Sagre e Feste - Festivals & Celebrations . . .

A Tradition that entices all the senses.

From sacred rites, to medieval pagaentry, to the wonders of tastes and smells, all are designed to entice and intrigue and to encourage, to lift the spirit and to embrace the vitality and continuance of a life that is already good, but might always be made better. These are the passions and hopes that enable these long, long traditions to continue; these and also because they serve to ground even the youth of today. And it is this last that has amazed us most. At every event, sacred and profane, we have marvelled at the active and enthusiastic part that is played out across all the generations, from the very young to the very old. That alone, is inspiring.

Nearly every village and small town around our home in the ancient city of Orvieto has a summer festival of one sort or another. But for us, this year, it began with the reenactment of a medieval sacred ceremony, the Festival of the Palombella, now adopted as an integral part of the Easter celebrations where a white dove, symbolising the Holy Spirit, is passed down a long wire from the Church of San Francesco to the front of Orvieto's truly magnificent cathedral. Having survived the long journey, it is then subjected to the huge cacophony of noise as the fireworks mounted on the cage on high, burst into fiery life. Should it survive all of this it is then handed over to the next young couple booked to marry in the Cathedral as a promise of a long and happy life together - though I do believe they keep a "fail-safe" dove hidden away just in case the chosen one succumbs to the ordeal.

From here, the long summer is redolent in festivals and celebrations, some to do entirely with specialist gastronomic tastes, others merely an excuse to celebrate the warm weather and the promise of a good harvest. But, without fail, they always celebrate and give thanks for the continuance of a good life. Through all the colourful panoply of sights and sounds of these events it is almost impossible for the unititiated to keep up, even with those that occur right on one's own doorstep. For weeks now, as we sit on our terrace in the warm night air, finishing off our meal with a grappa or a favourite sweet wine such as the Muffa Nobile that our friend Giovanni produces at Palazzone (but that is another story), we hear the rumblings and faint explosions of fireworks that rock the summer quiet, always accompanied by squeals of delight, sometimes by appreciative clapping, sometimes with a chorus of frightened puppies wakened from there sleep.

We are lucky though, we have many friends who live among these communities who invite us to be part of their family group or who inform us of forthcoming events. But we are also fortunate in working closely with our friends and colleagues at Discovering Umbria who can always direct us to the next special sagra or sacred rite. In this way, we have managed to build up quite a list of annual events so we can inform our clients and visitors and give them every possible advantage in taking part, as we love to do.

For information on Umbrian festivals and celebrations, as part of the large range of tours offered by Discovering Umbria, contact Judith directly, judithgreenaway@discoveringitaly.com or go to the website at www.discoveringumbria.it/

The Gastronomy Tours - Cheese Tastings . . .

Visit to a cheese maker near Todi

As part of our collaboration with the Italian based company, Discovering Umbria, we have been able to sample many of the delights to be included in their new "Gastronomy Tours." One very special visit recently was to a local cheese producer close to Todi. This is tough work, of course, but we figure it is our responsibilty to understand as much as we can about the products we promote and sell ;-)

This particular cheese production company is run by two families with a strong philosophy of maintaining the traditional "artigianale" approach to cheese making. It helps that the head of the company is a qualified agriculturalist with a passion for keeping the local traditions along with very high standards of quality and presentation of the final product.

Needless to say, as part of our "work" detail for this day, we were able to taste a number of different types of cheese such as the wonderful "caprini" or goat's cheese, the traditional Umbrian speciality of sheep's cheese, pecorino - fresh and stagionata (matured) as well as the most beautifully smooth and creamy mozarella, among many others.

This particular part of the gastronomy tours is preceeded by a cheese "class" conducted by one of Italy's favourite TV chefs, Master Chef Sergio-Maria Teutonico. For information on this and any other tours please email directly to: judithgreenaway@discoveringitaly.com or you can visit the website of Discovering Umbria at www.discoveringumbria.com/

On the Etruscan Trail . . .

Following D.H. Lawrence: Tarquinia

Tarquinia has been on my list of "must see" places for a very long time having read Lawrence's account in his "Etruscan Places" many times. So, as we drove passed a sign indicating the way to Tarquinia, we decided that this was to be the day. With no map to guide us we pulled up into the town - much more of a city now than in Lawrence's day - and cheekily drove through the narrow porta into the medieval quarter, passed the inevitable group of tawny-faced, old men sitting in the sunshine, and found our way to a carpark close to the ancient wall. We have discovered in these places that if you always head upwards you will eventually find yourself in the centre, and we did. As we sat to drink and to recover from the steepish climb we found that we were facing the entrance to the museum. Lawrence describes this museum as "exceedingly interesting and delightful, to anyone who is even a bit aware of the Etruscan." And he was right. While we love the Villa Giulia and always include it in our group itinerary for Rome (Ceramica Italia: from the Etruscans to the Renaissance), it can be a little difficult to appreciate fully the entire repertoire of the Etruscan civilization as it is collected and displayed there, in particular, in understanding how the artifacts relate to their every day life. But in this museum, in the Palazzo Vitilleschi, the entire ouvre consists of works found only in the region of Tarquinia.

As Lawrence says again, "If only we could realize it, and not not tear things from their settings. Museums anyhow are wrong. But if one must have museums, let them be small, and above all, let them be local. Splendid as the Etruscan museum is in Florence, how much happier one is in the museum at Tarquinia, where all the things are Tarquinian, and at least have some association with one another, and form some sort of organic whole."

At last, I have understood precisely what he meant. The works are splendid indeed and the collection sufficient to rival that of the larger, collected museums but it gives more than that. It provides the context and the setting and, more importantly, allows one to feel the existence of these truly amazing people. I am sure this is because the evidence is all around Tarquinia, not just in the museum. But, if there must be a museum to collect and arrange the artifacts then, as Lawrence said, let it be this one.

This is a place that has definately earned its inclusion in the new itinerary currently being developed as one of the group itineraries, "Etruscan Trails", along with the Villa Giulia in Rome and Vulci. Further information will be included here but you may also email directly to judithgreenaway@discoveringitaly.com with any questions.

You may also go directly to the website to view all the current programmes and individual itineraries: www.discoveringitaly.com/