Friday morning was beautiful so we took a long walk through the tobacco fields.  It’s harvest time and the fields are in different states of denuding.  I can’t figure out the tobacco harvest methodology.  Some fields are stripped completely clean and others they take only the top leaves or...

Our friends Judy and Jim from Atlanta recently bought and renovated an apartment in Spoleto.  They just got back right before we left to come here and they gave us the keys and directions so Thursday we went for a visit. Spoleto is about an hour and a half...

When we got off the plane in Rome and were making our way through the ridiculously long customs line, we met a woman who broke in line in front of us.  We were a little grumpy from the long flight and the long line that stretched ahead of us. ...

The astute reader of Sprezzatura, Y’all has realized that most of our activities revolve around food.  Well, part of the reason is because food is central to Italian life.  Meals are social, familial, and bonding experiences.  Few people come away from a meal hoping to never see those people...

Monday was another one of those slow, do whatever you want kind of days.  No plans, no commitments – just all of Italy at our disposal.  We took a long walk out in the country and saw a herd of goats watched over by two very attentive dogs.  Then...

It’s Sunday so that can only mean one thing – a visit to the Monterchi market for porchetta for breakfast.  I can’t tell you how good these things are.  They make you want to cry.  The pork is everything you want it to be – juicy, tender, crispy –...

Saturday we had lunch in Montepulciano with our friend Francesco and his family.  Francesco is an Egyptologist and met our daughter-in-law (another Egyptologist) at a conference several years ago.  Somehow we became involved and have stayed in touch with him over the years.  He’s stayed with us in Atlanta...

Today we did nothing.  No plans, no commitments, no schedule, nowhere to be – just nothing.  These are some of my favorite days here.  I know that sounds a little crazy – you fly 5,000 miles across an ocean to do nothing?  Shouldn’t I be seeing some magnificent work...

We have returned to Italy.  We just left in June, but it’s a new season and we just had to come back.  There’s a definite change in the air from the still, hot days of June.  It’s crisp and windy – not breezy, but full out windy.  The kind...

It’s 90 degrees, 463 steps, and hundreds of people – what could go wrong?  On our last day in Italy, we planned to climb to the top of the Duomo in Florence.  We left Anghiari Monday morning after having breakfast with Livio and Michelangelo.  The Sport Bar is refinishing...