Mow and trim

9 june
Breakfast went well today and the guests are out exploring the region. i am going to let everyone help me with our brochure. This is what we wrote today, trying to be somewhat brief. Please help me by correcting grammatical and spelling errors and let me know what you think. I have loosened up the controls so i think everyone can post comments now. Let me know what we should add, realizing space constraints will dictate the ultimate product. This will be a good chance to start learning italian as raffaele's translations are beneath each of mine. Grazie Mille!!! I am off to trim trees, mow the lawn and use the weedeater. Now, I am sure you are all more jealous of me!! The picture today is one I will hang in the b and b. we are hanging 20 pix I took in the last year enlarged and framed. Un abbraccio a tutti! d

Introduction
Peace, tranquility, well-being or what in Italy is know as benessere are the bywords of the beautiful bed and breakfast, Nascondiglio di Bacco. Located on a private little hill in the georgeous countryside of the southern Marche in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Bacchus’ hideout was built 500 years ago as a farmhouse and 3 years ago was charmingly remodeled with 9 individually designed rooms ideal for an elegant, relaxing visit for our guests.

La pace, la tranquillita’ e la natura vi accoglieranno al “Nascondiglio di Bacco”, un bed & breakfast situato su una splendida collina in provincia di Ascoli Piceno, nel sud delle Marche. Il “Nascondiglio di Bacco” e’ stato costruito 500 anni fa con lo stile di una fattoria marchigiana ed e’ stato elegantemente ristrutturato nel 2003. Le 9 camere a disposizione degli ospiti sono state pensate per un soggiorno elegante e di charme.

Nascondiglio di Bacco is located just a few kilometers from the important medieval cities of Ascoli Piceno, founded prior to Rome, with monuments from medieval and roman times, Offida with the famous church Santa Maria della Rocca, Ripatransone, Aquaviva Picena, and the seaside cities of Cupra Marittima, Grottommare, and San Benedetto del Tronto. Each of the small towns offers unique, lively festivals in summer and throughout the year.

Il “Nascondiglio di Bacco” e’ situato a pochi chilometri da Ascoli Piceno, la cui fondazione risale a prima di Roma e che conserva intatto tutto il suo fascino medioevale. Ma tutta la zona vi stupira’ con la sua ricchezza di piccoli gioielli incastonati fra le colline come Offida con la sua chiesa di Santa Maria della Rocca, Ripatransone, Acquaviva o, sul litorale adriatico, Cupra Marittima, Grottammare e San Benedetto del Tronto. In estate poi, non mancheranno le feste e le sagre che animano ogni paese.

N. di Bacco is an ideal location from which to explore the nearby Adriatic, just 19 km (12 miles) away, or the majestic mountainous regions of Mt Sibillini just 40 km (24 m) distant in the western Marche or Mt. della Laga in nearby Abruzzo (both visible from your B&B). Beautiful sandy beaches can be found all along the coast and the mountains contain wonderful hiking trails, horseback riding and rafting excursions.

Il B&B e’ il luogo di partenza ideale per esplorare le vicine spiagge adriatiche (a soli 20 minuti di macchina) o le meravigliose montagne del parco dei Sibillini e dei Monti della Laga dove, a circa 30 minuti di macchina, potrete fare passeggiate a cavallo, rafting e tantissime escursioni a piedi lungo i sentieri del Cai.

There are many welcoming wineries in the surrounding area which make the 3 white and 3 red local DOC wines and the food culture includes the famous Ascolana olives, artisanal cured meats and pecorino cheese and the many fine restaurants of the zone. In Offida, one finds the ancient art of lacemaking and Ascoli Piceno and its environs are famous for there beautiful hand painted ceramics. Of course, this is just a sampling of the wonders of the Marche region.

Nella zona, a forte vocazione viticola, potrete assaggiare i tre vini rossi e i tre bianchi Doc in cantine che saranno liete di accogliervi e mostrarvi i propri vigneti. Ma la gastronomia del posto va conosciuta a partire dalle famosissime olive ascolane, per poi passare al fritto misto, ai salumi di ogni genere e al pecorino, senza dimenticare i buonissimi ristoranti. L’artigianato, poi comprende le bellissime ceramiche ascolane, il tombolo di Offida e molte altre opere tradizionali.

nostro agriturismo: Le regole di Murphy

8 giugno
Welcome to today's blog posting, and someday hopefully I can welcome you also to the Marche! Nascondiglio di Bacco has officially changed hands today and all went well with the exchange. Howvever, isn't there always one of those; last night there was quite a wonderful thunderstorm and lightning struck the agriturismo killing the modem and knocking out electricity for 4 hours right when the 2 couples from Germany arrived. They were great sports and I gave them candles and a bottle of sparkling Barbera for the inconvenience. We do need internet access fairly soon for reservations!
Today, despite the recommendation of the Italian consulate in Chicago, (which I had called prior to coming to Italy this time to request a visa), to wait until I had made my purchase in Italy and then visit the Qestura for my permit of stay, I discovered that I was considered a clandestino or illegal alien! The wonderful folks at the questura said i needed to go back to america immediately and get my visa. After some discussion, we decided to part in peace with the chance I might be able to arrange things from here, who knows? I may have to hire an immigration lawyer for a time. In the meantime, like in Parma where i was without a permit of stay for 9 months, i will try to stay out of fights and trouble in general avoid police scrutiny. Maybe if and when my house in Leawood sells, I can return and make a visa application.
Tomorrow will be our first opportunity to serve breakfast to guests, will report back when I can how that goes.. We will be working on improving the internet site for Nascondiglio di Bacco and vinoffida.com, searching out as I wrote previously all the best the Marche has to offer. Buon weekend! The picture today is in the piazza in Ascoli Piceno with some of my classmates from the university.
dwight

