Category Archives: everyday life in Umbria

Glorious sabato!

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What a beautiful day. We are in a lull in our summer heat. We are totally enjoying it! Last night we had thunderstorms in the wee hours and nice rain. I woke to very cool temperatures — 61 F. And fog hanging in the valley. Refreshing. Here is a picture of the super moon rising over our Piazza.

Yesterday we took a trip down to Etrusco, our favorite butcher. We don’t get there often so we buy a lot when we go. We bought a beautiful Tomahawk steak, two fillet mignons, a flank and a skirt steak (I think? I am never sure), two tomahawk pork chops, sausages and hamburgers. He brought out big tubs of shrink-wrapped meat for us to see. For each piece of meat I bought, the butcher went to great lengths to tell me how to cook it. Mostly it involved holding the fatty edge on a hot griddle or pan and letting the fat sizzle and melt. Then cook one and a half minutes on each side in the rendered fat. He also was super proud of his lamb. I am excited to try it because he explained the lambs were two years old and castrato. This is a lot older than most “Lambs”. Perhaps it is the castrated part…I don’t know. He again told me how to cook it, even to giving me a big piece of fat to use. I know this butcher well. He only sources from local farms and knows that they were raised humanely, and treated well during their life. I prefer to buy meat like this. He wished a buon Ferragosto! Happy feasting.

The Saturday market was abuzz with activity. It’s high summer now and the produce is abundant. I probably got a little carried away. I bought a ton more of the wonderful tomatoes, green beans, baby zucchini, arugula (super bitter to go with the steak tonight), sweet new red onions, a pepper, friggatelli, eggplants and a melon. I visited Angelo to buy prosciutto crudo to go with the melon. A feast for a festa! This picture is only some of the bounty! I love our local market and am really happy I will still be able to walk to it from our new apartment. Not many towns have a market like this. I feel blessed.

I will take a picture of my dinner tonight if I remember. Here is a picture I took of my Rocky-cat helping me out while I am preparing dinner. I am constantly stepping over him or around him. He is very helpful!

Finally, an unbelievably beautiful sunset a couple of days ago.

Buona festa a tutti!!

Concinnate winery

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I am sure some of you wine lovers will recognize the name Heitz. Back in the US we drank good California wine and Heitz was a well known producer. I read an article recently, published by Wine Spectator about the couple who had sold up in California and relocated here to Umbria…to make wine, of course! They purchased their property of about 50 acres… but only just over two of them were planted in vines.

Today Rollie and Sally Heitz were kind enough to allow us to visit them and try their first vintage. We tried four. Starting with a lovely Rose. I am a big Rose fan, especially in the summer. And it was the perfect summer wine! Crisp and dry.

Then we tried a Sangiovese, a Cabernet, and a Merlot. Sally provided a plate of tasty things to eat during the tasting. We very much enjoyed the wines. My favorites were the Rose and the Sangiovese, which was soft and round and lovely. They told Luther their production for the 2019 vintage (their first) was 12,000 bottles. Pretty good for just one hectare.

Our conversation was far ranging but centered around our mutual love of Umbria and our separate relocations from the US. And wine of course! I hope they come up to visit us in the far north when they can get away. Right now, understandably they are busy getting their new business on its way. We stopped to admire their view of Todi.

Todi is dead center in the distance on its hilltop.

It was really broiling out. We tried to put the top down but it was just too hot. On the scenic route back home I snapped a couple photos. Near Bevagna and Montefalco.

Despite the intense heat the fishing contest on the Tiber in Umbertide went on as scheduled. These people were out in this heat for hours! At least they had their umbrellas.

Buona domenica! Stay cool!

It’s Saturday night in the Big City!

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We went out for Campari Spritzes. It was cooler (yay) and we wanted to check out the scene. Irene was working her shift at Bar Mary. She is so sweet. Today is Angelo’s birthday… We made a point to stop in his shop to wish him a buon compleanno.

We chose a table. The passeggiato was under way. Plenty of people watching. I said to Luther that the tables at Bar Mary really feel like an extension of our living room. It is an odd feeling but it is apt. We walk out our door. Ten steps, order our drinks and enjoy the evening with all the cittadine of Umbertide. The fashion show is interesting. I can’t say Umbertide is the fashion capital of Italy! Some very strange outfits were on display.

Tonights band was setting up. Sound checks. Drummer testing his sticks. Singer (if you can call him that) stretching his vocal cords. Here is a short clip.

Later — Right now I am listening to the band in our living room. The window is open. I could close it and not hear it, but, well, it’s fun to listen. They play all Italian music. I have gotten used to it. To be honest, it has no real beat, you can’t dance to it, the singers emote big time. It is Italian. What can I say?!

We will definitely miss this scene right outside our door. The good news is, if we get our offer accepted on the new house it is only a ten minute walk away. No, not quite the same…sadly, but we can still borrow the ”living room”.

