Category Archives: Italian life

Ferragosto

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Hi everyone! Yesterday was Ferragosto. 15 August which is also Assumption day. The Roman holiday celebrating the harvest was combined with the religious holiday. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of Emperor Augustus who made 1 August a day of rest after weeks of hard work in the agricultural sector. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move it to 15 August, which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the holiday.

In present day Italy it signals the beginning of the most popular vacation time. If people can afford it, they go to the beach or mountains or to their country house. Everything grinds to a halt. Many of the factories close from 1 August to 31 August. Most businesses will close for a week or two. Getting anything done is impossible so it’s best to go with the flow and take it easy!

On the first floor of our building we have a rosticceria called Girrarosto di Sara e Luciano. They are hugely popular. People buy entire family lunches on holidays like Ferragosto there. I awoke during the night and smelled them cooking, roasting meats, at one AM! They cooked all night. On Saturday morning the people lined up for their food. We often smell the cooking smells up in our apartment. They do a roaring business but work very hard.
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Mornings are cool. We always have a nice breeze on the terrazzo. I take advantage of that because by about 10 or 11 it becomes unbearable. Morning sun on the table. ☀️

We hadn’t planned anything for the holiday but friends, Roselyne and Steve, offered to bring up some ratatouille they made plus focaccia and delicious mini tarts from their town bakery. I made cookies and we had the warm vegetable dish with a steamed egg on the side. We also tried a Perticaia sparkling rose before lunch and with lunch a muscadet. Roselyne is Belgian/French and the muscadet reminded her of home. 🙂 We hadn’t seen them in a long time and is was nice to catch up. A perfect way to spend Feragosto.

Laundry Day
Sunday is my traditional laundry day. It is when the power is cheapest. They have structured rates. Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 7 PM is peak rates. Then intermediate rates are Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM; Saturday, 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. The cheapest are Monday to Saturday, 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM, plus all day Sunday and public holidays. So Sundays have become my laundry day. Peak rates are usurious.

In summer the clothes dry so fast on the terrace in the sun. I take advantage of that to not use the drier. Most Italians don’t even have a drier. The act of hanging out clothes to dry is so integrated into Italian society it has become part of the fabric of life here. An added bonus is how fresh they smell, like sunshine!

Photo credit Sarah Bahous. – laundry in Napoli

Garden woes
I’m having problems with my tomatoes. They are literally cooking on the vine. Honestly. The sun is so incredibly hot and on the terrace the temperatures are over 40C or 104F. I have found out from on line friends and they say they are still edible and easy to de-skin, so I’ll use any more I get for sauce. Here are pictures.


What’s Cookin’ (besides us!)
I’m using my Orto Box vegetables. I made zucchini fritters last night to use in a salad. Not quite successful. I didn’t have a recipe so it could have been the wrong ratios. Or it could have been the thickness of what I dropped into the hot oil. I’ll try again, since I’ve got plenty zucchini 😁🙄

I also made a “Summer Tomato Tart” using a David Leibovitz recipe. Turned out ok. Served with a green salad. It had a flour and polenta crust which made it a bit crumbly. Take a look.

Then I decided to make a cold cucumber soup. Tangy with yogurt. Super easy to make. But I don’t think I would make this recipe again. It was still nice on a hot evening. I served with ravioli in butter sage.

Ciao a tutti! 👋

Orto Box

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Today Mr Luca the Orto Box man arrived with a new box of vegetables. It’s high season and everything is growing like crazy. These ones are beautiful. Pepperoni, pomodori, zucchini, lattuga, cetrioli, fagiolini e cipolle. There is the Italian lesson for today. 😁 This cost the princely sum of €25 or about $28. I am so lucky to be here where I can get such beautiful things that are biologically grown and just harvested this morning. Wow. This will keep us fed for the two weeks until another delivery. In fact, we may have trouble eating it all!

This reminds me of something some friends who were visiting did. They ordered pizza and one got a pepperoni pizza. Imagine his surprise when it had just red peppers on it. 🙂

I love those globe zucchini. I cut the top off and hollow them out, par boil til tender, then stuff with rice, peppers, onions, lots of grated cheese, herbs and sometimes hamburger. I par boil the zucchini early in the day. Last I top with more cheese and bake. Unfortunately it will heat up the kitchen but that’s ok. They are so delicious.



