Yellow And Green All Over
Most of the yellow comes from massive fields of wild mustard. Or at least that's what it looks like to me. There are all these fantastic graphic lines created by these plantings, making the landscape look just like an abstract painting from up along the walls of Panicale. It's pretty fantastic to see over and over everyday, changing all day long with the light.
APRIL- MAY 2012
MANY MANY EVENTS TO THE LAKE TRASIMENO
46° EDIZIONE FESTIVAL OF TULIPS
12/15 APRILE 2012: The carnival of the Tulip Festival
Concorso CASTIGLIONE IN FIORE 2012
There are many many sagre right now, to all my area, and one is this: The festival of tulips in Castiglione del Lago, Lake Trasimeno. Band, music, colours, flower and so so many people. It was a great day and all people enjoyed it and profit of the wonderul "Taverne" to eat there......!!
Spring meeting of light-aircraft, and Hot-air Balloons
from the 22nd of April to the 2st of May 2012
"COLORIAMO I CIELI"
There is the exhibition of country Folk Dancing in its splendid setting in the middle of the Castle court, that of Choral Concerts, and many others which can be found in the pages of local events. There are many reasons for passing a holiday near the Lake Trasimeno in whatever period of the year. We are at your service for information, requests and to fulfill your needs; we can help you to find the outlets adapted to your requirements or respond to any demands you would like to put.
The great space on the bank of the Lake which was the Eleuteri airport, once a military base it now hosts, and always in April, the Spring Meeting of Light Aircraft and Hot-air Balloons. Then, at the end of the month and on May 1st it unwinds the International Display of Kite-flying under the title of "Coloriamo i Cieli" – We Paint the Skies. During the summer the historic town centre hosts"Quality Trasimeno" a series of meetings, exhibitions, performances and traveling shows.In the summer there are a series of initiatives such as Trasimeno Blues, Roccacinema (open air cinema in the castle grounds), Trasimeno Theatre, Rassegna Canto Corale (a display of choral singing), Rassegna Internazionale del Folklore (a review of international folk dancing), mostly all within the walls of the Medieval fortress.
The great space on the bank of the Lake which was the Eleuteri airport, once a military base it now hosts, and always in April, the Spring Meeting of Light Aircraft and Hot-air Balloons. Then, at the end of the month and on May 1st it unwinds the International Display of Kite-flying under the title of "Coloriamo i Cieli" – We Paint the Skies. During the summer the historic town centre hosts"Quality Trasimeno" a series of meetings, exhibitions, performances and traveling shows.In the summer there are a series of initiatives such as Trasimeno Blues, Roccacinema (open air cinema in the castle grounds), Trasimeno Theatre, Rassegna Canto Corale (a display of choral singing), Rassegna Internazionale del Folklore (a review of international folk dancing), mostly all within the walls of the Medieval fortress.
This festival was born in 1982 in Castiglione del Lago, a small town situated on the west shore of the Lake Trasimeno. Here Oliviero Olivieri (the President of the Italian Kite Association - AIA), and the representatives of the Commune of Castiglione del Lago and the Tourism Promotion Agency put forward the idea of organizing this festival. Differently from the rest of Europe, where flying kites was just beginning, the Italian Kite Association was already famous at that time. Today Coloriamo i cieli is the one and only festival all over Italy that celebrates the birth of this sport.
In 1984 Coloriamo i cieli began a far-reaching event. Then a number of prominent people coming from all over the word have taken part of this event: Peter Waldrom (England), Peter Lynn (Australia), Tsumotso Hiroi and Hideo Matsutani (Japan), David Brittain (United States), Yves Laforest (Canada), Tom Pratt, Malcolm Goodman, Helmut Schiefer, Jacques Durieux, Raul Fossett, the Decorators and so on.
The Trasimeno kite flyers and the workshopsThe Associazione Aquilonisti del Trasimeno (Trasimeno Kite Association) was born in 1984; in the same year some special workshops aiming at constructing kite and teaching the kite techniques were organized for the first time. Then the Kite Association came into contact with the associations of young people of the Trasimeno area, so that the festival has taken on an educational element, cooperating with the schools and using the festival a meeting point for experts and learners. More than 20,000 kites have been made in these workshops by Umbrian and Tuscan children.
Easter and the Ruzzolone (Cheese Rolling contest)
In Umbria during Easter time there are traditional liturgic rites and religious events.The egg and its Symbolical meaning.
