Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Fano after the storm


Fano after the storm
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Fano's Fontana Fortuna


Fano's Fontana Fortuna
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
All the kids loved this fountain. Especially the little 4 year old girl who said "Che Bello!"

Rainbow over Fano


Rainbow over Fano
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

What they were looking at

With a stall filled with housedresses right next to this one, we found the grandmas looking at this skimpy underwear instead!

Remember the Housedress?


Remember the Housedress?
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
The housedress is alive and well in little towns in Italy. We found these at an outdoor market in Fano.

Sunset from the Bus


Sunset from the Bus
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
The sunset we photographed from the bus on the way home from our rainy day at the beach at Fano.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Getting Ready for Paris! 7.18.05

Just wanted to let you all know that on Wednesday, July 20th, we will leave Perugia for 10 days in Paris! We are very excited about seeing our friends from Phoenix and the beautiful city of Parigi (as the Italians call it). We aren't sure if we will have the opportunity to write in the blog while we are gone so we wanted to be sure to let you know what we were up to. Today and tomorrow we will be doing laundry and packing and trying to rest up so we will be ready for our little jaunt in France.

Last night we said farewell to Umbria Jazz and this morning watched them dismantle the stage in Piazza IV Novembre. It was a lot of fun this past week wandering around and listening to different jazz musicians. The city was quite alive with music lovers, both local and foreign. The music ranged from the old classics like Tony Bennett, Oscar Peterson and Al Jarreau, fun stuff done by a wonderful swing band, performing the old Italian songs from the 40s like those from the "Mob Hits" album, like Volare, That's Amore, Carina, Angelina, Mombo Italiano, some really fine jazz ensembles, to some of the younger, hipper groups like one we saw last night called "Relax" - a sort of combination rap/jazz/swing/salsa that had quite a unique and different sound. I'm sure the music lasted until well into the wee hours of the morning when we were long asleep in our bed, with the melodies still dancing in our heads.

So now, let me say arrivederci. I don't expect to do any more writing before we leave so I will just say ciao and hope you will check back again to hear about our adventures in Paris!

Adieu!
RoseMarie & RoBert

Fano - A (Rainy) Day at the Beach 7.9.95

On Saturday, July 9, we went to Fano. This is another beach town on the Adriatic coast, north of Ancona, reachable by bus direct from Perugia. We had picked up some brochures that showed beautiful turquoise waters and sandy/gravely beaches with a sweet little town there so we decided to try it. Wanting to explore as many Italian seasides as possible, we figured we'd better not waste any more time! There is one bus to Fano in the morning and one home in the evening. You are there for the day, which suited us just fine and sleepy eyed we boarded the bus at Piazza Partigiani at 5:30am (we really do like the beach!), a perfect time to call my sister Suzanne in Denver. With the time difference, it was around 9:30 there. She's had a pretty rough time of it, having lost her husband to cancer last year, she had to put their dog to sleep this past week, which was pretty traumatic for her and her daughters. Dexter had gotten pretty old and has been ill for the past year himself so it didn't come as a surprise but it was heartbreaking for them nevertheless as he truly was an important member of their family. I learned that she had had a bit of unexpected (and unwanted!) excitement at her house when the water heater flooded her basement which has been filled with things from their store, the kids old toys and many of the things of Bruce's that she has been needing to go through. Upset at her bad luck when immediately faced with having to go through and move everything down in the basement, it struck her that someone was trying to tell her something, that perhaps it was more than time enough to get started doing this, as difficult as it seems. She is now forced to handle this and seems almost relieved to be given a direction and a place to begin. All of you who know me know how much I adore my sister and her girls and every heartbreak of theirs is mine as well. My hope is that things will start looking up for all of them and that this next year brings good things to their lives.

The bus ride to Fano takes around 3 hours. They stop about half way for a potty/coffee break and to let you stretch your legs. It's a beautiful ride as you pass through the lovely Umbrian countryside so we didn't mind at all and arrived around 8:30 in the morning. Since there had been rain the day before it was still too cool for us to jump right in the water so we decided to explore Fano and went to centro to have some breakfast. There was a street market underway which was fun also and we liked the town very much. It's flat there and everyone rides bicycles. Everyone - from the little kids to the elderly folks, it is the transportation of choice. We watched all sorts of things being delivered by bicycle also, like the woman from the coffee shop carrying the tray of coffees and pastries in one hand as she rode by and another one balancing a large vase of flowers! At around 11 we headed off to find our place in the sun, rented an umbrella, two chaise lounges and a small cabina - like a storage shed that you can also change clothes in - to store all of our stuff for later so that we didn't have to carry everything around with us if we wanted to walk back to town later.

The beach at Fano is as pretty as the brochure pictures. The area we chose, closer to the town, had a beach with soft stones. Further down away from the town, the sand was soft as brown sugar. One big difference between Fano and the Riviera del Cònero from a few weeks ago is the view of Monte Cònero. But it's lovely all the same and very reachable by just walking along the promenade. We found very beachy little restaurants and shops and beautiful stretches of shoreline dotted with the brightly colored beach umbrellas and chairs. Further down you can see the masts of sailboats in the little harbor. Charming! We had a spot right next to a family from Perugia - we had a little conversation with the Nonno (Grandpa) and enjoyed watching them all playing with the kids, with all the kisses and hugs all around of a large family who spend a lot of time together and where the kids are as comfortable with their aunts and uncles as with their parents - much the way we were growing up in Brooklyn with Aunt Celeste and Uncle Fred downstairs. They were all on vacanza (vacation) together at the beach. It really did make me think of the summers we rented a cabin at Sag Harbor with our cousins and spent many wonderful days playing together by the sea.

