After over a year’s work by skilled young fresco restoration experts in Assisi’s stunning Basilica di San Francesco, the late 13th-c. fresco Cimabue fresco la Maesta’ has returned to splendor: The unveiling…
For the past thirty years in late December, the Umbria Jazz Winter festival livens up the medieval hill town of Orvieto, bringing in the New Year with a musical blast of jazz,…
The illumination of medieval Assisi’s cathedral, basilicas and main square astounded visitors from all over Italy this year. Let me show you a few of the gems of luminosity….and we’ll start with…
Every year for the Feast of St. Francis, one of the 20 regions of Italy brings the oil which will burn all year in front of his tomb in the Basilica of…
I’ve often termed our bellissima italia “that land of the endless discoveries.” A recent early evening visit to an Etruscan find below Orvieto (of Etruscan origin, 9th-c. B.C.) confirmed this. Spreading out on a…
Pino and I recently headed with son Keegan and his wife, Francesca, to the charming Tuscan village of Santa Fiora (population about 2600), clinging to the southern slope of the extinct volcano,…
For four days in early May, the assisani welcome the month of floral abundance, fecundity, fertility and celebration of the rites of spring with passione. La Magnifica Parte de Sotto (Lower Assisi) will compete wtih…
Before leaving, Mimi wrote in our guest book, “ This was definitely the highlight of our trip…(and)…to be honest, I never want to leave this place.” And while staying here in…
Generally I don’t have bookings for guided tours in February: for me, February is dedicated to making videos, writing on my blog and exploring Italy. When Pino must head off somewhere to…
More than once Pino’s construction company has taken on restoration tasks in the nearby region of Le Marche (the Marches), just to the east of our region of Umbria. When I am free,…