday night ballroom dancing season up at Catecuccio, mountain area behind Assisi, starts in mid-October and goes on until late spring. Our farm neighbors gather for banquet dinners of Umbrian rural…
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…
Perugia is not just proud of its chocolate, Etruscan artifacts and the Umbria Jazz festival: this provincial capital of Umbria also boasts not just one but three patron saints! Legend tells us…
Our beloved San Francesco di Assisi might be revered as the patron saint of animals in other countries but certainly not here in Italy: Sant’Antonio Abate, 4th-century hermit saint who lived in…
In a bustling narrow alleyway in downtown Naples, Neapolitan life and Naples’ highest craft traditions merge. I can’t imagine Christmas without a walk in Via San Gregorio Armeno, nor any visit to…
Who could ever imagine that a quiet medieval Umbrian hilltown- not even on the railroad line – would merit a place in the Guinness Book of World Records? Gubbio did it with…
Acclaimed “la citta’ dell’olio”, Spello celebrates its “liquid gold” with the Festa dell’olivo e Sagra della Bruschetta every year in early December. Its 50th anniversary edition transforms this medieval hilltown gem into…
We’ll celebrate our Thanksgiving on the Sunday AFTER Thanksgiving, as we always do. Giulia and Keegan and friends are celebrating in Perugia on THE day – and have pre-dinner games planned on…
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…