Summer is in full swing. The town of Umbertide is jumping. Last weekend there was a function called Calice sotto la Rocca. It means glasses under the fortress. It was nice. You paid 20 Euro and got a glass. There were five booths, each had a locally produced wine and a course from a local restaurant. It started at 8PM but, as we expected, we were practically the first people there. In fact they hadn’t finished setting up yet. Very typical. I took a few pictures.

The booths. The wine awaits.

I’m always amused by the young Italian men. They are peacocks.

The moon rose from behind the Collegiata which is our church built in the 1400s

The Rocca. Our fortress.

Antipasto was a nice, cool seafood salad.

By 9PM the crowds had arrived. They played rock and roll from the 60s.

The other courses included a Porchetta on bread, then a potato gnocci with truffles, and an odd potatoes on bread for the Secondi. The dolce was a tiramisu in a cup from Tortecetera, our local cupcake shop.

Other happenings around town. We have just celebrated the re-opening of Cafe Centrale under new ownership. It is the second bar on our main piazza. Quite posh with furniture and french pastries. It is popular with the young 20 something crowd.

Saturday is a very happy day in the dog days of summer. The kilometer zero market is chock full of local produce and people come to one of the two bars for coffee or drinks. The happy hum of voices is clearly audible up at our house.

Today is Ferragosto. The 15th of August. Everyone goes on picnics, to the beach, or to a restaurant for a long Pranzo. The weather has broken temporarily from a really hot spell. It will be a good day for gli Italiani. Buona Festa!