For years now, Pino and I have raised our glasses and clinked “saluti!” to each other in Orvieto on December 30th, our anniversary. We’re always there for a couple of days for…
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Crispy bruschetta with a hardy red wine, tastes of pecorino cheeses, and roasted chestnuts were a buonissimo prelude to Cascia’s January song competition of rural Epiphany-time music, The groups competing in the song contest would…
On the week-end after the feast of the beloved St. Anthony Abbot (January 17th), the blessings of the animals takes place all over Italy. Many a medieval hilltown fetes Sant’Antonio for days…
You might know that Norcia, Umbria medieval mountain-town gem, is famous for its norcinerie. “Norcineria” can’t be translated with a single word: “a pork-butchery store selling other local products” sums it up. And…
To tell the truth, Pino didn’t order the homemade tagliatelle al tartufo nero to support Norcia’s post-quake economy but just because he loves truffles! At lunchtime, during our early January visit to Norcia, we found…
Often linked to black truffles, savory prosciutto, pecorino cheese and the baby lentils of nearby Castelluccio, Italians now think “earthquake,” too, now when envisioning Norcia. The August 24, 2016 earthquake shook up…
In late December in Orvieto, Derrick D’Mar, drummer for the Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra, brought the lunch crowd at the Ristorante San Francesco jazz lunch to their feet with an astounding gran finale.…
Last-minute shopping forays, hours of cooking up a feast, gift-wrapping marathons, and a furious flurry of holiday party preparations: a few moments of Christmastime for many. But in some tiny mountain villages…
A coffee bar with a nondescript name (Bar Commercio), in a non-descript shopping center of a non-descript suburb of Perugia merits a Christmastime visit. A colorful panoply of Christmas crafts – the…
This morning when I headed into the Caseificio Broccatelli to buy fresh ricotta, I mused that I might be living an “only-in-Italy” moment. Perhaps a hackneyed phrase but cheese shops aren’t usually…