On January 29th – the Feast of San Costanzo (Perugia’s first bishop and one of the town’s three patron saints) – I headed to Perugia for the traditional fiera (a grandissimo outdoor…
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All over Italy on January 27th, a myriad of events in the schools, theaters, and museums commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, designated by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in November, 2005.…
Pino and I were grateful for invitations to the annual mid-December Assisi Christmas concert in the upper level of the Basilica di San Francesco (always televised nationally on Christmas Day). In anticipation,…
The late December days were icy cold in Orvieto – but jazz, blues, soul and Motown warmed up the Umbria Jazz Winter appassionati gathered in this Umbria medieval hill town gem perched…
In late December, icy lips blow into trumpet mouthpieces while chilled fingers grip drumsticks, fly up and down the keys on many a sax and clang cymbals as musicians in jeans, navy…
Our family celebrates Thanksgiving here in Assisi, too, but the Sunday following the holiday. Pino needs the weekend to fulfill his role, a major one: the creation of il tacchino di Pino.…
That huge crackling and spitting focaraccio (literally, “big ugly fire” i.e., “bonfire”) near Assisi’s massive medieval fortress, La Rocca Maggiore, is said to light the way for the arrival of La Madonna…
Today, as an elderly Umberto served me his famous cioccolato caldo con la panna (hot chocolate with whipped cream)….. ….what memories of nippy November mornings in Perugia in 1969. I had studied…
Vicky, Mary, Dorothy and Christina, such pleasure to have you in our Assisi countryside apartment, sharing Umbria with you all. Mille grazie for your note, Vicky, letting us know that this pleasure…
Si! Certamente, ovviamente, logicamente the focus of an Umbria guided hilltown tour must be the art and history of this bellissima region, aptly called “Italy’s green heart.” But what makes a tour…