Festival of the priest stranglers, Citta' di Castello and Cortona

29 Agosto
I have now seen almost all the most picturesque towns according to the Umbrian guidebooks. Citta' di Castello was most interesting for a merchant who sold all sorts of liqueurs and truffle products, but in his spare time makes castles from used corks. I now have a new hobby for wintertime... maybe. Anyway, for those who put their trust in my taste, and why should you?, you can skip this town otherwise. Cortona is just inside the border of Tuscany and is full of english speaking tourists as befits a Tuscan town. It is a nice place to visit, a bit far from the major roads. You could easily spend half a day here and another half day at Arezzo eg.
Back at home, our little burg is having their big blast to end the summer with a sagra or festival for strozzapretti and castrato. The former is pasta which is called priest strangler, thick and tubular, but not hollow and castrato is young lamb, which they stew to perfection. Each night they also provide music which one might say only appeals to italians, but all fun if you are in the spirit.
Here we have gone 29 days without rain and while it is in the forecast frequently, it is visiting the valley and not us. The olives and vines could use a bit of watering.
On a sadder note, it seems we will lose all the olives from our "tenere" trees (just 2) as the olive fly has infested them. We treated and treated with the legal and biological products, but to no avail. The other 100 trees of the more resistant varieties are seemingly ok still.
We have been packed for 2 months, but all ends abruptly tomorrow when we empty out. Fittingly, tonight is the End of Summer Festival at Castel di Lama, not far from us.
NOW IS THE TIME TO VISIT US! We are starting an offer which will last the rest of the year where you buy 4 nights and get 1 free. There is a debate as to whether we will make it 4 for the price of 3. Stay tuned
Yesterday, I picked at least 5 kg of figs and made fig cookies and refrigerated the rest ( the rest being 4.9 kg)
The pictures are of the mobile billboard for the sagra and the event, itself, sleeping tourists in Cortona on a hot day and a couple of shots of the store with the cork castles.
d