During Easter Festivity, following an oldest tradition, people give eggs to each other. In the heathen tradition egg is symbol of fertility, Heaven and Earth, are meant to be the two halves of the same egg, and eggs are symbol of the eternal return to life In the Christian Iconography, egg becomes the symbol of the rebirth not of Nature but of the Man itself in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.Holy Week Celerations take place in almost every town of Umbria, but Assisi still remain the town known more for the same, given the suggestiveness of the places, the intensity of the performances and the deeply rooted spirituality that makes this land.
Counting the days till this year's running of the cheeses. Happy Pasquetta!
In 1984 Coloriamo i cieli began a far-reaching event. Then a number of prominent people coming from all over the word have taken part of this event: Peter Waldrom (England), Peter Lynn (Australia), Tsumotso Hiroi and Hideo Matsutani (Japan), David Brittain (United States), Yves Laforest (Canada), Tom Pratt, Malcolm Goodman, Helmut Schiefer, Jacques Durieux, Raul Fossett, the Decorators and so on.
The Trasimeno kite flyers and the workshopsThe Associazione Aquilonisti del Trasimeno (Trasimeno Kite Association) was born in 1984; in the same year some special workshops aiming at constructing kite and teaching the kite techniques were organized for the first time. Then the Kite Association came into contact with the associations of young people of the Trasimeno area, so that the festival has taken on an educational element, cooperating with the schools and using the festival a meeting point for experts and learners. More than 20,000 kites have been made in these workshops by Umbrian and Tuscan children.
Easter and the Ruzzolone (Cheese Rolling contest)
In Umbria during Easter time there are traditional liturgic rites and religious events.The egg and its Symbolical meaning.
During Easter Festivity, following an oldest tradition, people give eggs to each other. In the heathen tradition egg is symbol of fertility, Heaven and Earth, are meant to be the two halves of the same egg, and eggs are symbol of the eternal return to life In the Christian Iconography, egg becomes the symbol of the rebirth not of Nature but of the Man itself in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.Holy Week Celerations take place in almost every town of Umbria, but Assisi still remain the town known more for the same, given the suggestiveness of the places, the intensity of the performances and the deeply rooted spirituality that makes this land.
Counting the days till this year's running of the cheeses. Happy Pasquetta!
Cheese rolling. An Easter classic? Bunnies laying chocolate eggs I almost understand. This very local sport really makes me wonder how it got started. It seems to be the slightly wacky offspring of a marriage between bowling and golf. And it seems to be a sport practiced only in Panicale. It takes place every year on the Monday after Easter, Pasquetta (little Easter), and is by the locals called Ruzzolone.
There is a course around the village walls. The team that "bowls" the Big Cheese, la Ruzzola, around the course in the fewest "strokes" wins. The Gioccatori wrap a leather strap with a wood handle around the cheese and send 4 kilos of cheese lurching wildly down the curving street. The cheese rolls, the crowd runs along side of it and someone marks where it wobbles to a stop with chalk on the street. When it stops on the street, that is. Being cheese, it is a bit hard to control and the pecorino often wheels off the course and starts bouncing down the hillside, through the olives, local officials in hot pursuit. Or the cheese will get wedged under the one Fiat Uno that didn't get the No Parking message.The winner gets the cheese. Not that I know what someone would do with a cheese that has been rolled and battered around the covered moats of Panicale. Maybe they give it to the loosers. We did not stay around to find out. And if the cheese breaks during the race, si mangia! Everyone eats.
Way before cheese roll was finished the crowd had heard the band "music" off in the piazza and had wandered that way for the milling about, the free wine and hard-boiled eggs being served by the village Pro Loco committee. But, what a sight the bad band was. Worthy of a scene in a Fellini movie. They were named "Bandaccia" (bad band) and pots and pans and car horns and stuffed animals were involved, as I recall.
On Easter morning, we were kindly invited to Katia's family Easter breakfast. A very traditional affair, it was really cool. The food had all been blessed by the local Priest, including the special "Pasqua"(Easter) bread, eggs from the family chickens, and salumi. Chocolate eggs, too. We loved it, and were really happy to have been asked to join such a family event. In fact, we were invited to join them later for the Pasqua lunch, with friends and family. Lovely. I did not feel it was the moment for photos, but I will tell you that the food was over the top, and unending. A true festa style feast. And they so kindly had plenty of options for the vegetarians. These are the nicest, kindest people ever.