We are STILL in a mega heat wave. Not seeing any significant cooling for the next two weeks 🥵 Hope it is cooler where you are!

Agosto!

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The past couple of weeks has been spent recovering from what we are pretty sure was Covid. Neither of us has ever had it so we looked up the symptoms for this version of the disease and we had them all. We are better now. I still have a cough but I expect it to last a long time. It’s just me…

We are also now in the midst of our FOURTH heat wave. Temps here in the low 100s for the next two weeks. Europe is on fire, climatically and literally with multiple fires across the continent. Terrible ones in France and Spain. Italy has some too, to the south, for now.

Due to the mass migration of 60,000 Moroccans who swam into an autonomous Spanish territory which is situated in North Africa called Ceuta, italy has temporarily rescinded the Schengen Agreement. All people entering Italy will again have to go through passport control and customs. Half of the immigrant wannabes have been turned back. 34 people have died. Almost all the people coming in are young men.

So that’s the news of our summer so far. Today is the first day of August (agosto) which is the beginning of the mass migration of the Italians to the beaches, or the mountains. As of today, nothing will get done in this country, for a month. There is no sense railing about it, or complaining. This is a sacred rite amongst Italians. Even the poor go on vacation. Somehow. I’ve become accustomed to it. All month there will be sagre, or fests of all sorts. Recently I saw a polpo festa. That’s octopus. An unusual choice.

Bought at the market today.
This guy is from my plant! Handsome fella.

Umbertide is really hopping. There are many summer residents here with big houses in the hills. And also there are a lot of vacation homes that people rent for weeks. If I go to the store for groceries now I hear a mish mash of all languages. People come and shop to stock their houses. This morning I went to the local market in the piazza. Busy. Then I did a shift at Books for Dogs. It was so hot! There is no AC anywhere. Didn’t seem to stop folks though. It is fun. I bought pomodori because my two plants have finished their next spurt and I’m running short.

When our last heat wave broke we had massive thunderstorms during the night. It wrecks havoc on the roof terrace. I go up and do damage control in the morning. Much to my surprise my kumquat tree, which is doing very well after a difficult period was blown over and its massive terra cotta pot broken. Must have been some wind! So now repotting will be in order.

The industrious Italians are setting up a weekend festival in Piazza Carlo Marx which is in front of our building. I am bracing for loud music. I think it will in some way benefit the Colonie Feline Umbertide which I’m down with. So I will endure the noise and maybe even venture down to see what they have to see! Buon agosto a tutti!

Something new to come I hope!

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A couple of months ago I saw an ad in Facebook. I NEVER respond to ads there, but this one was different, it specified only people in the Alta Valle del Tevere should respond. That is me! And it was by a local farmer and entrepreneur who was starting something similar in our valley to a CSA (community supported agriculture).

In the U.S.. I used to be a member of a CSA, and it was a lot of fun to pick up my veggies once a week. The good thing for the farmers in the U.S. is that all the shareholders pay an annual fee for whatever produce grows that year. So if the farmer has a bad year, the shareholders take the hit. It is guaranteed income for the farmer.

Here they will deliver to my home (!) which is much easier, and it will be about 7kg of veggies every two weeks starting in June. That’s about 15.5 lbs. The cost will be 23€ (about $27) each delivery. We can’t choose what we get. That’s always been ok with me because I love figuring out how to use it all.

He has a network of farmers who will be growing specified crops just for those of us who subscribed. The list of subscribers filled up fast and he closed the subscriptions. He is very eco friendly, it is all bio, and he wants it to have minimal waste. He contacted me today and wanted a final confirmation, which I did. He will now be meeting with farmers to decide who grows what because the season is just beginning.

I’m excited for a new thing in my life here. You all know I love to cook and experiment, and I love locally grown food that is chemical free and super fresh. I will be posting pictures in June of my first delivery, but for now, here is a picture of a typical CSA box in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of The Sprice Eats.

Easter week

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This is Easter week. Lot of religious things on the religious calendar. I am not religious, but I enjoy learning about things. There will be the usual Good Friday procession in Centro. Sunday is Easter. Everyone either goes out to eat, go to family homes, or make a feast themselves. After all, Lent has ended so it’s ok to pig out! Speaking of which, we have reservations at Calagrana with friends. This is the official opening of the summer season. The weather doesn’t seem to know that though.

