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Dear Friends:
This past weekend my granddaughter Michela Ghezzi participated in the Archidado in Cortona, Italy. The Archidado is something like a medieval festival, with flag throwing, a crossbow competition, folkloric demonstrations, and a glorious parade. The parade is really something to see. Over 300 participants from the town dress in ancient costumes and parade through the village. Drummers come down five different streets and eventually join in the center of town. You can hear them coming and coming, and they get louder and louder. The excitement and the anticipation build and build. The Archidado traces its origins back to the Middle Ages and commemorates the marriage between Francesco Casali and the noblewoman Antonia Salimbeni, which took place in Cortona in 1397.
Isn’t she beautiful? My granddaughter Michela participated in Cortona’s Archidado parade. Look at the gorgeous costumes!
This week’s adventure was a trip to Perugia, which is nearly at the exact center of Italy. It is the capital of the Umbria region. Perugia is a lively, medieval, walled, hill town with many historic buildings, people-filled squares, and modern shops. It’s home to a university and a large Italian language school for foreigners. Perugia is famous for chocolate and holds a chocolate festival, called Eurochocolate, in mid-October. Thank goodness that festival wasn’t going on during my visit! I have more than just a fondness for chocolate, and I’m afraid there would have been far too much temptation for me at a chocolate festival!
L. to R.: My daughter Becky Ghezzi, me, and my granddaughter Kate Donnelly at the Arch of Santa Susanna in Perugia, which dates back to the Middle Ages.
I had no intention of shopping, but Perugia is high style and I couldn’t resist!
Many of you are familiar with my son-in-law Corrado Gabellieri, who is also the director of the P. Buckley Moss Museum. Corrado’s brother Spartaco lives in Ponte Felcino, Perugia. Ponte Felcino is a little town just on the outskirts of Perugia. The distance from Ponte Felcino to downtown Perugia is just five miles. L. to R.: Becky, Kate, Spartaco Gabellieri, and his wife Anna Gabellieri.
I hope you will be able to join me next year for the P. Buckley Moss Society’s 2009 Group Trip. It will be a ten-day “Mediterranean Enchantment” cruise aboard Holland America’s ms Noordam, starting on June 28, 2009. I’m so excited about this trip, because one of its stops will be Palermo, Sicily. Sicily was the native home of my mother’s family, and I still have relatives living there. The cruise is round-trip from Rome, and other stops include Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Italy; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Barcelona, Spain; Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain; La Goulette (Tunis and Carthage), Tunisia; and Naples, Italy. I’m looking forward to sharing this beautiful heritage and culture with you.
Ciao!
Pat
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