A private evening with Angela Hewitt

Last night we went to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa to hear Angela Hewitt play Ravel. I have liked her for so many years and with Alicia Della Rocha she is one of my favourite pianist. After the concert she had arranged for a small group of people to meet in the restaurant of the NAC for dessert, many of the people present have known her since childhood. She came and greeted everyone in a very personal and friendly manner. Not only is she a great artist, she has wonderful people skills. One could be excused for being tongue tied meeting someone like her, but she put everyone at ease by speaking in the most friendly way as if we had known her for years. Angela Hewitt has a house in Ottawa but she also lives in Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy where every year in June she organizes a Music Festival with other great artists. This coming year in June, Anne Sophie Von Otter will be part of the Festival program. This Music Festival also includes now concerts in the towns of Gubbio and Perugia.

I was thrilled to meet Angela Hewitt and be able to speak to her over dessert as an old friend, I thanked her for her talent and the many hours of pleasure she has given me listening to her wonderful piano playing.

Perugia, Umbria

This morning after breakfast we decided to spend the day in Perugia which is located about 21 km from Assisi. At first we thought we would take the bus over since it is so close. We quickly found out that the bus runs only 4 times a day at odd hours so we opted for a taxi ride instead. In Perugia we went straight to Piazza Italia in the centre of town and took the Perugia City tour open air mini-bus, it’s a wonderful way to see the whole city from one end to the other. Though it is not an extended city and distances between two points are not that far, the city is built on a hill and again going from one area to the next means a lot of walking on very steep streets, up long staircase of 100 steeps or more and everything is on an incline. The open air mini-bus takes you everywhere, you have commentaries in 4 languages it is informative and fun all in one, without being exhausted in the hot summer sun.
The Council Chamber or Room of the Notaries, where city council meets in Perugia. The Coats of Arms on the walls show that the city supported the Holy Roman Emperor against the Pope in Rome.
The Palace of Notables in Perugia's in the Piazza del Duomo.



Perugia or Perusia as it was known by the Etruscan some 3000 years ago as always been an important city in Umbria because of its geographical position, access to fresh water from the mountains, hot mineral springs and being on major trade routes in a very fertile valley. It was also the last place where the Etruscan language was spoken and written until the final defeat of the supporters and friends of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the hands of Augustus, nephew of the late Julius Ceasar. The main city gate proclaims AUGUSTA PERUSIA, clearly indicating that the city fell into the hands of the imperial army and all supporters of Mark Anthony and most of the Etruscan nobles were killed in a final settling of scores. In later history closer to us, you have the continual battle between the people of Perugia and the army of the Pope. The people wanted to be independent but the Pope wanted to be their ruler for economic reasons. The Salt war of 1453 saw the defeat of the people when Pope Paul III Farnese conquered the city and imposed a salt tax. His tax was 6 cents a pound of salt instead of the 3 cents a pound people had been paying to Siena for white and clean salt, compared to the black dirty salt the Pope was selling. To this day the bread made in Perugia has no salt. The Pope also had an enormous fortress ‘’Paolina ‘’built on the highest point of Perugia, it was demolished by the people at the Liberation of the city by Garibaldi in 1860.
The Etruscan gate of Perugia with the inscription Augusta Perusia.
The deconsecrated Church of Saint Dominic, today the museum of archeology.


Perugia has the oldest university in Europe established in 1308. Beautiful museums and churches including the massive Duomo of San Lorenzo which has in a side chapel the wedding ring of the Virgin Mary.
This is our last day on the road and tomorrow we return to puppies and our home in Rome.

The trip continues, now in Umbria.

We left Pesaro, loaded with excellent wines from Le Marche and drove to our next stop about an hour away in the mountains, the road is one of beautiful countryside and panoramic vistas to Gubbio. Unfortunately on arrival we discovered that this small town was the setting for a motorcycle race, lots of visitors and a massive traffic jam. Gubbio is very small, you blink, you missed it, it is an old town with walls, gates and narrow streets made for ox carts not cars, little or no parking. So after 30 minutes we decided to push on to Assisi, which is only a short distance away. This is the birthplace of St-Francis, his family were well to do people, he lived here and died here, not a long life, he was about 45 yrs old when he died in 1226. The city is located on a steep hill, again lots of stairs and very steep narrow streets, little alleys all shared between a few cars and all the tourists in town.
Basilica of St-Francis of Assisi.

The big attraction is the Papal Basilica, lower and upper sections, of St-Francis with its many frescoes painted by Giotto. One chapel, that of St-Nicolo is currently undergoing major cleaning and we were able to visit by special permission the site. An interesting story about this chapel involves the Orsini family, who are amongst the famous princely families of Italy. Cardinal Prince Napoleone Orsini managed to have a rule changed allowing people to be buried in side chapels of major churches around 1292. His younger brother Gian Gaetano had died after falling off his horse, the Cardinal used this new rule to have his brother and later himself buried in the side chapel next to the tomb of St-Francis.
Giotto decorated the walls and ceiling with various biblical stories but also with two major frescoes of the brothers being introduced to Christ by other saints and the Virgin Mary. The Orsini coat of Arms also appears 56 times on the walls and windows, so that you could not forget who was buried here. This new rule was widely used afterwards by the mighty and the powerful to have themselves buried next to Saints in Churches, a practice not open to ordinary mortals given the expense involved.
a street in Assisi.