Sunday dinner – mmmm

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The weekend was REALLY hot. We made it through it. Sunday dinner was a salad medley. I bought borlotti beans yesterday at the market and cooked them this morning while it was still cool. I also cook hard boiled eggs in the morning. Always good for protein. I bought a sweet cantaloupe which are just coming into season. Luther had gotten prosciutto crudo to put with it. I got some mozzarella, and of COURSE tons of tomatoes. That was our dinner. All cool and delicious. Perfect on a hot summer night!

Tomorrow house hunting resumes…

It is HOT 🥵

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Thats 102.2 in Fahrenheit. We are hunkered down. To make it worse there are fires. Most in Umbria are small (so far) but there are big ones in Tuscany, Lazio, and Trieste. The ones in Tuscany are said to be arson. I don’t get why someone would do that! It has made it so hazy you can’t see very far. Yesterday when we were driving back from Spoleto the mountains were just shadows.

Tonight we had a salad for dinner. I cooked the eggs, beans and potatoes in the morning while it was relatively cool. It was a perfect dinner. New potatoes, amazing tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, pickled onion (a new thing I tried), hard boiled eggs, avocado, olives and feta cheese. To finish it was drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with sherry vinegar and torn basil leaves from my plants. My idea of a perfect summer dinner.

We eat outside and then stay out and watch a movie. Once the sun sets it starts to cool. Every evening massive flocks of rooks fly over us to roost for the night like clockwork at nine pm.

I hope everyone is staying cool. We have no plans for the upcoming weekend, other than the Saturday market. Ciao for now!

New week!

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This will be a little newsy post. This and that. It has been hellishly hot. There is a heat dome over Europe and all countries are suffering. Since air conditioning is not the norm throughout Europe it is even worse than the US. We have two units, one in the living room, and one in our bedroom. In a normal summer, we use these units seldom. This year has been different. It is not a normal summer. We used the bedroom one only once so far. The living room tends to get hot in late afternoon, it has a big roof and the wall with the picture window faces west. So they both catch the full sun all day. The unit is small for the size of the room, but now I turn it on around 1 pm and it keeps the room comfortable. This means we mostly stay inside. We go out early for errands and exercise and then close up the shutters and encave ourselves for the day. I don’t cook a lot in this heat either. We eat a lot of vegetables and salads. If we have fish or meat, it is quickly sautéed. I sometimes prepare cooked things in the early morning which we eat later at room temperature. Caprese salads, gazpacho, and panzanella are my friends!

Today we had errands to do. We had to get cat food and groceries. We had been putting this off as long as we could. We normally go to the Coop in our town for major shopping. It is the biggest store in Umbertide. But it isn’t a super-store. Monday morning would normally be a good day to shop. But today! It was chock full of vacationers who arrived here and need to stock up their homes or vacation rentals with food. This usually happens right around now or in August. The two big months to travel. But I had never seen so many. It must be that pent up desire to travel this year after all the Covid lockdowns. I saw two Belgian cars, five UK cars, four Netherlands cars, one German, and one from France. Wow!
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All has not been chores. We were invited to lunch on Friday by good friends who live in the mountains between here and Gubbio. You might remember during my lock-down postings here Jill kept me cheerful by sending pictures of her beautiful gardens. Lunch was lovely as always. The food was yummy and the conversation ranged far and wide. We also met a new friend, Jane. The gardens and the views are beautiful.

On Saturday our friend Doug, who just arrived here to live full time, came up and I helped him fill out his packet and make copious copies of documents needed to apply for the Permesso di Soggiorno or Permit to Stay. A new resident here has just 8 days to fill out and apply for this permit. When a non-EU citizen moves to Italy they must first get a Visa to come here. A good analogy is the Visa is like the taxi that takes you to your house. The PdS is what allows you to LIVE in your house. So the Visa gets you into the country, the PdS allows you to live here. It must be renewed annually and it takes the place of the Visa which never needs to be renewed. Doug has now embarked on the merry-go-round which is Italian bureaucracy. 🙂
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House hunting — This coming Thursday we have an appointment to view three more houses. These are in Spoleto. I have high hopes for one of them. The other two depend more on the location than anything else. Watch for a house hunting post later this week!

Beautiful Sabato!

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Last night, I said to Luther, we should go to a winery tomorrow, while we have this nice break in the weather. We haven’t gone wine tasting since we had our last guests in October. Quick phone calls ensued. Mevante, a winery near Bevagna which we had not visited, were happy for us to come for a tasting. Luther thought lunch at one of our favorite places, L’Alchemista in Montefalco, would be a fine idea.

What a glorious day, if a bit windy. The winery sits on a hill overlooking the valley over to Monte Subasio. They were hosting a big event this evening, a christening for 100 people, so they set up a table just for us outside. I felt like royalty! I will let the pictures speak for themselves. First two are views from our table.