Last week we had snow. It snowed hard for three hours, then turned to rain. It was pretty while it was happening. The mountains are still snowcapped. This from our terrace.

Today, we had a really nice lunch with our friends Steve and Roselyne. We decided on a very traditional, family owned place where they serve delicious, very traditional Umbrian food. There are fireplaces in the dining rooms so on a blustery and cold day like today they were welcomed. We’ve been coming here for 12+ years and it is not different food wise, but their two sons now work there. In the past Mom recited the food choices that day. Now one son speaks English and can do it in English which would be good if we ever took guests there. All of us today speak Italian reasonably well so we would have had no issue but it’s nice they can do this now. They have a ton of animals there. Outside there are chickens galore and peacocks. Inside there was a calico cat who had pride of place beside the fire. She also was an accomplished beggar.

We returned home and the wind and rain were fierce. We were full of wonderful food so we took a nap. While we did so the wind wrecked havoc on the terrace. It actually blew the entire sofa across the space it moved a glass topped table! And it ripped a door off the outside cabinet. I was amazed!

Trust me, this is NOT where this sofa was, or should be!

I am sure Spring will come back. Who knows when? But it will. Today, on the way home I grabbed couple pictures of a field of rapeseed plants. So pretty and yellow!

Buona Pasqua to everyone, even those who aren’t religious, like me.

Odds and ends

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We work our way through February. It has been the wettest February I can remember here. It is always the rainy season but not as much as this. It is good for the water table. We will enter the dry season in May and nary a drop for months. So we are going to be in good shape for it.

We had a lovely lunch at Calagrana on Sunday. They have been closed since Christmas. They actually got to take a month long vacation in the US with Ely’s sister who lives near Philly PA. I’m happy they had a good time. We had a good chat with Alberto the Chef. He tried Philly cheese steak sandwiches (loved), and hoagies (hated). And had a seafood boil (loved).

Sunday was their “soft” reopening. They had all but two tables filled. We had all missed them and were happy to go have a meal. We asked a couple, Sarah and Don, who bought a place and moved about 8 months ago, to join us. I had been meaning to get them there with us for a long time. I’m sure they will want to take guests, family, friends who visit there. We all do. We had a lovely lunch. Sarah and I had the tagliolini with cream sauce with truffles. So, so good. Don had the cheese soufflé with truffles. Luther, the ravioli. All the pasta was made in house. Both Don and Sarah professed to not really love truffles but I think they came away believers. They each had the roasted baby chicken, Luther and I had the rack of lamb. It was all delicious. We were so glad to be back and share with new friends. Sorry no food fotos!

It’s Carnivale time in Italy. Think Mardi Gras. All towns have some sort of celebration. We have a parade. I have videos but suddenly the video embedded doesn’t work. Anyway here is a photo.

Tomorrow we embark on a short trip to Salerno. It is the bottommost town on the Amalfi coast. It is not like the touristy towns there it is a real, livable town, year round. We have friends there and are also meeting up with Susan and Gary. Our present plan is to take the train there and check in to our hotel. The next day we plan a trip to Paestum. We have all been there before twice to see the famous Greek temples, which are incredible. This time we will focus on a Mozzarella di Bufala farm. This is the area where the best, creamy mozzarella comes from. I have always wanted to visit a farm. During our previous trips I stared and searched to see buffalo [these are water buffalo brought from India centuries ago. They have very rich milk which makes the best cheese] and I never ever saw one. Turns out, they are kept inside. In the barns. No wonder I never spotted one. So this time we visit an actual producer and have lunch. Excited! The next day we plan to visit Caserta. Very famous. I’ve never been and actually don’t know what I will be seeing! The last day we will spend in Salerno. With our friends for lunch and sight seeing. Should be a fun trip to break up the winter. Stay tuned for a trip report.

I heard there was gong to be a thaw of all the ice that has coated the U.S. east coast! Good news! Enjoy. Ciao for now!

Rain, rain go away

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The last couple days has been busy-ish. Yesterday I had an appointment for an endoscopy. I had never had one, ever, but knew what they were. Hence my reticence to get this procedure. The doctors were very pushy about it so I had to finally do it. It was pouring rain on the way to the Città di Castello hospital. But it seems everyday is nothing but rain. I went into the appointment with Luther so we could both hear what was being said. Then I got taken into the room where the deed would be done.