The water was wonderful and it wasn't very crowded, which surprised us for such an accessible, lovely beach. The day before had been stormy; we saw evidence of branches of trees and leaves scattered about and people sweeping and cleaning up. The day was not as warm as it could have been, but with the sun shining it was comfortable. In the water we looked up to the sky to see cloud formations reaching around the shoreline like a hug and getting darker by the minute. We played in the water a while and then decided to just sit on the beach and read and relax. In a very short time our relaxing turned into a quick scurry to gather our towels and things and race under cover from the rain.

We hurried into a Chinese restaurant along the road, one of the first we came to just to get out of the rain and ate a hum-drum lunch as the rain poured down outside. When it subsided a bit we ventured out and back down to the beach. It seemed to clear a bit and we settled down again on our lounge chairs. But again, the rain was relentless and we were forced to run for shelter once again. We ran across the street into a little café, which had a tented room open on one side and had some hot tea and cookies and just sat and enjoyed the sight and sound of the rain complete with lightning and thunder pounding down around us. It was quite a show, very dramatic and exciting, a real torrential downpour. I don't know how long we sat there but after a bit it subsided again and we walked into centro again and looked in some of the little shops that were just beginning to open after the afternoon riposo. The light was incredible streaming through the still darkish sky and we wandered around taking some photos and just exploring. The bus home was expected around 7:30pm so as that hour approached we headed to the bus stop. Jessica called us to say hello and as we were talking, walking by the beach the setting sun was lighting up parts of the shore, little white buildings glowed against the dark sky, patches of brilliant blue showing through with the sea picking up the reflections. There was even a rainbow!

The cutest thing we saw that day was this little girl and her mother, playing by the fountain in the main square. She couldn't have been more than 4 years old. When it was time to go she cheerfully left the water she was enjoying very much and as she turned away, she said to herself, as she brought her two little hands up to her face, shaking her head like an old nonna (grandma): "Che Bello!" It was the most adorable thing I think I have ever seen!

Right on time the bus arrived to take us home and we began the long drive home. It always seems we get there faster than we get home. Can it be that we are just tired by the end of the day and just want to be there? Watching the changing colors of the scenery pass us by is always entertaining and with this amazing sky, the sunset was quite spectacular and we tried to photograph it from the moving bus, not always the best way to do it!

Arriving home around 10pm we were completely exhausted. I don't know which beach we will go to next but we'll keep you posted!

On Wednesday we will be on our way to Paris!

Buon giorno,
Rosemary e Roberto

(Photos to come later!)

A view of Cortona


A view of Cortona
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Cortona


Cortona
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Doors in Cortona


Doors in Cortona
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Shop window Cortona


Shop window Cortona
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

More Sunflowers


More Sunflowers
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Tuscany near Monticchiello


Cortona and Montecchiello 7.12.05

Our friends and former neighbors, Shawn and Stephen from our Willo neighborhood in Phoenix, offered us an incredible opportunity. They rented an apartment in Paris for the month of July but as they are unable to stay through the entire month, asked us if we wanted to use it (with the approval of the owner) the last week. Of course we jumped at the chance and are so looking forward to this little "vacation" from our life that is like one big vacation!

They wrote several weeks ago to tell us that they had planned to stay in a villa near Cortona in June next year and asked if we would mind checking it out for them, to see if it really looked as nice as the photos they were shown and what we thought. Since we are going to see them next week in Paris we assured them that we would have a full report for them on the state of things at this villa in Tuscany.

Since we weren't sure exactly how far outside of Cortona it was and whether we would be able to reach it by public transportation, we rented a car for the day. This also gave us the chance to drive around the beautiful countryside of Tuscany around Cortona, which is some of the area's finest.

We picked up the car around 10 and headed north towards Cortona around 70 kilometers from Perugia. Passing field after field of sunflowers, vineyards and golden undulating hills complete with Tuscany's trademark cypress trees we had plenty of photo opportunities and stopped many times along the road. The villa is actually located just outside the little town of Terontola, a suburb, I guess you might say, of Cortona. Following the directions that the owner provided, we wound our way along the country roads until we found a tiny sign on the side of the road with the name of the villa. Turning down the road, we stopped in front of this lovely place! A very relaxed looking man approached our car and asked if he could help us. We explained why we were there and he very graciously offered to show us around. I wanted to take some photos but he said that the ones that the villa should have provided to our friends were actually really good and that they would probably be better than my snap shots. (There is apparently a CD that they give to folks reserving - 3 years out, apparently!)

