A recent guest, Barbara put it this way: “Your farmhouse apartment is spacious, clean and well-appointed: a lovely retreat after a day of touring.” Barbara, delighted to host you and Brad in…
What’s the highlight of a visit to our rural neighbors? Sharing in eighty-year-old Peppe’s pride in his prosciutti? Tasting his wine? Meeting Peppa, “Earth Mother,” as I call this warm and joyous…
I missed Woodstock – but I was in Naples on January 7th for the addio to Pino Daniele. How not to be with the napoletani for their final tribute to beloved poet/songwriter…
Peppa might not know that cicerchie (translated as “chicklings” or “pulses”) were cultivated in Mesoptamia as early as 8000 BC or that this legume is now recognized officially by the Ministry of…
There’s no more memorable “Umbrian experience” than lunch with our farm friends, Chiarina and Marino. Just about everything on the table comes from their labors on the land: from the wine to…
If you’re a “foodie” visiting Umbria, you can’t miss a dinner of rural goodness with our farm friend, Peppa – and if you’re lucky, learn to make the Umbrian hearth bread la torta…
Pici all’aglione (thick spaghetti in a garlicky tomato sauce) with arugula is one of our favorite dishes at Ristorante Da Forcillo in Sinalunga, just over the border in southern Tuscany – and…
After we’ve explored Assisi’s treasure, the Basilica of St. Francis, come out to the countryside with me to connect with other Umbrian treasures: our farm friends. Our rural neighbors taught us everything…
On a recent jaunt, two Giuseppes connected: one is my husband Pino (in southern Italy, “Giuseppino” is the diminutive of “Joseph”) and the other is Beppe, last miller of Tuscany. (Other diminutives…
These days, yellow and white banners – the colors of the Vatican flag – flutter off balconies and over pointed-arched medieval doorways cheerily blending with the vases of red geraniums hanging on…