Rome pictures

Happy 1st Day of Carnevale! Watch the Nascondiglio site and blog for information about Carnival in Offida and Saturday I will post photos (if I survive) of the running of the (fake) bull in Offida!
The pictures range from shots of the Colliseum and Imperial Forum to the cupole in Santa Maria Maggiore and San Paolo. Both great churches to visit in Rome.

The chains of St. Peter

30 gen
Larry has asked for pictures of St. Peter's chains (i just added a better one) as well as Villa Borghese,and the Piazza del Popolo. Enjoy!
dds

Roman treasures!

30 gen
Buon compleanno Luigi!
Here are some hidden treasures I have visited in Rome recently. When you arrive, buy a day ticket good for all the buses and the subway which expires at midnight and then hop on Line A and head south to the church of St Paul outside the walls or San Paolo fuori le mura where St. Paul's remains reside. It is a beautiful cathedral with pictures of all the popes and room for one more; paintings from the life of Paul, which are fascinating if you have studied your new testament, and wonderful mosaics on the outside wall. Then you can hop off on the way back at Circo Massimo, the great old Roman stadium, then the next stop is the Colliseum and finally you can get off at Cavour to see a pretty little neighborhood and get a bit of exercise climbing 100 steps up the the church San Pietro di Vincoli where you can see the statue of Moses by Michelangelo and the chains which held St. Peter in prison.
Then if you have the right shoes and a bit more energy, head up to Villa Borghese by taking Line A to line B in Termini and on to the Spagna stop. You will then take the moving walkways up to the park. On the way back (all downhill) you can visit the Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps etc. In the park, you could have a nice picnic at the lake or rent a rowboat, see the water clock and have a great coffee at the bar there and more other things which I have not seen.
Finally you can walk via Corso all the way from Piazza del Popolo to Vittorio Emanuele and shop!
But you may need fortification by now, so have a nice glass of wine 1st.
Watch for our St. Valentine's Day specials at Nascondiglio and come visit!
Pix. St Paolo, circo massimo and st pietro di vincoli
dds

ranging the Marche

27 gennaio
I have been ranging around the Marche and eastern Umbria in the last few days from the beach to the mountains. I have some pictures of the dead wood i cut out of our ancient vineyard and our yard wildflowers. Here aslso are some pictures of Bacco in these environs. There is not enough snow in our mountains to ski, but it is still pretty. Bacco is starting to think he might be able to swim, what a kick! I ate lunch at Beccofino in Norcia and will send all you gourmands that way.
I hope everyone is having a nice New Year and have a happy safe Mardi Gras or Carnevale! dds

INTRODUCING CLODOVEO!! of Nascondiglio di Bacco

23 GENNAIO
Here are the pictures I promised of our newest beast at N. di Bacco. This is Raffaele's birthday present from Elisa and talks only in squeaks for the moment. These seem to be at the upper end of the human spectrum of hearing and drive Bacco a bit nuts!
Yesterday, we took a trip to Acquasanta to visit a ceramics maker who will be designing and making picture frames, cork wine stoppers, letter holders and keychains in ceramic for each of our rooms and could be souvenirs for those who are interested. Then we drove into the mountains to Montamonaco where the maker of The Beast lives as Beast #1 is about finished. Remember the Beast? our giant 4 year aged prosciutto? The sequel has arrived, so no one has to miss out on tasting some of the best prosciutto I have ever tried! The pictures are of the lovebird, Bacco eying the lovebird, Mt. Vettore and another sunset pic from Mt. Subasio.
Stayed tuned for pix of Beast #2.
dds

Sunset and Fog in Umbria

20 gen.
You know by now, I love sunsets. Enjoy! 2 more new posts below. dds

Phog Photos

21 gen.
Let's start with the famous Bacco on Mt. Subasio above Assisi, followed by the city of Perugia sticking its head out of the fog bank. Then various pictures looking south from Mt. Subasio across the big valley of eastern Umbria showing the entire valley filled with a lake or sea of fog. Finally, the last picture shows the mountains we see from Nascondiglio di Bacco which make up the border between the Marche and Umbria.
I would love to help anyone plan their vacation in Italy and definitely have my favorite places to see in Umbria. You can do Umbria in 2-3 days and then visit us for the same amount of time and the other 9 days, take in Rome, Pompei, Florence, Pisa, and Tuscany and finally, Venice. 2 weeks with 3 weekends, minimum. That, of course, only scratches the surface! There are just too many good places to see here.