On a table, fully clothed. I got a needle in my arm as a port for meds. The nurse asked if I wanted a sedative to calm me, darn right I did! But after I got it I was fully awake and mostly lucid and aware of what was happening. Ugh. Horrible experience. I think in the U.S. you’re fully sedated, but not here. I don’t like things in my throat. I bet most people don’t. But finally the ordeal ended.

We went back home and I was just very happy to have that behind me. I had been dreading it. Now to take all my results to my doctor.

Today I woke to pouring rain. Again. My errand for today was to get a haircut. Normally I go to Sansepolcro which is about 30 minutes north, just over the Tuscan border at the head of the upper Tiber valley. Stefano was my guy. I hadn’t been all that happy with him lately so I decided to go back to Nada, here in town. She’s pretty good. And she taught me a new phrase in Italian. Sono stufa. Yes like the stove. But in this case it means I’m fed up. For instance “sono stufa della pioggia”. I am fed up with the rain. Which I AM!

I had a picture I liked and I had practiced my hair vocabulary but … as always, there were communication issues.. She got what I wanted, so that was good, but apparently there were a couple ways she could do the back of my hair. In rapid fire Italian she explained each one and I’m nodding, with no clue, and she finishes and asks which one, one or two? 😳 in the end I got a decent cut. Trying to grow it all a bit longer so the cut has to be small now to allow it to grow,

Walking back home I crossed the Torrente, which is a small stream that runs through town and into the Tiber. With all the rain it was indeed a torrent. I took a quick snap.

I realized they had made a new path through the construction zone which I’ve written about before. It’s nice. I have heard the construction has gotten slowed because they had finished all the new paving with lovely stones and then allowed a truck to drive though which should not have happened. It was too heavy and broke the new stones. 😞 So they had to replace it all. I also noted a bunch of new planters with new plants already planted. They will be very nice once the plants grow. I am sure it will be a nice space although the local Umbertidese do not like it at all. They don’t accept change easily. 😁 Picture.

I didn’t get to post this yesterday and I wanted to report I woke up to…SUNSHINE! It probably won’t last but it was nice to see the blue sky. I forgot to mention that we have lost our internet. It has been out for four days. We are exploring alternatives right now. Hopefully we will be back up and running soon. Ciao!

I giorni della merla – and food!

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I had a new experience this week. I placed an order with a group called Villagio del Cibo. I was turned onto this group by friends and got on their mailing list. Every two weeks I get an email with an attached order form with all the available products. It changes according to the season and who has what. The products are provided by a network of producers who sign up to sell their stuff. It is brilliant. They are all from here in the Upper Tiber valley. Local and certified organic. This gives the producers a market and we consumers get the benefit of good, safe, food. Win, win. So I do want to support this. This being winter the veggies are limited to what’s growing now. I got broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, and cavallo nero (Tuscan kale). I also got fresh eggs, roasted hazelnuts (nocciole), dried chickpeas (ceci) and a bottle of passata (tomato sauce). First picture veggies, second a soup I made.

We have a shop here called Giorgio al Mare. It is all frozen food. Mostly seafood focused but tons of other stuff. They have whole kits for pasta al mare, seafood risotto, etc. Frozen of course. Also every type of fish and shellfish imaginable. They even have vegetables and sweets. In fact this store is where I buy my cinghiale. Only place I have seen that stocks it. I buy quite a bit of seafood there. Many fish fillets which make a quick dinner. Also all my shrimp comes from there (it’s deveined and shelled but you can get it uncleaned). All kinds of whole fish which I roast or grill. I like their salmon. Last time I went I got two tuna steaks. I made them last night. They were a big hit with Luther and I even liked it. The marinade made it happen. It was much like a steak, very meaty. I also served it with a a pretty salad with chickpeas, clementine segments, and cherry tomatoes. The salad dressing was the same as the marinade. I just seared the tuna, here is a photo.

A weird experiment. Luther mail ordered a bunch of food. Don’t ask 😑 So now it is up to me to cook it all eventually. One thing was a Wagyu steak. It is apparently a famous thing. So I thawed it out and cooked it. I bet it was 75% fat. I think that’s why people like it. The first picture is the raw steak, note the fat. The second was after cooking. It was quite tasty, and interesting, but not worth the cost.


