Hi, yesterday we had no much time for cooking and it was very hot. What to do for lunch?
We looked at what we had …. a can of artichoke, pasta, surimi in the fridge. Good! What about a quick pasta salad? We made it and the result was …. yummy!

Taste it and tell us what you think about!
Greetings from Italy
Carlo & Loretta

Finally I have a new, unique summer bag.
Last year I bought a straw bag when I was on holiday. Then I put it apart; I didn’t like it very much.
This spring I looked at a straw bag decorated with a felt flower and so I had the idea of personalizing my straw bag.
That’s the result!

What about it?
Follow this link to know how I made it …
No much money for a lovely bag and it’s only mine: nobody else has a bag as this one!

Greetings from Italy
Loretta
The Italian Taste team

Hi, our last recipe is chicken galantine.
In Italy we use to prepare this dish for Holidays but it’s so good that we think it can be a summer dish too!

It is made with boned chicken, salami (such as ham, bacon and mortadella), pistachios and black truffles.
It looks … yummy! … and it is yummy!
Serve it to open an important dinner party or as one-plate meal in summer with a seasonal salad or prepare it for a buffet.
Tell us what you think about it

Greetings from Italy
Carlo & Loretta

Hi, in this post we want to suggest you some ideas for the best way of lodging in Umbria.
We prefer the residence because there is always an equipped kitchenette or a kitchen and so we are free to choose a restaurant in the surrounds to taste the typical cuisine or to cook the food we prefer in the apartment.
Umbria is one of the most beautiful regions in Italy. A place where the sacred and the profane are well combined and where landscapes are very charming (for this reason it’s known as “green Umbria”).

Images of “Fonti del Clitunno” from Panoramio

You never need few days for visiting the whole regions; in few days you can see only the most picturesque and famous places such as Perugia, Assisi, Spoleto … The best thing would be planning two visits: in the north and then in the south of this Italian region.
We suggest to lodge in Perugia if you want to visit the north (Perugia, lake Trasimeno, Umbertide, Città di Castello, Gubbio, Assisi and Spello). Perugia can be the starting point to visit the south of Tuscany too.
Spoleto is the ideal place to travel in the south of Umbria: Todi, Orvieto, Amelia, the Scarzuola, Campello sul Clitunno and its sources, Trevi, Norcia, Cascia…

Spoleto is rich in hotels and residences.
We stayed in Spoleto in two different summers and we lodged in two hotels.
Hotel Clitunno and Hotel Charleston.
Both are very nice, people very kind. They are in the centre of Spoleto near tasty restaurants.

Perugia
There is a very nice lodge near Perugia whose name is Borgo Laurice. It’s a group of farmhouse cottages where you can spend your holidays in a peaceful way. We have spent there our fantastic holiday last year. You can reach the most important cities in few time and there is a big supermarket near it. But it is surrounded by green hills and fields. You can have a bath in its swimming pool or walking in the surrounds … Peace and tranquility. What else can you want for your holidays in Italy?

Greetings from Italy
Carlo & Loretta

Hi, we want to tell you one of the most stimulating places we have ever visited.
The Scarzuola is a magic place in Umbria where the sacred and the profane are well combined. Not to be missed!
You go curious into this garden and go out full of questions.
It isn’t the usual holy place or the museum in which the guide tells you all the details. In this case the goal of the architect who planed this garden is to make possible for the visitors an interior travel.
But where are we? In a Franciscan convent or rather an ex-Franciscan convent. It is in Umbria at Montegabbione near Terni. You have to reach Montegabbione and then Montegiove. Left Montegiove behind you have to turn into an unsurfaced little road that goes in a wood for almost two kilometers; suddenly you see an open space with a wall and a railing.

Remember to book your guided tour (through out the year) ringing Mario Solari (0763837463).
Ring the doorbell and Mario Solari, your guide, will open the railing.
The Scarzuola was a Franciscan convent. S. Francis of Assisi was told to build a shelter here in 1218 with a marsh plant called Scarza in Umbria. He also planted a bush of bay and roses and caused a spring to gush forth. In the same century a convent was built for future reference of the miracle. Here Friars Minor lived until the end of eighteenth century when the convent became a property of marchese Misciatelli of Orvieto.
The tour begins from the little church in which the apse still bears an early thirteenth century fresco depicting the Saint in levitation. In this fresco you can see the ascetic nature of the Saint but soon afterwards the guide shows you a wood door where a friar painted the Saint with no clothes in 1738. Naked? Yes. The Saint told the people he was the the God’s jester and as a jester he was painted by the friar. According to the guide the jester has nothing to hide (he isn’t afraid of mocking even the powerful)
and so he is represented with no clothes. The Saint was told to be very loved by people for his “joié de vivre”; in fact when he had to get together a lot of people he played a horn and shook a wood stick.
Tomaso Buzzi was a very famous architect, artist and designer in the nineteenth century. He was captured by the fascination of this place and bought it in 1956. He built his Ideal City envisaged as a “theatrical machine” beside the convent whose sanctity was maintained.
A magic place for the visitors, the best portrayal for himself.
It is an allegorical travel or in other words an allegory of the life through the hermetic language of the seventeenth century Masonic aristocracy.
When he died (1981) the city wasn’t finished and his heir, Marco Solari, continues Buzzi’s work.
The tour in the Renaissance garden begins from the spring of the miracle. There are three doors in front of the spring. Everyone in his life can choose only one of these doors. It’s the first allegory. The first door is dedicated to God, the second to love, the third to dissipation. The first two doors have straight paths, the third has a no-path, closed on itself that always goes to the beginning; it’s full of obstacles.
The vertical axis of symmetry begins in the spring of miracle and follows the water. There is a path that follows this axis and it is a descent. The allegory is clear: first of all you have to go down, destroy yourself and then go up to the light and God. It ends at Buzzinda, the ideal city that includes as many as 7 theatres (the profane buildings).
The horizontal axis is between the Theatre of Beehive (Teatro dell’Arnia) and Acropolis. Acropolis is composed by the best known buildings of the ancient times (the Colosseum, the Egyptian Pyramids, the Parthenon …). The horizontal axis is formed by the bridge of a symbolic ship. The bridge is a stage with a musical labyrinth where there are clear references to Arcimboldo. Music is very important for Buzzi.
Other dominant element is an eye, the third eye that let you see beyond the five senses. It’s a disturbing eye that looks different according to the point of view.
Continuing the way you can see other buildings , rich in symbols and secrets. The Tower of Time (Torre del Tempo) has two watches. The first has an hour, the second is centripetal and has no hours.
Then there is Mother Land (Terra Madre) with the allegories of creativity and scientific knowledge. There are open books that can be read by everyone and closed books that can be read only by few people.
Then you reach the Jonah’s whale that shows the rebirth. Here it is the beginning of the rise, full of difficulties. You can rise up to the light and behind there is the shadow. The position of the sun is very important. You climb to the top of the hill behind the Acropolis that now is very different because it is reflected in the fountain that collects the water of the miracle. The buildings are overturned.
Another element is the tree, struck by lightning; another allegory. You can see this tree in a tower without roof. Its roof is the sky. If you don’t receive your fulmination you can’t free yourself by the superstructures of the normality and you can’t come out of your shell.
Then there is the last allegory, the Tower of Babel (Torre di Babele). Behind this tower there is the Egyptian Pyramids. Here it has a different importance. Its summit is transparent (the beginning of the life) while it becomes darker and darker toward the base (the energy levels of the matter.
Everything is very stimulating.
The visit lasts 2-3 hours but the time flies ….
Don’t miss it!

Greetings from Italy
Carlo & Loretta