As it turns out, he was an American (not really surprising in Tuscany) he had rented the villa for the week, along with his wife and grown children and their families. The villa has 7 bedrooms! It also has the most incredible scenery, complete with a vineyard and a vegetable garden. He was excited to tell us that they are able to pick vegetables for their meals from this garden as well as drink the wine from the vineyard (they keep a tally of what they have consumed and will pay for it at the end). His son walked over from the pool to join in the conversation and also agreed that this was indeed a very special place. They showed us around the interior (except for the bedrooms upstairs since some of their family members were still sleeping, but he assured us they were also quite beautiful) and all the furnishings are lovely. The views out of all the windows are breathtaking. There are I believe two kitchens, plenty of tables and chairs for shared meals and places for relaxing. Shawn and Stephen, if you are reading this, I hope you know that we considered telling you it was a dump and that we would be happy to take it off your hands to save you the horrible experience of staying in this rat-infested place. But alas, we had to tell you the truth, as far as we can tell it is a paradise and you should rest assured that you should expect to spend a blissful week there.

We spent most of the rest of the day in Cortona, the beautiful city made even more famous by the book "Under the Tuscan Sun." I did some sketching and Bob took a bunch of photos. We drove further north and did a quick zip through Arezzo which deserves more and hopefully we can get back there some time; then headed south to Montepulciano and the little medieval borgo of Montecchiello that our friends John and Sally have talked so much about, since it is close to the place they stay when they come to Italy. By this time the sun was setting over the golden hills and we stopped for dinner at their favorite restaurant, La Porta, before heading back to Perugia.

Tuscany is indeed magical and it is obvious why so many people have lost their hearts there. Villas and stone houses surrounded by pristine rolling hills of golden grains and sunflowers, dotted with vineyards and olive trees, contrasted by the deep green of cypress trees, against the clear blue skies and the little hill towns perched above them are exactly as you've seen them in every table top photo book on the area, but much, much better when you are standing on a hillside or sitting at a table, watching the light and the day pass you by.

Buona notte,
Rosemary & Roberto

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Free Concert


Free Concert
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
Opening night at a free concert in Piazza IV November, next to the Fontana Maggiore.

Gary Brown


Gary Brown
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
...of Gary Brown and Feelings. They played some of the best jazz we heard that day.

Light Projections in Rocca

It is so fun to see the projected images on the walls of the Rocca Paolina accompanied by Bobby Darin songs like "Mac the Knife" as we take the escalators from one part of the city to the other.

New Orleans street band


New Orleans street band
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
Twice a day they parade down the Corso Vannucci getting the crowd all riled up and ready for the day’s music!

Pastries at Sandri


Pastries at Sandri
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
This fancy and famous cafe made these pastries in the shapes of musical instruments and had them in the window.

Umbria Jazz July 14, 2005

I can't believe how busy our lives have been! The last posting I did was about our day in the country with our landlords, Sergio and Rita and what a lovely day that was. In less than one week we will be in Paris for 10 days and that will be incredible. You would think we would have all the time in the world to make plans for this and know exactly what we want to do, but we haven't! We bought a book - Lonely Planet's book on Paris - one of the few English language guide books we found here in Perugia, not having bought one in the states before we left and have a loose idea of what we want to see and do. I have bought a few new things - shoes and tops - there are incredible sales (saldi) going on now in Perugia and all the shops are advertising huge price reductions. I haven't written since last week and I'm now trying to remember what we did since then!

Umbria Jazz '05 started on the 8th! This is the amazing jazz festival, famous worldwide that brings in all these great jazz musicians for 9 days of music in the streets - many free concerts and others where you need to pay. We purchased tickets for Al Jarreau and George Benson on Monday, July 11 and it was fantastic! They have two huge stages set up in a stadium below centro next to an old church, Santa Giuliana. One is the free stage where people stand and listen or sit on the grass or onbenches scattered about. The other one, the larger paid one, is set up sort of like what used to be called Blockbuster in Phoenix, with large screens on either side so you can see what the musicians are actually doing up close if your seats are to the rear. We really saw two complete concerts - first Al did around 1-1/2 hours, then George played and sang every song we remembered for at least another 2!

The weather has been rainy since the festival started and in fact was rained out on Sunday night so we were worried that Monday could be the same, but we were fortunate. It was cool (I dressed warmly) but clear and no rain so we were very happy. There is another stage set up in Piazza IV November (the main square, where the large Fontana Maggiore is) so there is almost always music playing somewhere in the city (in smaller venues as well, like restaurants and smaller theatres where you may have to buy dinner and wine to see an act) from around noon until very late into the night. If you are interested, you can log on to www.umbriajazz.com and read more about it. Elton John performed here as well as Diana Ross and Oscar Peterson (we sat outside on the grass last night and listened to his amazing piano playing). We also have tickets for tonight, to see Tony Bennett, which I am particularly excited about!

At noon, the day kicks off with a New Orleans street band parading up and down the Corso Vannucci and everyone just follows behind, creating a procession that is dancing and singing and people standing all along the street watching and clapping. It's great fun and we try to get out there every day to watch them. They will stop in the main piazza and bring people in to dance with them, then turn around and go back up the Corso. It lasts about an hour and then the free music concerts start down in Santa Giuliana. The free concerts there stop in the evening when the big act performs and resumes again when it ends and plays until much later in the night than I can stay awake for! Around 7pm up in centro the other stage gets going and there is non-stop music until at least midnight. Not to mention all the individual musicians playing guitar or some type of horn and entertaining people all over the city. It's a wild musical extravaganza and we really love it.