Finally something that cheered me. I learned a new thing about Italy. January 29-30-31 are i giorni della merla – the days of the blackbird. It is a little-known period which has several legends. The one I liked was that this is the coldest the winter will be and the blackbirds shelter from the cold in their nests or near chimneys. They say that if it is cold during these three days, spring will come early. My friend, who posted this, said it beats a giant rodent (sorry Phil). I have a special place in my heart for blackbirds. This morning I had a treat. Our resident blackbird was singing his heart out behind our building in the middle of the night. At least he thinks it will be spring soon anyway! Sing my little friend, sing! 💕

This guy I photoed a few years ago in Liguria. It was his special day. He found a cherry!

Holiday cards

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OK this is just plain weird. Yesterday, January 9, we got a holiday card from friends in the U.S. It was mailed December 13 from Virginia. Happy to hear from them! We chuckled about the Poste Italiene. Then, I heard on Facebook from a friend who got three cards today. I was agog. But wait…then another two commenters in the friends post said they TOO had gotten two holiday cards today, So what’s going on? Did the Poste Italiene save all the holiday cards from the U.S. until today to send out to us stranieri? If so, WHY? I mean, did they say, it you see a card from the U.S., put it in this basket? We will deliver in January. 🙄

Of course we don’t really know who is at fault. One commenter said in tracking their card it went to Chicago and from there Indianapolis where it sat for several weeks. Why? Chi sa! The part that is still odd is why did so many of us here get our cards on the same day?

Musings

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I recently read a post by a British couple who moved from the south coast of England to Languedoc in France for their retirement. They started out by asking themselves why couldn’t we have done all this in England? Why did we have to move to France? The south of England has no shortage of beauty, they said. There was a place to grow vegetables, they said. Access to beaches and the New Forest nearby, but they retired to France. Why do people up stakes and change countries to retire?

Well, this made me think. Yes, you can have a garden and enjoy the scenery in your home country, but somehow you choose to move to another country. I love my state of Virginia. I had all I wanted there. But I didn’t have much adventure. Everything was normal, hum drum, expected. And the pace of life, even in retirement was not tranquil. There was little stimulation. The decision to move was more a wish for new horizons. New things to see and learn. A whole different language! And yes one can have almost the same things here as at home, if one would want. But suddenly, in new surroundings I was encouraged to try so many new things. Places to see and visit, foods to make and try, restaurants to discover.

I have been here 11.5 years, so now, most things are “normal” to me. But I remember the time when going to the grocery store was a major undertaking. Deciphering the labels, figuring out that all the meats are completely different cuts, remembering to weigh all your produce, figuring out that eggs aren’t refrigerated here and finding they are on a shelf, seeing the types of flour nothing like home, figuring out the Italian equivalent of baking powder and soda. Every. Single. Thing. Was completely different. Going to the post office 😳. Getting all the permits you need to be able to live here. Going to the doctor. The pharmacy. All of the things you take for granted in the U.S. are now huge adventures, or obstacles, depending on how you look at it.

Everyone is not cut out for a move to Italy. People need to adopt a different reality to adapt here. Really, it’s true. Most people have heard everything is slower in Italy but until you’re trying to get something done here you don’t really understand. They calculate their worth differently. It’s not money that makes you rich, it is friends, family, connections, favors owed. So completely different from the U.S. where the dollar is king and the bottom line, your worth. It takes a bit of getting used to. You cannot approach your builder and offer more money to hurry up the renovation. That won’t work. They just, don’t, care.

I read a lot of the Facebook groups for people who move to Italy. Digital Nomads, Elective Residency Visa holders, students, repatriating Italians… The reasons to move are different for us all. Many come because the cost of living is half of the U.S. (except in the big cities); some come because the quality of life is better; some come for the quality of the food, which is less processed and cleaner; some come for the slower pace. Some, recently, are moving to flee the political situation in the U.S. Some come because they are descendants of Italians who immigrated and they feel the pull to return to their roots. Whatever the reason, many of us choose to relocate.

I know why I “upped stakes” and moved to Italy. It was for the stimulation and adventures. Now we are getting older and slowing down but we still plan four or five big trips a year. And more short ones. We don’t do as much around our area as before, maybe because it is familiar now. Who knows! But we still enjoy the life here.