Wednesday, June 2, - Umbertide, Montone, Monte SantaMaria di Tiberia

After saying goodbye to our hosts, we went down the hill to Umbertide to see a special exhibition of large tapestries which were copies of modern artists such as deChirico. They were huge...some 8 x 10 feet, and hung in the old fort tower of the museum.

Next stop was Montone, a short drive up the Niccone Valley. It's a beautiful little hill town where our host's wife directs an international film festival every year. Today it was nearly empty, as it is the Italian Republic Day holiday. Grabbed a cup of cappuchino on the street, and around 1:30 we left and drove to Monte Santa Maria di Tibernia via a narrow road of switchbacks which took us up, up to a little tiny village where there is a castle ruin and a great restaurant - Oscara's. Again a great meal of tartufo ravioli with cream sauce, veal scallopini or mixed grill, salad, deep fried vegetables, dessert, and macchiato. Our meal was interrupted by a heavy shower coming down the valley, so we had to go inside for our dessert.

Sadly, our tour is ending, and it was back on the E45 to Florence. Tomorrow we head back to North America with fond memories of wonderful sights, friendly Italian people, and fabulous food and wine. We even learned a lot! Thanks, Linda and our tour mates, for a great time.

Tuesday, June 1 - Deruta, Canarra, Bevagna

A gorgeous morning greeted us today, and we headed to Deruta at 9:30. We visited a huge ceramic/pottery outlet, and then the Grazia ceramic factory and museum. At the factory we strolled through many showrooms, then had a tour of the factory showing the process including hand-painting of the pottery pieces.

Then it was on to Canarra where we visited a hand weaving studio owned by Lusciana Franchi. She and her husband are teachers - he is an artist and teaches art, while she teaches music. She has produced an incredible number of items to sell in her shop, and all are hand woven. Some of the silk she weaves with was dyed by Ildico, our teacher for the dyeing workshop earlier in the tour. All her weaving is done with old wooden looms which are on display.

Lusciana lead us to the nearby town of Bevagna, a small village that puts on a Medieval fair each year in early June. The townspeople compete with each other in contests of cooking, crafts, beer making etc, and all must be done in the manner and using materials available in that olden time. When we got to the village we were led to a small silk museum. (Bevagna and the area used to be well-known for its silk which it supplied to Florence.) The museum houses an INCREDIBLE machine for spinning silk into skeins so it is ready to weave. First silk cocoons are boiled and 1 strand of the thread is pulled out of the cocoon. Five of these threads are put together on a winder and put on spools. Then the big machine takes over and spins the threads from the spools. This is the only such machine in the world, and pre-dates a similar water-powered one designed by DaVinci. The machine is as big as a small room, and was human powered. Upstairs the skeins are measured out and put on the loom dating from 1300 or so.

After our amazement at the spinner, we wandered up the alley and saw a group of fellows practicing for the beer-making competition. They used 2 round stones to grind some barley, and were heating water for the beer over an open fire in the corner. Our next stop was the Taselli Cashmere Shop where we got a necktie as a gift for our host, Gianni, whose birthday is tomorrow.

Monday, May 31 - Lago Trasimeno, Panicale, Lamborghini golf club

The day began with the resident peacock barring our exit from the house, as he was trying to corner the hen with much drumming, dancing in circles, and fanning of tail! About 9:30 we left for Lago Trasimeno, and upon our arrival we boarded a lake taxi which took us speedily to Isola Maggiore to visit the lace museum there. On the main street we talked with an elderly lady who had been one of the lace-making students in the 40's and 50's, and sits every day in the street, selling her lace pieces. After a quick lunch by the lake, we climbed aboard Maurizio's taxi again, and with Sarah's help steering, made our way back to the shore. We spent a short while in Castiglione del Lago, a hill town which seemed to specialize in herbs, spices, and legumes in their shops. Then it was on to Panicale, where there was a funeral going on in the church in the middle of town. There we took a brief tour with a town guide, culminating in a visit to the tulle lace museum. Lace-making here began in the 1950's, and there is presently a small group of women who meet on weekends to pass on the skill to younger members of the town. We also saw a very odd fresco, the Martyrdom of San Sebastian, which has been well-restored, but shows him being shot at by four dancing men with arrows, while he seems unconcerned.

Our next destination was the Lamborghini Golf Club, where we were served a glass of wine by Mrs. Lamborghini, widow of the luxury car maker. On the way home we stopped in Niccone at Nonna Geilsa's restaurant and had an excellent meal of pasta, 4 green vegetables, and a mixed grill of sausage, pork steak, and ribs. We certainly have eaten well on this trip!

Sunday, May 30 - Cortona, cooking class

Today was a wonderful day! Linda drove us to Cortona through quite a high mountain pass and over the border into Tuscany. You may recognize the name of the town as the home of Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, and other books about living in Italy. Cortona is your quintessential hill town, though a bit more sophisticated than those we have visited in Umbria. We were told that about 70% of those who live in Cortona are "from away", and English is the shared language.