This point marks the middle of our 4th month in Perugia. It seems completely impossible that we have been here for so long already. I know if I was at home this would not seem like a very long time at all. But here, in this new place, with all that we have experienced already, it seems a very long time. An amazing time. And now, a very musical one.

Ciao,
Rosemary & Bob

View from Casale dell'Angelo

This villa is just one of the views from our landlords’ country home.

Pool & Tree line


Pool & Tree line
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Butterfly on Lavender


Butterfly on Lavender
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
Bob took many beautiful photos of these butterflies on the lavender by the pool.

Boys in pool


Boys in pool
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
These boys were staying at the Borgo Casale dell'Angelo with their father who was a graphic designer.

Borgo Casale dell'Angelo


Borgo Casale dell'Angelo
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
This is the country house of our landlords. It is available as a vacation home. See blog copy for the website and more info.

Amphitheater piazzetta


Amphitheater piazzetta
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
That's Rita, our landlady setting the table. I am talking with Sergio, her husband and Giuseppe, our new neighbor.

New Neighbors & 4th of July in the Country 7/5/5

Our neighbor Catherine, who lived in the apartment next door moved out on the 2nd of July. Many people left at the beginning of July, including our friends Helena and Eva and also our neighbors from Richmond, Virginia who lived upstairs for the month of June. Lorenza, who was born in Italy, teaches at the University of Virginia in Richmond. Her friend Maria Theresa was born in Ecuador but now lives in Richmond also, along with their friend Rosa, from Spain, who has been living in the states and now is back in her home country after this visit to Italy. Lovely women, we also met Lorenza's partner Jeff who stayed here in Perugia while Maria Theresa and Rosa took trips around Italy together.

We met them all one day when Bob was out reading in the yard and Maria Theresa accidentally dropped some of her laundry down into the yard. He heard a gasp and looked up to see her with her hands over her mouth trying to figure out which language to use to communicate with this strange man in the yard below. After they both struggled with a few words in Italian, it was evident this was not either of their native tongues and of course resorted to English and we discovered the coincidence of their living in Richmond, where our son and granddaughter live! We hit it off immediately and got together a few times during the month, promising to keep in touch and visit when we are back home and living in Delaware.

Since so many people come to Perugia to study Italian at the Università per Stranieri, the length of time they stay is typically anywhere from one month to three. This brings about a changing of the faces around you every month or so. We have had many different neighbors in the upstairs apartment but most have been young students who could care less about getting to know us and we hardly saw them most of the time as our entrance into the building is through a private gate on the side and not through the main door by which the rest of the building comes and goes.

We very much liked our neighbor Catherine who was very respectful of our privacy and was quiet but friendly. She gave us excellent advice and was always willing to help us whenever she could as we found our way around Perugia. In her place now we have Giuseppe, who is a colonel in the Italian Air Force. He was with the Italian version of the Blue Angels and is currently here in Perugia studying Arabic because he is being deployed to Syria shortly. He is a handsome man (he looks so young, we were shocked to learn that he has a 25 year old son!) He speaks very good English as well so it's very easy to converse with him.

We were having dinner with Anne, our young German friend, the day he moved in. I was serving a light pasta dish when our landlords Sergio and Rita stopped by to introduce us to Giuseppe and to ask if we would like to go to their other country house (not the one outside Spoleto) the next day for a swim. This house is just outside Perugia and is a vacation rental home where tourists can stay in the beautiful hills outside the city, in a quiet and peaceful setting and still have access to Perugia and the cities of Umbria. Sergio and Rita left and we invited Giuseppe to join us for dinner. He was very charming and interesting and even shared some pastries from Naples (where he is from, although he now lives with his wife and family near Verona) and a bottle of Sicilian wine. It was a most interesting evening of stimulating conversation with far reaching topics.

The next day we gathered up our swim suits and towels, my watercolors and Bob's cameras and Sergio picked us up for the short drive to the country house. It is called Borgo Casale dell'Angelo (they have a website www.casaleangelo.it if you want to check it out). It has 5 apartments that can accommodate from 2 to 6 people, a beautiful swimming pool, solarium, barbecue area, gazebo and a stone piazzetta (a small square) and has the most incredible views. We went for a swim and sat by the pool talking with Rita and Sergio and their friends, another Italian couple and Giuseppe, who also came for a swim and joined us for a light supper out on the "piazzetta" the little square with a rounded amphitheatre and a view of the setting sun. We tried our best to follow the conversations, getting lost most of the time and being helped out by Sergio now and then as he tried to explain what was being talked about, sometimes in simpler Italian words, sometimes in his limited English. It was fun anyway.

The light supper consisted of a pasta - like the pasta salad my mother used to make - but with a penne pasta, olive oil and seasonings and tuna, plates of different kinds of meats, a caprese salad, thin slices of zucchini drizzled with olive oil and spices and another salad with (if I remember correctly) cucumbers and tomatoes and cheese, tossed in a light vinaigrette dressing. Wine flowed freely and the meal was topped off with a bowl of ice cream accompanied by the plate of pastries we had brought along as a little token of thanks for being invited.

