Apologies for the time away from posting. It must have been very hard on both of you. But you must certainly be able to understand our brief absence. For a week we have splashed in the sun warmed saline sea off the island of Ponza, a tiny rock of an island a little over an hour’s hydrofoil ride from Anzio. There’s not much to tell about our visit here. Just a little swimming, a little breathing in the clean, cool salt air, a little seafood here and there and a little chilled white wine. Just normal stuff. Continue reading Ponza in Pictures→
We’ve been on Ponza for a number of days now, having left Sicily in our rearview mirror but saving a special place for it in our hearts. This is our fifth visit to this little known island and our days are filled with sun, sand, water, seafood and wine. It is, truth be told, a little slice of heaven. Continue reading Sounds of Ponza→
Some time between bedtime on January 14 and the morning of January 15, 1968, while Americans crowded around their black and white television sets watching Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers dismantle the Oakland Raiders in just the second installation of a new, exciting professional [American] football championship that would come to be known as the “Super Bowl,” the inhabitants of the Belice Valley, a poor, rural area in southwestern Sicily were being jostled from their sleep by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake. That earthquake leveled a number of towns, among them Salaparuta, Poggioreale and Gibillina, claiming 380 lives, displacing over 70,000 people and shattering a rural lifestyle that tied these people to their land, their villages and their past, a way of life that was ingrained in villagers from their birth until their death. Continue reading Salapalooza→
So goodbye Bevagna. Farewell Umbria. Arrivederci to my little friends in the Piazza Garibaldi. On our Friday, the second day of our trip, we do spend a glorious day in and around Bevagna – running errands, visiting a new and intriguing winery that is built to resemble a turtle shell, having lunch with Marco and Chiara and their two beautiful children, dining at Simone’s amid the hubbub of another night of the Mercato del Gaite. But perhaps our minds have already transported us to Sicily, our destination the following day, where we will spend the next seven nights. Continue reading Open Sicily→
Our second Italian adventure this trip starts where we left off from the first – in Bevagna on our first day in country, many, many hours since our arrival in Italy and many, many more hours since we woke up and began the long trip to Italy. In fact, when we last left you, after filling our stomachs with a grand meal at the even grander restaurant Redibis, it was 11pm at night on our arrival day. Continue reading Gaita Bait→
I’m beginning to feel a little like Lucille Ball manning the conveyor belt at the candy store. No matter how fast I churn out a post, the days move more quickly and a bunch of candy comes falling off the belt and onto the floor. Guess I’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do. Continue reading Lucy, I’m Home→
How do you follow up a night of food debauchery, of excess so excessive that it should be spelled with three x’s? After the triumphant first and final performance of “The Gilocchi Show” there was only one way to atone, physically, mentally and spiritually.
You know it’s hard to keep up with the pace of life, even here in slow paced Italy. So it is Tuesday afternoon and we are busily preparing for Round I of the Perugia-Terni Throwdown and I haven’t yet posted about our Sunday at Simone’s. Continue reading Homecoming→
Yesterday was to be our “getaway day,” similar to when baseball teams play the final game in a series (usually a day game), after which the visiting team boards a plane to head to its next destination. Often the teams seem distracted and perhaps not as completely focused on the task at hand as during the first two days of the series. Yesterday, a day we planned to spend in Rome before heading north to Umbria with a stop in Terni for dinner with some business associates, promised to be a getaway day for us. No complicated or important itinerary, just following up on a few loose ends.
You would think that on a two month trip to Italy there would be plenty of lazy, carefree, unstructured days. Well, three weeks into our trip we haven’t really had one. Yesterday we finally did and boy, was it nice. Continue reading Niente→
So the first chapter of our multi chapter, months long odyssey comes to a close today, as our sons and their schoolmates return home to their final semester of high school. The past several days have seen them receiving news from colleges and thoughts have begun to turn from ancient civilizations to unfinished homework assignments. But before flying home we have one last day to explore together. It is a perfect day in Rome and we plan to take advantage of it. Continue reading Roamin’ Holiday→
