Old friend

Years ago I worked with this lovely man who created some walls, terraces and a small building on site where I live. I had been working on the same projects as well as a 'facchino', one who carries stuff around (in this case building sand and stones, lots and lots of...

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New national holiday in Italy

New national holiday in Italy

It took some time but it now is official, March 17 has been declared a national holiday in Italy celebrating the 150th anniversary of its unification. Some Italians are/were not so sure if this is a cause for celebration but there it is. Only this year. Now in Italy...

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A Dogs Life in Umbria

Oh Dio, oh dio, the old lady muttered while she slowly climbed the hill zigzagging from left to right. Drunk? No, it was caused by a dog. You see, our neighbours have a guest these days, a young dog owned by someone in the family. It is a nice dog and has got all the...

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Cakes in Umbria at GMB

GMB isn't a name that gives me hope of finding delectable cakes, tarts and other good things. GMB to me sounds more like something participants in the annual Tour de France use to find some extra pedalpower, or it sounds like a builder of offroad motorbikes. However I...

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Nose to tail the Italian way

Nose to tail the Italian way

As every year around this time the neighbours had their pig brought to their house to cut it up and transform it into salumi, sausages, capocollo, pancetta, ribs and chops. Not because they jumped on the nose-to-tail bandwagon but...

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Cioccolataio

So we had peracottaio and today we give you cioccolataio. A cioccolataio is someone who makes and sells chocolate. 'Fare una figura da cioccolataio' means leaving a bad impression (fare brutta figura). There is a nice story attached to this. A cioccolataio had done...

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Words… peracottaio

Didn't hear this one before but it already is a favourite. 'Pere cotte' are, well you guessed it, cooked pears, easy uh? Now how would you call someone who sells cooked pears? Yes a peracottaio! This leads to the proverb, "fare la figura del peracottaio", meaning...

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Last supper

Last supper

The wildboar hunting season has ended, so time for the annual final wildboar hunters dinner. The hunters' cabin is in an old bongo type building and can only be reached by driving quite some distance over an unaspahalted bendy road. The welcome was warm as ever. Funny...

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Not so fast… courier services in Italy

Happy New year to all of you! I hope all the coureur service in Italy made a simple new years pledge, being: do what we are supposed to do. Why? Well some of you might know we have a somewhat different taste of wine. What that is? Well supermarket won't do. So what do...

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Italian delicacy, capone.

I can have a good time by just reading the flyers from all the shops surrounding us. This caught my eyes for several reasons: First of all it was the frontpage. Yes it really was. Secondly the absurdly low price. Thirdly, how many countries do they still have capons...

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