I even had some time for some sketching in my journal and showed them my little paintings. I am now close to the end of this particular journal, which I began on the back patio of my friend Sally's house in Phoenix with a painting of a bowl of lemons just days before our departure. I can't imagine how many memories we will have by the time we are done. These people and this day will be among the ones I treasure.

Buona notte,
Rosemary

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Detail of Costume


Detail of Costume
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Flag Tossing


Flag Tossing
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
One of the large flags thrown up and around in the air with great skill.

Knight in Shining Armor


Knight in Shining Armor
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
What more can I say?

Preparations for Palio


Preparations for Palio
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
This sandy patch is where the race is run.

Thirsty Pidgeon


Thirsty Pidgeon
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.
Just a fun shot of a pidgeon drinking from the fountain in Siena.

Siena, Palio 2 July 2005

On Friday we took the train to Siena. This beautiful medieval city in Tuscany is very famous for its rusty red stones from which the color "sienna" gets it name. On the 2nd of July and again on the 16th of August, the city puts on an event known as the "Palio," a pageant/horse race around the large piazza "Il Campo" in the center of the city. It actually lasts a few days as they hold trials on the days preceding the big race and the city is decked in its neighborhood flags and colors. On the day of the race there is a big procession all around the center of town and everyone wears medieval costumes, with their individual neighborhood colors and designs. This is the first festival I would have to say that seemed to be a real boys club. Although I did think that some of these guys looked liked women wearing men's clothes but there was absolutely no female clothing as they paraded around town in the most amazing costumes of velvets and silks and satins, embroidered and decorated with buttons and ribbons and all manner of finery. The flag throwers were quite a sight to see. Two guys with these giant flags stop in the middle of the street, in front of their neighborhood groups and toss these things around as if they were feathers, up in the air, behind their backs in a demonstration of skill and mastery that was quite impressive to watch. And, let me tell you, Siena has some of the most beautiful Italian men we have seen so far! Even Bob had to agree that they were simply stunning - all and virile in all their glory riding on horseback, and walking through the streets wearing armor, carrying swords, playing instruments, proudly representing their colors and their birthplace. And once again we witnessed this neighborhood and civic pride that is so evident in these ancient Italian cities.

This is one of those times where having to take public transportation can be a problem. This event is so popular to tourists; there were absolutely no available rooms (no last minute convent or anything) so we had to be sure to catch the last bus home to Perugia, which left one hour before the actual horse race began! We had had a fun day though, watching all the medieval marching and everything and the Duomo in Siena is quite breathtaking to see, with its striped façade in green, pink and white marble, that we were content enough to go home early. The last bus was to be at 6:30 and we made certain we arrived at the station around 6 only to find out that the bus was having mechanical problems and would be late! We ended up waiting until around 8:30 for a smaller fill-in bus to pick us up and take us back to Perugia. Everyone waiting for the bus was so thrilled and exhausted when it arrived, we almost cheered and all piled in and flopped into the seats for the hour and a half ride back home.

Siena is one of those wonderful medieval cities in Tuscany, a must-see on the tourist circuit. We have been there a few times in the past but have never spent more than a day there. So we must return again, perhaps for the next Palio, perhaps just to visit parts of the city we have not seen. The last few times we arrived by car and by so doing, you enter from an entirely different part of town than when you take the train and I felt a little disoriented at first. We did find it to be more commercial than in the past, with, it seemed, many more shops than I noticed last time, high-end clothing and shoe shops, and of course the many shops for tourists to bring home souvenirs of their visit. Bob has a little house collection at home and I picked up a miniature version of the city complete with the bell tower of the Palazzo Pubblico with its crenellated façade and main square, shaped, they say like the protecting cloak of the Virgin Mary, who, along with St. Catherine (yes, Suzanne, as in "St. Catherine of Siena" - all you Catholic school kids should remember her) is their patron saint.

This Friday marks the beginning of the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, which we have looked forward to since arriving here in April. For the next two weeks there will be free concerts all over town and music will fill the streets throughout the day and late into the night. We have purchased tickets to see Al Jarreau, George Benson and Tony Bennett (Tony Bennett in Italy!! Can you imagine??) The rest of the time we will simply take in all the free concerts and just revel in the atmosphere of the city that we so enjoyed on our last visit to this wonderful city.

UmbriaJazz goes from the 8th of July to the 17th and then on the 20th we leave Italy for 10 days in Paris. Life is indeed good.

A presto,
Rosemary & Robert

A Care Package from Ginnie

A few weeks ago, Bob's cousin Ginnie wrote in our blog and asked if there was anything we missed, besides the people. I had to think about that for a while and then came up with a list of a few things. A few days ago a package arrived at our door and since we are expecting a couple of packages of books that we left behind for Jessica and our friends John and Sally to send, it didn't surprise us. Until we noticed that it wasn't from either of them at all, but from Ginnie! She had taken my little list of "Things Missed" and put a package together for us. Upon opening it we found a package of Oreos, a box of Hostess Cupcakes, a box of crackers (not actually on the list, but ones she remembered we liked when we visited her house), a jar of grape jam and two boxes of zip lock bags! We laughed very hard to see all these sweet things lovingly assembled and of course tore open the box of Hostess cupcakes and ate a few straightaway! I'm hording the Oreos and rationing them so they don't disappear too quickly and enjoying them very much. The cupcakes are gone! The grape jam is waiting to be opened but I know I will enjoy it very much. As I said, here in Italy they aren't wasting their grapes making jam - and the selection of other fruit marmalades and jams is quite vast and I am sampling them all.