There is a course around the village walls. The team that "bowls" the Big Cheese, la Ruzzola, around the course in the fewest "strokes" wins. The Gioccatori wrap a leather strap with a wood handle around the cheese and send 4 kilos of cheese lurching wildly down the curving street. The cheese rolls, the crowd runs along side of it and someone marks where it wobbles to a stop with chalk on the street. When it stops on the street, that is. Being cheese, it is a bit hard to control and the pecorino often wheels off the course and starts bouncing down the hillside, through the olives, local officials in hot pursuit. Or the cheese will get wedged under the one Fiat Uno that didn't get the No Parking message.The winner gets the cheese. Not that I know what someone would do with a cheese that has been rolled and battered around the covered moats of Panicale. Maybe they give it to the loosers. We did not stay around to find out. And if the cheese breaks during the race, si mangia! Everyone eats.
Way before cheese roll was finished the crowd had heard the band "music" off in the piazza and had wandered that way for the milling about, the free wine and hard-boiled eggs being served by the village Pro Loco committee. But, what a sight the bad band was. Worthy of a scene in a Fellini movie. They were named "Bandaccia" (bad band) and pots and pans and car horns and stuffed animals were involved, as I recall.
On Easter morning, we were kindly invited to Katia's family Easter breakfast. A very traditional affair, it was really cool. The food had all been blessed by the local Priest, including the special "Pasqua"(Easter) bread, eggs from the family chickens, and salumi. Chocolate eggs, too. We loved it, and were really happy to have been asked to join such a family event. In fact, we were invited to join them later for the Pasqua lunch, with friends and family. Lovely. I did not feel it was the moment for photos, but I will tell you that the food was over the top, and unending. A true festa style feast. And they so kindly had plenty of options for the vegetarians. These are the nicest, kindest people ever.
On the day after Easter, Monday, the whole of Italy is taking a day off for various festivals and events. In Panicale, it's the "Pasquetta", a festival that includes an antiques fair in the main piazza, and an infamous cheese rolling contest called the "Ruzzolone". I will let you Google it, and find out how and why it happens. I'm certain there is some historical (hysterical?) significance, but for us it was just good fun. All the young dudes of the area, representing their own neighborhoods, I assume, have to roll this big round of pecorino cheese around the main walls of Panicale. Loads of people are in town for this event.In the meantime, lots of vendors are selling neat antiques and stuff inside the walls, in the main Piazza.
Dinner At Villa Gioianna
Funny how you meet people when you are traveling. At a dinner party on Friday evening, at our friends Katia & Massimo's house, we were introduced to several people, including Anna, from California. She bought a fantastic property here, near Panicale, about 20 years ago. She is a wealth of information, and her place is available to stay at, too. She takes guests around the area to visit local food producers as well as small wineries, and does cooking lessons and stuff like that. Really cool woman. And funny, to boot. Plus, she seems to know everyone, and has great stories to tell. We were smitten, for sure. Katia arranged to get us in touch with Anna, to enjoy a dinner at the villa, cooked by a "Nonna".We would be joining a few other people. The price per person was sweet, and we didn't want to miss a chance like this. We had already met Terry & Charlie, from New York, who were staying in Panicale. We offered to do the driving, and the four of us headed over to find Villa Gioianna. We were a little early, so we enjoyed walking around the property to kill time, each one of us trying to devise a way we could pull this lifestyle off.....
I'm glad we were early, as it gave us time to check out the kitchen, and the chef, Rosanna. Just back from a cooking tour with Anna in the U.S., Rosanna is a woman not to be messed with. I mean this in a very good way. Tiny, tiny lady, and full of energy. I just wish my language skills were better...though she was in a working mode, so I'm not certain there was room for chit-chat. But she was ok with us hanging out for a little while, watching and trying to pick up some mad skills.....
More details to the blog of my friend Janelle Gistelli from California, who loves Panicale and us!!!
Have a look here: www.livepronto.blogspot.com
I'm glad we were early, as it gave us time to check out the kitchen, and the chef, Rosanna. Just back from a cooking tour with Anna in the U.S., Rosanna is a woman not to be messed with. I mean this in a very good way. Tiny, tiny lady, and full of energy. I just wish my language skills were better...though she was in a working mode, so I'm not certain there was room for chit-chat. But she was ok with us hanging out for a little while, watching and trying to pick up some mad skills.....
More details to the blog of my friend Janelle Gistelli from California, who loves Panicale and us!!!
Have a look here: www.livepronto.blogspot.com