Tasting room
Grecchetto white wine was one of the best we have had
Their olive oil was some of the best. super peppery in the throat. I loved the itty, bitty bottle.

The owner was our host and he was very welcoming despite that he was very busy with the expected group. Of course we bought quite a bit of their wine.

We drove to L’Alchemista. I love the round square that Montefalco has. It was a lively place today. Fun people watching. Our food was good as always.

We headed home for a siesta as is called for after a satisfying lunch. Here’s a picture of the small street in Umbertide which we cut through to stay in the shade. It looked pretty today. I love all the layers, balconies, lamp, stone balustrade, rooflines.

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Finally, good news! We see they are finally bringing back our Otto Cento festival, gone since Covid. (put Otto Cento in the search bar to see pictures of past festivals) It will be the end of September. I am thrilled.

In other news, the little hill town near us, Montone, is gearing up for its annual film festival. It lasts a week with multiple screens for films around town, each with food and drinks served. This year, the really big news is that Stanley Tucci is the guest of honor. He will get the keys to the city. I have to think he will show up at our Saturday slow food market in Umbertide since he is all about food. I will be hanging out! Hope he does.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print! ciao!

…after the storms

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Did I say it’s been hot? Well, it has. Damn hot. We saw a cooling trend was coming, starting today. The forecast promised storms all day yesterday starting at 2pm. Everyone here, who has been sweltering, sometimes with no AC, were excitedly awaiting the storms. Which didn’t come at two, or three, or four, or… Finally at around 6 PM a nice storm came through. Some other parts of Umbria got hail. Some people are worried for the baby olives and grapes. Up north they had severe storms and damage. So, the mal tempo beings the bad with the good, cooling cleansing. We got two more storms at around 9:30 and 11:30.

Sunset last night after the first storm. I am going miss this view.

Today, the air is washed clean. The surfaces are washed free of the dust. The plants have slaked their thirst. The day is brilliant. What a change. I will be relishing the next few days of cool!

Buon fine settimana a tutti!

Tomatoes!

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Now we are back to everyday life after our big vacay. It is really hot. This weekend will be a record breaker.

Our first BIG thing was to go to the Questura with our final documents for our long term Permessi. But while we were gone our printer bit the dust. So we couldn’t print what we needed to take today. With some help from friends (thanks Paul) we got it printed. Friday morning we headed to the Questura. Sigh. Their hours changed. They were not open. We must go back next week. Back to normal Italian life! One step forward, two steps back.

While we were gone tomatoes happened! Yes they did! I had my first tomato sandwich yesterday.

Wonder bread — because it MUST be wonder bread. Italian style.
Mmmmm

Growing up with a Southern mother, I lived on these sandwiches when I was young. At my mothers knee. She loved them too! Luckily we have American style white bread here, see picture, so I am all set!

Today is the Saturday market. If I don’t get out early I miss out on fresh eggs and the tomatoes that I get from my favorite stand. Everyone has tomatoes, but only one has the tomatoes that are the ”right” tomatoes. The kind I remember from home, the right shape, the right kind of red.

…and eggs. I got eggs! The word for eggs is uova. The word for egg is uovo. This is opposite of what you’d think. Usually if something ends in “A”, it is a singular, feminine noun. In this case it is not singular, it is plural. I am told it is because it derives from a Greek word. Anyway, the man I get my eggs from held up one very dark egg as he was choosing mine. He asked if I wanted il cioccolato? Here is my basket of eggs. Il cioccolato is on top. I love the pretty hues of different browns and tans.

Buon weekend a tutti! Happy to be home…

Trip preparation

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I want to explain the mystery of the inexplicable fine from my last post. Turns out, it was taxes due. Plus a fine. I could ask my Commercialista why, but it’s not that much money and I’m not going to bother. Anyway, mystery solved.

We have been very busy getting ready for our trip. We got our health cards extended so we would have coverage on our trip. We have had several people come and look at the apartment. I got my hair cut. We have met some good friends for some nice lunches. Yesterday we finally received our taxes from our Commercialista for the first part of the year. This payment is for half of last year, and we also pay ”in anticipo” for estimated tax for the first half of this year. This is the second document required by the Questura for our application for the EU long term Permesso di Soggiorno. Unfortunately we got it yesterday. Too late for us to get it in to them before we leave. So it will be first on our to-do list when we return.

We attended an art exhibit featuring three Umbrian artists last evening in a small village called Lugnano. Very nice show in Palazzo Luna and our friend was one of the artists. The town is miniscule.

Vicola in Lugnano

I am madly packing and getting ready for our House/cat sitters arrival tomorrow. We will pick them up at the train station. I want to make them some special pasta dishes. I went to the local Saturday Mercato this morning. We are drowning in cherries now! Look at the varied colors. I didn’t realize there were so many. From almost black, to deep red, to cherry red!

My next post will most likely be about our trip. Travel is so fraught with uncertainty nowadays. I just hope all is uneventful. Ciao for now!