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!! #21

Today is my niece's birthday, the third to reach 21 and win a trip from mom and dad to Las Vegas!! Tanti Auguri e buon compleanno!!!
Today I finally was able to open a checking account in italy. When you think of free banking, think USA; everything here costs extra although i do get 60 transactions "free for 100 dollars a year! But, hey, it is a big step and I get a "free" bancomat card and my name and address on a piece of paper which makes me quasi a resident. I also have deadheaded and watered flowers on the property and made a file with all the information you could possibly want on the little cities of the ascoli piceno region I have explored and which have passed muster!
Tomorrow the agriturismo or b & b changes hands and we have to start running the place. To complicate matters, my house in KC has finally received a bid. i may be back sooner than I thought, Ciao for now.
dds

1st night in the b and b

6 giugno
I spent my first night in the bed and breakfast and had a nice dinner with the present owners Jacques and Sylvia and a couple from San Benedetto who run a fish restaurant there. It is extremely peaceful here with no noise or light pollution, just the grilli or crickets and an occasional dog barking. We ate al aperto or outside on a beautiful evening! You can see above 2 pictures which I took from the door of my room at around sunset. Today, I selected 40 of my photos which I had taken in the last year and will head to Ascoli Piceno to have them enlarged and framed for the rooms, as the present owners will be taking their personal artwork. Also we will be continuing the search for the perfect pecorino (sheep cheese) and cured meats and wines to serve here. For those who want to see the present website for the agriturismo, it is vinoffida.com. Ciao

Abruzzo

4 June
4 day countdown! Today we drove through Abruzzo, which forms the southern border of the Marche and reminds one somewhat of Colorado but with less well maintained roads. You can get your mountain fix here as well as in the western part of the Marche. We were on a Quixotian mission to find a good producer of pecorino which is the common cheese found in this region, because sheep are better adapted to the landscape which is anything but flat! No success however. When you want to find the really good cheeses in Italy, many times you are better off with small to medium size producers with a more artisanal product. Anyway, the hiking in the zone is plentiful even if you have to buy your cheese at the supermarket. Here are some pictures, one of which is alongside a trail to a mountain summit and shows a watering hole for us hikers and one finds these at intervals along the hiking trails and they are indicated on maps for you. The other shows a pic of the diverse flowers on the mountain side which hopefully the bees are using for miele millifiore or thousand flower honey and the sheep are eating to make tasty milk and then cheese! ciao. d

Spoleto and Perugia

3 giugno
I spent the weekend at 2 cities in Umbria. 1st was Spoleto which is a nice city with a wonderful bridge/aqueduct from Roman times, a pretty duomo, a big fort and all those things you expect from a medieval Italian city. They hosted a festival which occurs each year in the 1st weekend of June called vini nel mondo which translates easily enough. In reality, most of the wines are from surrounding provinces such as the Marche, Tuscany and the home state of Umbria with a sprinkling of wines from the rest of Italy and one champagne as I remember. Then there are concerts in many of the plazas Saturday night. Spoleto is near other wonderful towns such as Orvieto and Assisi, which i have visited previously and can be found wayyyy below in the posts of last year. Sunday, I travelled by train to Perugia which is a truly cosmopolitan, international city full of students in italy studying the language and tourists visiting their kids, i imagine. I have a couple of pix from there on this posting. Luckily for Raffaele and I, they were having a fair of different products all made in ecologically sound fashion and we found a supplier for soaps, and cheese and little handmade baskets for the agriturismo.. We are trying to get it right down to the smallest details. On the way back, we stopped in Norcia, which is also a pretty little town full of artisans, and there we scouted out producers for cheese and cured meat and chocolates. A productive weekend!!

l'ultimo giorno di maggio

31 May
I spent another day exploring the towns and roads of the Marche, trying to discover those places which others might enjoy and found 4 little towns which were quite interesting, beautiful, or charming! 2 of the towns were on the coast with the old towns on high bluffs and the new beach parts obviously below. One of the pictures is taken from Grottomare and looks south towards San Benedetto. Both have really nice beaches and interesting views and old buildings from the alto piano or bluffs. The other photo is of the river which formed part of the protection of Ascoli Piceno in olden times and shows the only bridge of entry as Ascoli is bordered like an island by 2 rivers , one on each flank. I will start writing the calendar of events when i can find the summer offerings in case anyone wants to plan around the spectaculars. d