A funny thing with the zip locks bags also - I wrote about the day with the ExPats, wl Kellee, who picked us up also read about the things I missed and when she picked us up she gave us a big bunch of them which she had and was willing to share! (This being before the package arrived so I happily accepted) We now have enough bags to last us quite some time.

(A little aside - a helicopter just passed overheard. That is a sound we do not hear very often here. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the preparations for UmbriaJazz, the jazz festival they are busy setting up stages for in centro, which begins tomorrow. There is a small airport just outside Perugia but the planes do not fly over the city and we only occasionally hear a jet fly overhead - way up high. It is a sound I do not miss. Living in Phoenix, near the airport, there were planes flying over our house all the time. And helicopters, mostly at night and early mornings cruising over the freeway and flying to and from the hospitals nearby also. So the occasion of a plane or helicopter is quite unusual and I hope you don't mind my mentioning. Also absent around our apartment and palazzo is the sound of traffic. We live, as I have told you, at the highest point in the city and up a road from a parking lot in an area that is not accessible to cars. So there are no traffic noises. Apart from the sound of human voices, the occasional dog barking, bird chirping and bells ringing, it is very quiet here. The "street" Via dell'Aquila, that runs just outside our gate is actually a flight of stone steps, the other side of which are other palazzi with apartments, filled with people, whose voices can echo off the stones walls as we live this very communal life.)

Ciao,
Rosemary & Robert

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Farewell to Helena, Eva and Anne

July 1, 2005

Today I had to say goodbye to our dear young friend Helena who returns to Switzerland tomorrow. She spent two months studying at the Universita per Stranieri (she already speaks German, Swiss German, French and English and can read Greek and Latin and now has Italian under her belt! At 19 years old she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. She was in our class in May, and, along with Eva and Anne, (who we also fell in love with!) continued at the Stranieri for the month of June. We had all three girls over for dinner once a week during that time, trying to give them a home cooked meal as an alternative to eating out or eating alone. Originally it was to be an Italian lesson in exchange for a home-cooked meal but really it was just an excuse for all of us to get together and talk! We enjoyed their company and we think they must have enjoyed ours too because they kept coming!

On Wednesday we went over to the classroom to say our farewell to Eva who was going home to Holland on Thursday. She promises to send us information about visiting The Netherlands in the spring to see the tulips and we will look forward to that very much. I'm sure her family, who we met a few weeks ago will be happy to have her home, not to mention her boyfriend who she talks about all the time!

Anne, from Berlin, will be here through the month of July so we will be able to spend more time with her before we leave for Paris on the 20th of this month. A charming German girl, she reminded us in many ways of our "German daughter" Andrea and we are happy that she's not leaving us now too!

Sweet, sweet girls, Anne and Eva were roommates during the month of May but then Anne had to move (a miscommunication with her landlord who thought she was only here in May and rented her apartment out from under her!). They became very good friends and went many places together, including to the discothèque to dance and the lake to sunbathe.

And so now the time has come for us to bid farewell to sweet Helena. We really hit it off and became very good friends. With our age difference you would think I would have been more like her mother than her peer and I suppose there is an element of that in our relationship. Our personalities are similar and we think alike about many things so we were a natural to become friends. For such a young person she is quite serious and old fashioned in many ways, qualities we found endearing. Which is not to say that she doesn't have a wonderful sense of humor and enjoyed teasing back and forth with Bob at every opportunity, all in good fun. She loves books and reading - her mother says she "eats books" and I witnessed that each time I lent her one and she finished it practically overnight! Her dream is to work in the famous old library in St. Galen in Switzerland and she is starting University at Basel in the fall (where I want to visit because of its famous design school.)

We spent yesterday afternoon with her, seeing some of the sights she did not have time to see since she has been in school for two months. She came to our apartment for dinner and we planned to get together for coffee in the morning and to go to the Tempio St. Angelo. This ended up being just a girl's day out as we left Bob behind and hung out together all day. We went to the Tempio, up to the top of the Porta Sant' Angelo with its amazing views, and spent the afternoon window shopping while she picked up a few gifts to bring home to her family.

The day ended with both of us crying our eyes out saying goodbye and promising to write and to see each other again. I promised we would come to Switzerland and I intend to keep my promise. Next spring we will have to make a big loop of The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland! We hope that all of them will come to see us in the States when we return home.

Farewell Helena and Eva! And too soon we will say farewell to Anne. May good fortune smile upon you all, all the days of your lives! We will miss you here in Perugia but we know that we are richer for having met each of you.

Arrivedirci,
Rosemary & Robert

Helena at the Tempio


Helena at the Tempio
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Helena


Helena
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Eva & Anne


Eva & Anne
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Partying with the ExPats

Last week we got an email from Barb and Art inviting us to join a little get together they were planning for Wednesday with a few of the folks who log on to the ExPats site and are living in Italy. The picnic was to start around noon at their house in San Venanzo, just outside Marciano. Delighted to be included, we checked our bus schedules and were disappointed to see that in the summer, the first bus from Perugia to San Venanzo (stopping in Marciano) wasn't until almost 1pm and wouldn't arrive in San Venanzo until after 2. Not only that, the last bus going back was at 3:15 so it seemed pointless for us to go. Art had even offered to pick us up in Marciano, but still the timing didn't seem to work very well and we felt we had to decline the offer.

