La Dolce Vita-- Ciao, Italia!

 Buongiorno...... from the Wandering Berkmans!

We've been here just over 4 weeks but already so much to share of this wonderful country! 

We're staying in Spoleto, which seems to be located in the navel of Italy, in the region of Umbria, province of Perugia.  Why Spoleto?  We knew we wanted to visit this region and Don found this amazing Airbnb in Spoleto.  It's been the perfect home base to visit over 10 different cities so far.  Unfortunately we arrived too late  for the festival that takes place here every year with events that take place in various locations in the city, including the Roman amphitheater shown below.  

  Here's the nearby Piazza del Mercato, our main square, on a particularly beautiful night. 

It seems like every city in Perugia is famous for some kind of food item.  And we make it a point to take advantage of each one.  In Spoleto, one such dish is strangozzi alla Spoletina, which comes with either a spicy tomato sauce or a truffle sauce.   We have made it our business to try both versions.  This pic of the truffle version doesn't do it justice.  Trust me, this is the tastiest "worms with dirt" you'll ever eat.  

Our local watering hole, il Caffe degli Artisti, is very generous with their snacks- one beverage for each of us and all this came out gratis!.  And our new best friend server Filip (we're still trying to get a picture with him-- stay tuned!) keeps us apprised of the goings-on in town.  He loves Don.  

 In Trevi, it's all about the olive oil.  As we made our way up the mountain towards this beautiful hill city there were olive trees to the left and to the right of us all the way. 

This may look like "just bread" but this grilled, olive-oil drenched masterpiece made us cry.  Nonna in the kitchen had a liberal pour and we will forever be grateful. 

And to top it off, we were served by Robert De Niro!  Yes, we told him he looked like De Niro and yes, he said with a smile "Everyone says that.".

After seeing la Cascata delle Marmore (manmade waterfall but still impressive) we headed into Terni, known as both the Steel City for its industry and as the "city of lovers" because Saint Valentine was born there and is interned in the basilica.  Quite the combination of claims to fame.  We saw few examples of either but we did have some tasty pizza cut in rectangles and tasty arancini.  

  

 
Norcia is known for its prosciutto (apologies to our vegetarian cohorts) and its truffles.  Everything is meat and truffles.  I even sampled a truffle-flavored beer-- I don't need to return to that.  We were told that normally this town is vibrant with activity but the earthquake of 2016 has reduced much of Norcia to rubble and reconstruction.   One church was a glaring example of the strength of the quake.  All that survived was the facade-- the rest of the building was rubble.  

One thing we won't be sampling-- as found in the baby food section of a local market.  :0

We've adopted Bar La Portella as our official office because the coffee is tasty, the view of the mountains beautiful any time of day and the wifi is strong.  Host Emiljano and the spunky Ermelinda keep us well caffeinated and are always good for a cheery "Buongiorno, ragazzi!"   Ermelinda holds court everyday, arriving on her yellow Vespa with her blue tinged hair,  pink helmet, cigarette pants and leopard print flats.  Glorious.  As you can tell below, she was more than happy to stage the shot and have her  picture taken with Don.  Here's a link of Emiljano and Ermelinda doing a PSA on vaccines.  

 One recent workday we must have been speaking especially Jersey because a couple next to us asked "Are you American?".  And from there has begun a beautiful friendship with Boulder-based couple Carle and Andy.  A couple of hours trading stories at La Portella turned into another great day of touring Assisi and Spello together and yet another night taking hours to cook Korean japchae at our place.   We vow to catch up with each other again in future travels! 

 

Spello is known for a flower competition amongst residents every year.  It seemed every street looked like this.

A visit to the hermitage of Saint Frances in Assisi was baffling (how could they live in such confined spaces??), breathtaking (the views!) and solemn.  When we compared his crypt here to the one in the cathedral in Assisi to which he was later moved, we had the feeling he would have preferred the simple former, not the ornate later.  But what do we know? 

 

We'd be remiss if we didn't include a little something about our Airbnb.  Between the fact that we're located outside of a large city and that we're receiving a discount for our long stay, this renovated palazzo from the 1500's is ours for an affordable $60 a night.  Fantastico!  

Here's Don looking out from the dining room on the second floor (the kitchen is up there too) and the bottom photo is of our street.  A restaurant popular with the locals, L'Angolo Antico,  is next door-- the smells coming from that kitchen are mouth watering.  It can get a little noisy on the weekends but as someone romantically called it "the sounds of Italy" we get a kick out of the evening show with everyone talking over everyone else and the sounds of future A.C.Perugia Calcio stars kicking soccer balls in the street.  And then we close the windows and put on the noise cancelling earbuds.  It's all good.  

It's not all about going out to eat (we'd run out of funds in a week!) so we do a good amount of cooking at our place.  Because our apartment is located within the walls of old Spoleto we have to park our car about a 15 min walk away.  That's why one of our first purchases when we arrived are these handy dandy rolling Nonna carts.  With each of us armed with one, we have this shopping thing down.  

Slice of Life for this edition-- 

As part of our Italian immersion we've been listening to Italian music on the radio, with this recent ditty rolling through our heads. We dare you to not sing along to the chorus. (lyrics in Italian and Spanish provided for those inclined to make this their next go-to karaoke song!) 

More on our Italian life in our next edition.  Until then, buona giornata!

Be well and thanks for following along!

Don and Monica