The Old Broad Abroad

The Saturday following Good Friday, I was all ready for Dolores with a special breakfast—I broke out the “pan di ramerino,” a Tuscan specialty yeast roll that is normally served only on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and then disappears for the rest of the year. I discovered them in Florence in 2003, with . . . → Read More: Red poppies and La Pasquetta with Dolores

Only about two weeks before leaving, I invited Dolores Frank to drop everything for a while, and come meet me in Spello. I pushed her a bit, finally convinced her and helped her to book her ticket, and then left for Italy myself only days before she was arriving right behind me.

I got . . . → Read More: Dolores arrives and settles in, and then Good Friday arrives!

After so many trips here, I have a good idea of how to “roll with the punches” that come with several plane changes and unexpected delays, and I did some advance planning to get myself from my arrival in Florence directly (by train) to Spello the same night. My friend, Anne, was in the . . . → Read More: The “April Fools!” joke was on me—my plans were in shambles

I promised myself that I would get this blog done before going on to the current blogs, and I have been working on finding photos, cropping and processing them, and even taking some new, current photographs. This has been quite a chore, compared to other posts, and I think this blog will cover the . . . → Read More: By popular request, Spello “before and after” photos

It was a wonderful surprise to get the opportunity to recover from my Achilles tendon surgery in Spello, since I could not drive, I was still wearing a boot cast, and I was going to be home alone with my husband gone on business for several weeks. He had booked tickets for me to . . . → Read More: Time to pack up and head home from Spello

Each month I plan for a trip to the Arezzo Antiques Fair, and then hope that Paola and Leonardo are going to Pissignano, always the very next day (the first Sunday of the month), and will invite me to go along with them. There, along with a small market of foods and produce, there . . . → Read More: The “discount antiques market,” Pissignano

One of my very favorite destinations when I’m here is the monthly antiques market in Arezzo, with nearly 500 vendors arriving for the first Sunday and the preceding Saturday, each month. I mark my calendar and try to save the dates, usually choosing Saturday, and leaving Sunday for the Pissignano market (almost “garage sale”) . . . → Read More: Another field trip to the Arezzo Antiques Fair

Paola is the world’s most dedicated walker, and passes up no opportunity in good weather to get outside and walk. This one particular day, after a long day of preparing lunch for her extended family, and cleaning the house and the B&B rooms, the daylight was going quickly. She and Leonardo often go to . . . → Read More: A “passeggiata” in Assisi with Paola and Leonardo

It was a sudden decision by my husband to send me to Spello, with me stuck in a boot cast after surgery, and limited in the time I could be on my feet. In Sacramento, I could not drive myself anywhere, and I was driving my friends crazy with needing rides, or things from . . . → Read More: November arrives, and I prepare to leave for home

"The Hundred Flavors of the Apennine Region"–One of the many event signs leading us to the next venue for tasting

Pat Hanna, my friend from Santa Brigida in the mountains above Florence, was free to come to Spello for a visit, and we immediately decided to head for a field trip to . . . → Read More: “One hundred tastes of the Apennines,” in Anghiari