As luck would have it, we got an email from Kellee who said she had to drive right past Perugia and would be happy to pick us up and drive us to the gathering! A few text messages and phone conversations later and we were driving out of Perugia on the autostrada headed for the party. There was good lively conversation as we drove, each of us telling our stories - who we are, why we are living in Italy, our backgrounds, our living arrangements in Italy, cities back home, work we do or did etc. And the time passed so quickly we soon found ourselves pulling into San Venanzo and being welcomed by a room full of warm, friendly people in Barb and Art's kitchen! We spent a lovely, lively afternoon sitting in the little park across from their house munching on Barb's delicious spread - toasted bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil, generously sprinkled with salt, amazing cheese from Sardegna dripping in honey for starters, followed by an assortment of summer salads and topped off by Barb's incredible brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Wine flowed as freely as the conversation and we sat around the picnic tables and got to know each other until well into the afternoon.

We are the only ones not owning our own place here and much of the talk centered around finding, buying and restoring a home here in Italy. It was fascinating nonetheless and we enjoyed hearing everyone's story, each as unique and different as they were. One thing we all shared was a love for this beautiful country and the desire to spend as much time here as possible.

Shea and Art told the sweet story of how they met. How she had been widowed and he became her financial advisor. One thing led to another and they found themselves in love, getting married (at a drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas), buying a home and renovating it (She carried her sink and stove in pieces on the plane!) and loving their life here in Italy.

Mary (her husband Robert was home supervising the building of a swimming pool on their property) live part of the time in California and part here in Italy. They continue to work, by way of the Internet but seem completely content to divide their time between the two worlds.

Anna and Ramon are searching for a house and everyone shared what they knew about the process and they were so appreciative. We wish them well in their search for the perfect place for them and their dog "Bob."

Shelley and Larry have been coming to Italy for several years, were married in a small village in the Chianti region and have property they rent out here while they are home in Texas working the rest of the year.

We hope to see them again and appreciate Barb and Art's gracious and generous hospitality once again.

Kellee dropped us off in Perugia and we walked home, really exhausted but feeling once again very fortunate for the people we have had the pleasure to meet and for being able to live this dream day after day.

Ciao,
Rosemary & Bob

Monday, July 04, 2005

Norcia


Norcia
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

A Shop in Norcia


A Shop in Norcia
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Loreto, a detail


Loreto, a detail
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Castellucio di Norcia


Castellucio di Norcia
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Shepherd in Valnerina


Shepherd in Valnerina
Originally uploaded by livecheapmakeart.

Rosemary @ Valnerina with Italy Trees


Driving back to Perugia through the Valnerina

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Streets of Loreto

Leaving Sirolo and the Riviera del Cònero we stopped in the lovely hilltop town of Loreto where pilgrims have come for centuries to see the small stone house of the Virgin Mary. Legend has it that angels carried this house over the sea to Loreto from Nazareth, although they do concede that perhaps it was actually carried out by human hands. A family by the name of De Angelis (hmmm) is mentioned in historic documents as having saved the Holy House of Nazareth from destruction some time in the 13th century and transported the stones to Loreto where it was rebuilt and stands today.

Not one to leave well enough alone, Pope Julius II, in the 1500s decided to add a marble exterior to it, so that the little house (9.5 x 4 meters) is now encased in what looks like a fancy tomb complete with marble statues and elaborate details. The interior however is simple brick and stone with remnants of fading frescoes (added later of course, because I doubt the Holy Family had the funds to commission such works - forgive my skepticism). However, according to the brochure we picked up, "studies of the building materials used in the Holy House and comparisons of these materials with the Nazareth Grotto have shown that both parts clearly coexisted at the same time. There is also various graffiti cut into the stones judged by experts to be of Jewish-Christian origin and similar to those at Nazareth."

Who am I to question such authority?

Inside the house-turned chapel is the famous Black Madonna, or one of them at any rate, because there is more than one in the world. They explain that the original Madonna had turned black from the smoke from candles and lamps that burned in the little chapel and that when it was destroyed in a fire in 1921 the artist Celani carved a new one giving her a black tint to try to capture the feel of the one lost.

The exterior of the Basilica is quite impressive, and very castle-like and we enjoyed photographing all the details, which I will include and not try to describe any further!

The city of Loreto is quite pretty, sitting as it does on a hill surrounded by a gentle rolling landscape that runs from the Adriatic to the Appennines, with lovely shops and medieval buildings.


Driving along the Adriatic Coast (sort of)

Leaving Loreto we headed south along the coast of Marche hoping to have a view of the sea and the little towns that dot the coast. We are sorry to tell you that we were really not very impressed with most of these towns, unfairly I am sure because we simply drove through them without stopping to explore any. Many have a post-war feeling and overall we only found a few that we would want to explore further. The road does not actually hug the coast, which is more visible from the train, which does. The drive exhausted Bob, as it was a lot of stop and go and with cars and motorbikes cutting in and driving rather recklessly at times so that he had to pay really close attention to the road and not to the scenery. We did, however, pass a truck carrying a camel, which we thought quite interesting until we saw the sign advertising a circus in town. At the next opportunity, we abandoned the "coast" road and headed inland back towards the Sibillini Mountains and Umbria.