Rode up two escalators to reach the main piazza, and visited the MEAC museum and its Etruscan artifacts. We met for pizza around 1, and took advantage of the leather shops in the old town. About 2:30 we started to drive to La Celle, a monastery where St. Francis spent 6-7 years. From the monastery, which is all stone and clings to the side of a steep hill, we walked along a trail to the rental house belonging to Brigitte and Luc, a couple originally from Belgium who have lived in Cortona about 20 years. Linda had asked them to do a cooking class with us.

It was a warm, sunny day, and when we got to their place we had a cup of tea before getting down to the business of cooking. Our first task was to make a robust beef stew with plenty of olive oil, red wine, fresh vegetables, beef, and surprisingly, 2 generous tablespoons of bitter cocoa! A green salad was the next project, followed by the "strawberry snow" dessert - lots of whipped cream, broken pieces of meringues with chopped hazelnuts, and fresh halved strawberries mixed together. After assembling the appetizer - sliced fresh oranges, drizzled with Luc and Brigitte's own olive oil (they discovered that their property was an old olive grove after they purchased the land), we went out on their deck to enjoy the spectacular view with a glass of wine

When the stew had cooked about 3 hours in the oven, we assembled the saffron risotto and made polenta with yellow cornmeal. We sat down together at their marble-topped kitchen table and enjoyed a fine meal. After coffee, Susan, Sarah, and Toni walked back along the trail to La Celle, though it was nearly dark. Bryant, Linda, and I rode down the steep, bumpy "driveway" with Luc in his trusty Panda Fiat, and met the others at the monastery. A great day for celebrating Bryant's birthday!

Saturday May 29 - Citta de Castello, concert in Umbertide

Our visit today centered on Citta de Castello's street market and the Tela Umbria textile museum. We ate lunch of porchetta sandwiches in a city park, then went to a potter's house where she did a short demonstration of her technique. She (Simone) has a beautiful courtyard garden hidden from the street where we relaxed and chatted. Then it was on to the boondocks to visit a woodworker, Mr. Bucci, who is a former chemical technician now artist, woodworker, furniture maker. The tour groups have never visited him before, so Linda and all of us were in awe of the volume of work he has done. We were invited into his home, where his wife served us champagne, coffee, and cake. Their home was filled with his art, and he has made all their furniture. Bryant bought a wooden book cover from him, and I'd gotten a cream/sugar set from Simone.

We then went to a more rustic pottery shop, then a honey/wax producer to learn about apiaries, and home for a quick supper of hamburgers, sausage, pesto pasta, fava beans, beer, cheese, bread, and salami. At 8:50 Noemi came with us to a free concert in a frescoed church in Umbertide which has been converted to a community Arts venue. The concert was by an oboist and pianist, both professionals. It was excellent, and included Schumann as well as Ira Gershwin. We strolled around the Umbertide piazza, had a gelato, and headed home. A busy day!

Friday, May 28, 2010-Anghiari, Citta di Castello, Olive Oil Tasting

This morning we headed for Anghiari, a walled hill town just over the border in Tuscany. Steep alleys led to doorways ringed with potted flowers. The town was restored in 1902 and again in 2000-2004. We visited the internationally renowned Busatti linen weaving factory. Their showrooms were to die for! House wares, bedding etc.

After cappuchino in the piazza, we drove to the Ravigni Olive Mill, which has been producing top quality olive oil since 1421. The current manager, Francesco, showed us around his family's mill, which of course was not producing oil in May. Most of the oil is pressed in Nov.-Dec. when the olives are ripe. The mill uses old stone wheels to press the oil from green and black olives which is brought to the mill by independent producers. Ravigni produces excellent pure and flavoured oils, honey vinegar, olive oil soap, and other related products. We enjoyed a "tasting" of the different oils and vinegars, accompanied by bread, truffle paste, panzanella (bread salad), wine, VinSanto and grappa. A good time was had by all! Francesco was an entertaining and personable taste and tour leader.

We proceeded to San Sepulchro where we saw another Piero della Francesca fresco and other 14-15th century works, and a church built in 1012. The day ended with a truffle tasting in Citta di Castello, another walled hilltown, with all sorts of truffle pastes, spreads, in cream sauce over polenta, and in cheese. Then back to Maridiana to relax and head for bed early.

Thursday, May 27-Maridiana

About 9:30 we began Day 2 of our workshop with Ildoco mixing indigo dye and woad, a softer blue, to use on undyed fibers as well as to overdye some of the reds and yellows we'd done earlier. The silk fiber seems to take the dye best, and has a lovely sheen. After a lunch break, we completed our sample books, with all the work we had done, and retired to the house to prepare appetizers and supper.