weekend in Umbria, lots of pictures, seas of fog, etc

21 January
We are about to choose a planter for our vines. I am always amazed at how things work here and probably shouldn't say too much about that, here on my blog, but I will say, the guy started at 8 euros for every pole, rose to 8.25 a minute later and within another 2 minutes was at 8,5 euros per pole. We have some bargaining left to do. We have had a gelogist and engineer here to get the pool going, now need to firm up a price with the builder.
For Raffaele's birthday, Elisa gave him a lovebird, so we now have 2 animals at Nascondiglio di Bacco. I need to get a picture or two of the piccolo uccello.
The temperature for this week will hover between 35 and 40 degrees with sun in the forecast here in Ascoli Piceno province.
I had a nice trip to Umbria to visit some of my favorite towns there this past weekend. With a base in Montegabbione, I visited Orvieto which is a beautiful town as you may remember from my blog in May 2006, i think. I ate at one of Italy's famous osterie called L'Asino d'oro or the Donkey of gold. Not too bad and I had a nice red wine from the zone made with Sangiovese, merlot,and cabernet. As in many restaurants here in Italy, they tend to overcook the meat, however. The next day I visited Perugia, Assisi and the Eremo delle Carceri which is the hermitage of St. Francis. I have included pictures of most, but couldn't help but take too many pictures of an incredible sea of fog which filled the entire valley of Umbria. WOW! I guess when people ask me when to visit here and I always say Spring, early summer or Fall, that would preclude this beautiful natural spectacle, which I am sure rarely occurs and then only in winter
Back at Nascondiglio, we are expecting guests from Norway this week and the following weekend is Carnevale!
Can't wait.
Enjoy the photos! You see the mountain of Gran Sasso which I saw up close for the 1st time as I drove through Abruzzo this time. You can see this mountain from the agriturismo and skiing is nearby. There is a 10+km tunnel under the mountain which leads you toward Lazio and Rome. Then, you see the presepe or creche in front of the cathedral of St. Francis in Assis and the church itself shrouded in fog. Then from above on mt. Subasio, you see the remnants of Assisi in fog with the tower of the church of St Francis on the right and finally Rocca Maggiore, which is the bigger castle of Assisi, at sunset, viewed from the road on Mt. Subasio. dwight

BUON COMPLEANNO RAFFAELE, 32 Y.O.

15 GEN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RAFFAELE, TODAY.
The pictures are of Raffaele's weigh in a year ago, yesterday's walk on the beach with Bacco and dawn today.

Italian Basketball

1/13/2008
We left Nascondiglio di Bacco for parts north after letting Bacco model the latest in Juvecaserta fashion, stopping on the way in Potenza Picena for a nice lunch at the Osteria pictured. Jesi was next where we bought tickets and waited outside the little arena in the rain for the 5 policeman to let us in and body search each of us. The Caserta fans are rowdy and loud and in sharp contrast to the Jesi fans, who seem to be watching theater, rather than a sporting event. Arthur Johnson seems to have the same dimensions he had at MU- 6'9" and 255, but his college average of 9.6 rebounds per game was not met. He did a fairly good job defensively, was a little clumsy with the ball at times, but at the end, was the high scorer for the team with 22 points. Unfortunately, he needed to score more like 52 if Juvecaserta was to have won. When their team was behind by 30 something points and the fans couldn't stand the lethargic play for another second, they spent the rest of the game with their backs turned to the court chanting, take off your shirts and play (meaning you don't deserve to wear those jerseys) and Be ashamed!
The things they called the referees, I can't repeat on a pure, clean blog such as this one.
I am not sure I will be seeing many more bb games in Italy, but it was a nice change of pace.
Off to sleep. dds

More pix

13 gennaio, 2nd post
More pictures of our mountain trek; a gray rainy day and the last one of my son Torrin many years ago on our trip west, visiting Zion National Park. If anyone has seen him lately, wish him Happy Birthday for me and turn him on to my blog.
Stay tuned for the game recap tomorrow from Jesi.
dds