Assisi is built of stone and has undergone massive reconstruction and repair after the devastating earthquake of 1997. The frescoes of Giotto had been severely damaged, many collapsing on the floor of churches, the restorer had to use the technique of the giant puzzle to put them back together, an extremely difficult task. This year marks the 800 anniversary of the creation of the Franciscan order.

Assisi like many sites devoted to a major Saint has its busload of tourists, cheap restaurants and souvenir shops, however it is not gaudy. It also has a lot of legends and myths surrounding the saint, it is all open to interpretation and it is largely a question of faith. Reality is mixed in with fantasy, like the love affair between St-Clare (Chiara in Italian) and St-Francis, who is another major saint in Italy, she too came from a wealthy aristocratic family. For the period Claire was an assertive woman and she left her mark on the Church.

Other Saints like Ruffino, Bishop of Assisi and Damiano also appear mixed into the story of Assisi. As for the Franciscans, they confine themselves to their cloister and the basilica, you will not see many on the streets. The order today has little to do with what St-Francis practiced or preached, it has grown into a wealthy congregation, owning multi-million dollar properties and priceless works of art. The same can be said for the order of St-Clare, also known as the Poor Clares, who despite vows of poverty are an extremely rich congregation.
Assisi vista from our hotel room window.

Assisi also has one excellent restaurant, the Nuova Osteria La Piazetta del’Erba on Via San Gabriele dell’Addolorata, we had 2 very good meals, imaginative cuisine, beautiful presentation, pleasant garden setting, excellent wine list and the owner and staff are very knowledgeable. All being said, you can do Assisi in one day and one night and then move on to Perugia or Spoleto both visible from Assisi and are at opposite ends of the valley.

Tomorrow Friday, we go to Perugia which is only 20 Km away and clearly visible across the valley from our hotel room window.

planning our August vacation

In August it is the time honored tradition of vacation for all of Italy, everyone and everything will be either gone on vacation and businesses will be either shut or on very reduced hours of operation, this includes banks, grocery stores, city public works, the government, doctors, hospitals, gas stations, mechanics, in other words everything. You have to see it to believe it, the whole country shuts down. We will do like everyone else and go away to the sea side. This year we return to Pesaro in the Marche region on the Adriatic and on our return journey we will stop in Gubbio, Assisi and Perugia in Umbria region.
This year is a special anniversary, it is the 800 anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order by St-Francis of Assisi, a very peculiar man who the Pope did not entirely approve of, because of his radical ideas of poverty. I think that the Pope as Sovereign of the World as he styled himself and lived in what is called to this day the Sacred Apostolic Palace, must have felt embarrassed in front of this man who spoke plainly and lived amongst the poor, preaching humility in the service of God.

Just yesterday I was reading the blog Italian notebook and found out that the Chapel of Santo Nicolo in Assisi is undergoing major renovations and the beautiful interior is being completely cleaned, revealing the original colors of the frescoes as they were when Giotto painted them centuries ago. You can visit the Chapel while the work goes on on special appointment and reserve a time to see the artists at work. This is what we did, a special treat to see such work in process, it is called ''Giotto come era'' or Giotto as it was. See also www.assisionline.com

Orvieto, Umbria

Last weekend for Labour Day we drove 120Km to Orvieto which is just north of Rome in Umbria, known as Tuscany's little sister.
Orvieto is on a hill top like most small cities in Umbria. It is a fairly small town with one spectacular Cathedral far too big for such a small place. The story goes that in 1290 there was a miracle in the town next door. The priest saying Mass at consecration dropped the host unto the cloth on the Altar, the host bled real blood said to be that of the Savior. Needless to say the story reached Rome and the Pope in no time at all. The bishop of Orvieto was most anxious to see this Altar Cloth for himself. So he arranged to have the cloth brought to his church in Orvieto and invited the Pope at the same time to come up for a visit. So the Pope came with Cardinals and all the Court of the Vatican to see this miracle of the said real blood of Christ. While the Pope was examining the Altar Cloth and the blood stains, the Bishop suggested to the Holy Father that a Cathedral should be built in Orvieto as a shrine for this miraculous cloth.

The Pope none the wiser that the cloth actually belonged to another church in another town agreed. By doing so he started a pilgrimage industry in Orvieto which continued for centuries into the Renaissance period. So Orvieto got to keep the Altar Cloth and for 300 years a new Cathedral lavishly decorated was constructed to house this precious relic. You can see it today in the side Chapel. The Church itself has wonderful fresco paintings illustrating the scenes of the last judgement and other biblical passages relating to the childhood and life of Christ. Orvieto also has great wines, truffles and cheeses and other fine buildings and it is a beautiful town to visit. From a distance the Cathedral with its coloured mosaic front stands out as you approach the city. Today tourists come to Orvieto for the architecture and the beauty of this small town and it's great church art. The blood stain cloth is still displayed above the altar but I could not help thinking that it did not mean much to us today in this cynical world compared to the days of old in the Middle-Ages.