Appetizers were deep-fried sage leaves, 4 cheeses, bread, salami, prosciutto, olives, tomatoes with oil, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Our main meal consisted of fettucini with olive oil, mushrooms, and parmesan, broiled chicken with grated truffles under the skin, steamed asparagus with lemon and garlic, and battered and deep-fried sambuco (elderberry) blossoms with sugar sprinkled on top for dessert. Our hosts joined us for this delicious meal.

Wednesday, May 26- Maridiana & Umbertide

About 10 this morning our workshop on natural dyeing began with our instructor, Ildoco, whose business is using plant dyes to colour silk, wool, linen, cotton, and hemp. To begin, we were sent out to gather the yellow flowers from "broom" (similar to Scotch broom in the west), leaves from a walnut tree, and branches from an olive tree. We cut the leaves up into small pieces, and let each plant soak for the day and overnight. Ildoco had brought with her some chestnut leaves that she'd soaked overnight, and some "madder", which has red liquid in its roots. We boiled the madder and the chestnut for an hour each, and proceeded through the dyeing process, after treating the white silk, wool, cotton and linen with alum to prepare them for dyeing. The resulting colours were fabulous, and they are colourfast to boot. The nice thing was that there were no chemicals involved.

After class, around 6, we went to the Donini Winery, about 15 minutes down the road, for a tour and wine-tasting. Diego, the manager, was fun and informative. He gets grapes from just a few independent growers, but produces a wide variety of good wines and liqueurs. While we were touring the facilities, a couple of fellows came in the front door with their empty gallon wine jugs, and Diego filled the jugs just as you would fill your car with gas. Our "tasting" included bread, cheese, bruschetta, etc. as well as at least 6 wines......we were quite happy when we left to go back to Maridiana!

Tuesday May 25, 2010-Perugia

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast, which we made ourselves, we headed to Perugia for the day. There were very few tourists, and little traffic, which made Linda very happy!

Linda dropped us off at the main center of town, a block or two from the central piazza which has a large, circular fountain with two levels. The city is on a hill so steep that the government has built escalators and special stairways to enable people to reach the top of the old city which dates back to Etruscan times. It was fascinating to note the many types of stone and brick used in a single building, giving a visual history over hundreds of years. Many, many arches interconnect buildings just off the piazza.

We were free to wander, enjoy a cappuchino, and re-joined Linda at the fountain at 12:45, then walked to Ristorante Peppone for lunch. We stopped to look quickly at some machine woven fabrics so that we could better appreciate the hand weaving we would see after lunch. Had a great lunch – beer, salad, four different pizzas to share, then walked for about 20 minutes (luckily mostly downhill!) to an old stone church built in 1212. It was purchased in 1950 by the Brozetti family, along with the houses that surround it. The great grandmother of the present resident opened a hand-weaving business in 1920 as a cottage industry, and she and her daughter managed the business which moved to the church in 1950. It is presently being used as a weaving studio by Marta Brozetti, the first person in her family to actually weave.

Marta, probably in her early 40’s, has collected old looms of her great grandmother’s and uses them to weave jaquard fabrics, most of which are reproductions of medieval ore earlier patterns she sees in paintings, frescos, etc. She figures out these old patterns, and makes “cards”, which she punches by hand, to allow the proper threads to be lifted during the weaving process when the shuttle gets thrown across the loom. It is hard work, and her legs do all the lifting of threads, which can weigh as much as 60 pounds. The looms are as much as six feet wide.

The church itself was the first church in Perugia to be dedicated to St. Francis. It is vaulted with brick ceilings, tiled floors, and wonderful light for a studio.

Some of Marta’s thread dates back to 1920; it is very hard to get good quality silk thread now other than from China, and they will only sell theirs in 1000kg lots, which is too much for her to buy. We all bought something. She has so much passion for weaving!

We returned to Maridiana, checked email, I quilted a bit, then at 7:30 we drove up the valley to Mimmi’s restaurant. Our dinner included two homemade pastas (lasagna, and spinach manicotti with nutmeg and ricotta), sliced roast pork with eggplant, sliced turkey with roasted yellow peppers and zucchini, and chocolate cake with espresso. Back home at 10:30. (The day here runs about 3 hours late compared to ours!) Full moon!

A new alpaca was born today…..I think Gianni should name her Lune for the full moon.

May 24 continued: Maridiana

Arriving at Maridiana was like arriving in heaven - two stone houses at least 300 years old, perched on a steep hillside surrounded by pasture for the alpacas, Merino sheep, and Cashmere goats which are raised for fiber. Two new alpaca babies were born while we were there. Accommodations are great - lots of room in two houses, private baths for all, a dear farm dog, Whiskey, two cats, and a peacock and peahen. Our hosts greeted us with a "reception" under the wisteria arbor, and served several appetizers, including pizzas, bruschetta, potato omelet, fresh fava beans, cheese with acacia honey, and a Zuppe Inglese for dessert....see photo!

This is truly a magical place....full moon on demand.