Back through the Valnerina to Norcia

A few weeks ago our landlords took us on a tour of the area called The Valnerina, all the way up to a little town called Castellucio di Norcia where the flower fields are. The flowers were just beginning to open and we hoped we would see them fully in bloom. Not really sure how to get there, and following a map that did not show all the little roads, we stopped outside a tiny borgo in the mountains (a very small town with just a few houses) where a young man was out in front of his house, to ask directions. He in turn called his mother for help and she began trying to tell us how to get there. This got the attention of her husband who joined in on the discussion of what would be the best route, taking over from his wife, who went into their house in the mountains of Umbria and returned having made a photocopy of a page in their map book! It turned out they run an electrical business and so need to have some of these modern conveniences. We wondered if they could have done a Map Quest search on their computer even, although they did not offer this particular service! We are constantly reminded that the modern world has made itself known, even in the most remote places, coexisting with shepherds and sheep and medieval hilltop towns.

Even though the weather is quite warm throughout Italy and the rest of Europe, this area high in the mountains is still cool and the flower fields are not yet totally in bloom. The landscape is phenomenal anyway and we were delighted to watch a shepherd tending his flock and moving them across the hills, chomping on grass as they made their way across the mountain. The funniest thing was that as we were taking photos he called down to us "Che ora è?" (What time is it?) Which totally cracked us up! One would think time would not matter to a shepherd high in the hills of Umbria and we tried to imagine why he would need to know. It was the middle of the afternoon - would the field close? Did he have a date? Was he punching a clock and had to get the sheep somewhere by a certain time? Was he afraid of missing his favorite soap opera on satellite TV? It just struck as very funny and unexplainable!


Norcia and home to Perugia

Norcia and the area surrounding it are very famous for the cheeses made from sheep's milk and the pork products they produce here and for being the birthplace of St. Benedict (in the year 480) - a very famous monk who founded the Benedictine order and is revered throughout Umbria. The town is very quaint and charming with the main piazza surrounded by many small shops selling local products. The tourists pour off of their tour buses and make a beeline for these shops as if the world would end before they filled their bags with cheeses and salamis. We couldn't resist buying some as well although we are quite certain we can purchase these same things here in Perugia and possibly not spend as much! The best thing we bought was a loaf of the most scrumptious bread - a large loaf of twisty, crispy, doughy "Italian" bread with poppy seeds, which we ate with half of a roasted chicken, sitting on a park bench just outside the city walls before heading home to Perugia.

Stopping by our apartment to drop off our things, we brought back the rental car and then had to catch a bus back to Perugia, arriving home well after 9pm, exhausted but content with dreams of further beach adventures swimming in our heads.

Buon giorno!
Rosemary & Bob

A day at the beach

A day at the beach

On Friday morning we got in the car and drove up to the top of Monte Cònero where there is a fancy hotel. The guy at the little concession stand nearby told us the walk out to the view was only about 10 minutes (see comment about Italian calculation of time) so we headed off down the path. At least 20 minutes later we found the viewpoint – an amazing spot that overlooks Le Due Sorelle, the two huge rock formations that jut out of the sea below. The most fun part of this walk along a tree-lined, sun-dappled path was the butterflies that seemed to be accompanying our journey. The most beautiful iridescent yellow and green butterflies kept flitting all around us, playing with each other in the air, landing on leaves just ahead of us and then waving us on. It was enchanting; they were like little fairies, helping us find our way through the woods.

I should say that there are also some beaches across from hotels along another stretch of the coast where you can just walk across the road and be on the beach but the views are not nearly as breathtaking as where we were even if we did have to work to get to them.

We stopped at the beach called Portonovo for an hour or so for a swim. This is one of the beaches where you can drive down to a parking place and the beach is right there. This also had an incredible view of the mountain with little dried palm frond umbrellas and crystal blue waters. The beach is covered with larger white, white rocks that are quite beautiful. We played in the water here and then got back in the car for more exploring. The views at every turn are amazing.

For the rest of the day we returned to our beach at Grotto Urbani, rented lounge chairs and an umbrella – and there we remained for the entire day. We slept, read books, went in the water until we felt cold or had too much sun (several times in and out!), I did some watercolor sketching, played with the rocks, making little faces and designs and just thoroughly relaxed. On the beach is the only place where Bob can sit all day and do nothing! It was magical. I wish I could describe the color of this water and the sensation of knowing we were swimming in the Adriatic Sea. Picturing the map of Italy, seeing the curve of the land, the mountain jutting out, covered with deep green trees, the sky as blue as the water, the air warm and soft on our skin. I must tell you it was very hard for me to leave and I was so sad to go. But now we want to try to visit every beach area in Italy to find a place for us to live next summer! We think this would be the perfect life, to find a small apartment perhaps in a not too small town within easy reach of the sea and spend our time as beach bums along the coast of Italy. Now our challenge is to find the right place with the right mix of all of these things that we can afford. May good fortune be with us!

(to be continued: see “Driving back to Perugia through the Valnerina”