Posts tagged Umbria

We Came, We Harvested, We Made Olive Oil!

2 months ago

by Michael in Culinary, Culture, Food, Umbria

In November 2011, Culture Discovery Vacations brought a group of guests to a small traditional cold press olive mill. They harvested olives in Umbria, brought them to the mill, and operated the mill, making their own olive oil from start to finish.

castiglione cold press first press harvest latium liquid gold olive grove olive harvest olive oil olive press olives stone wheels Umbria

The Mummies of Ferentillo

1 year ago

by Michael in Culture, Travel Tips, Umbria

Tweet24 years ago on the Monday that followed Easter, we were boating on a beautiful lake in southern Umbria with a friend. He asked us if we had ever heard of “The Mummies”. Mummies? Naturally Egypt and King Tut suddenly popped into mind. No, not those kind of mummies…. So we [...]

ferentillo italy mummies mummy museum terni travel Umbria

Spoleto, Italy – A Quick Peek

3 years ago

by Michael in Tours, Travel Tips, Umbria

TweetI tried to shoot a good amount of video this year to give me a bunch of material for the blog, so I will have quite a few of the various cities we visited on our tours. Spoleto was a place that we visited fairly often, but I only shot video once while there for a few hours. [...]

12th century 13th century 14th century 16th century ancient roman theater beautiful cities bloody bridge frescoes hill town italy jazz festival magnificent town palazzo della signoria perugia province spoleto spoleto italy terni torri Umbria umbria italy

Cooking & Touring Tuscany, Umbria & Lazio Italy in 2008, a look back

3 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Festivals, Food, Lazio, Music, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria, Wine

Tweet7 months, 17 tours, 56 cooking classes, 144 guests and over 35,000 miles of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are behind us. That was the 2008 season for us at Culture Discovery. As with last year, after coming back to the US, I have gone into video mode. Here is the first video I have [...]

brunello classes cookery Cooking cooking classes cooking tours italy italy cooking holiday Lazio montalcino olive oil soriano nel cimino Tours Tuscany Umbria vacation vineyard vino nobile Wine wine rack winery

The hidden ruins of a 13th century Olive Mill in Italy

4 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Lazio, Personal, Tours, Travel Tips, Umbria

TweetAsk around Soriano about ‘Fosso Mulino’ (River Mill) and you will get mostly blank stares. So it is no surprise that after all of these years I had no idea that it existed. Very few people do. One day I was out with my friend (and our contractor) Andrea D’Alessio. He asked me if I [...]

ancient breathtaking waterfalls chia italy Lazio massive rocks mill mules olive mill olives river ruins soriano tiber Umbria viterbo volcanic rock waterfall

Would you have a second home in Italy?

4 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Travel Tips

TweetIt used to be that when I would come to Italy, for the first few days, people would see me and give me a huge ‘welcome back’. That was then. I would come here once a year in the summer and spend a month to six weeks here. Michael and Paola are here… it must be summer, right? Big [...]

beautiful place buying a house in italy christmas electricity family trips home in the mountains italy italy travel italy vacation home property taxes second home solo trips soriano Tuscany Umbria vacation home

Slow down and let your vacation happen

4 years ago

by Michael in Tours, Travel Tips

TweetHave you ever been on a vacation and come home having the feeling that you need a vacation from your vacation? Have you ever phoned home and said something to the effect of ‘We’re exhausted, but we’ve seen this, and that, and that, and that, and that’? When you plan trips, do you [...]

calabria chickens experience feathers florence fond memories fondest memories goat grandmother italy itinerary landmark landmarks modena pisa positano tips travel Tuscany Umbria vacation memories

Living Mangers in Italy

5 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Lazio, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria

TweetA tradition in Italy during Christmas time is the living manger. Many towns go way beyond a simple manger scene, and produce a full scale reproduction of Bethlehem. What makes it so special in many cases, is that they have the landscape and existing structures to really make it [...]