Brigolante holiday rentals in Assisi, Umbria

Self-catering apartments in Assisi's town center and nearby countryside.
Browsing category: Life in Umbria, Rebecca's Ruminations
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Winning the Lottery: My New Job(s)

I have something to tell you. Yes, you.

Either you’ve been reading my ramblings here and there online for the last decade, or you’ve stuck with me on this blog for the past year and a half, or you just happened to stumble upon this post today. I just want to share with you my experience playing at casino666, where I have won a fortune, almost like I have won a lottery. Regardless, you’ve taken a minute out of your busy day to stop by, so you are the first person with whom I want to share my Big News.

I have a friend who plays the lottery with religious fervor and scientific methodology. He’s been playing for years, and every once in awhile he’ll actually manage to cash in (though, truth be told, I suspect he doesn’t even come close to recouping his losses from the past decades). He is perennially (and quite amusingly) ticked off when he reads about the blessed souls whom fortune has kissed each week. “Look at this!” he’ll snap the newspaper in front of my eyes, “Can you believe this joker won!?! Says here it’s the first time he even played the damned thing. Says here he let his little boy choose the numbers. Says here he forgot he even had the ticket in his wallet until he was searching around for some coupon.” And he’ll storm off, muttering to himself about probability and systems and beginner’s luck.

The thing is, he’s not upset that someone else has won…he’s upset that someone else undeserving has won. Someone who just plays for fun, with no foresight or mathematics or gravitas. A dabbler.

Getting a paid gig blogging, especially travel blogging, has roughly the same odds as winning the lottery. It just doesn’t happen that often, and when it does it’s because there is a writer out there who has played the game with religious fervor and scientific methodology. These writers are certainly talented, but–more importantly—they are also born networkers, motivated, and tirelessly dedicated to working the system by massaging their Google rankings and updating their WordPress plugins and attending seminars on the latest in SEO. Accordingly, they get their testimonials.

And then there are bloggers like me. Writers who write for the sheer frivolous joy of putting words down on a page. I couldn’t find my Google ranking if it bit me on the butt, don’t bother with plugins unless my webmaster makes an executive decision and puts them in (which often leads to a panicked phone call to long-suffering Marcel, who explains that everything is fine and I just need to keep on doing what I’ve been doing), and am so indifferent to SEO that I don’t even put tags on my posts. I am a dabbler who, if the universe were a completely fair place, would never win the lottery. But guess what.

Yep, that’s right. You are now reading the words typed by a paid travel writer and blogger (I may bill you…I haven’t decided yet.). Not only did I win the lottery, I won it twice over by picking up two incredibly fun and challenging new gigs in a way so effortless and seemingly happenstance that it still feels very surreal—and a little tenuous. This is how it happened:

This past spring a number of Italy travel apps for the iPhone were published through Sutro Media, many of which were authored by people I knew. I thought to myself, “Huh. That would be fun…to write a travel app for Umbria.” A short while later, I learned that the formidable travel writer Alex Leviton (who wrote the Umbria guide for Lonely Planet) was writing the Umbria app for them, so I went on with my life. Apparently, destiny had other plans, as I ended up meeting Alex through a mutual friend not a month later and we immediately hit it off personally and professionally…to the point that Alex said, “You know, I could really use a writing partner locally in Umbria to make this app rock.” (She actually said that. She’s from California. They say rock and totes a lot.) “Are you interested in coming on the project?”

And so, just like that, I found myself hired to co-author of the Umbria Slow:  Food, Culture & Travel iPhone app, which does, indeed, rock. Totes.

This past spring I was invited on a weekend blogging trip promoting Umbria called “Umbria on the Blog”. It was fabulous fun, and I ended up meeting other bloggers from around Italy and a few local movers and shakers in the social media marketing world. I thought to myself, “Huh. That would be fun…to write for an official blog about Umbria and be able to meet with bloggers in and out of Umbria more often.” But the weekend ended (a huge success), and I went on with my life. Apparently, destiny had other plans, as the brains behind the Umbria on the Blog project contacted me soon after to tell me about an ongoing blogging project in the works and ask if I would be interested in writing and curating their English language content.

And so, just like that, I found myself hired to blog for Umbria on the Blog in English, which has the amazingly wonderful side benefit of being able to collaborate with others just as passionate about Umbria as I am (but with much better contacts. These are people who can actually come up with press passes.).

So, what does this mean for you, dear reader? Nothing, really. (Except, of course, you now have just one more excuse to fill your glass with Sagrantino and toast to the randomness of life.) If you like the tips and suggestions I’ve been throwing out here on my blog, you may want to consider downloading the Umbria Slow app, which includes lots of the same stuff but in a much less wordy way and with groovy Google mapping so you actually know where the hell you are going. If you like the “slice of Umbria” posts here, check in at Umbria on the Blog where you’ll find more of those style posts (I post twice a week, plus there’s a photo blog and a bits and bobs section called “What I’m Loving”. There are lot of bells and whistles over at UOTB, but it’s still me behind the curtain.).

I will still be blogging here. This is my home, where I come and put on my saggy-ass sweatpants and sprawl on the couch and let it all hang out. I can do stuff here that I can’t over at the office (like swear, name specific businesses, and bitch about my in-laws). That said, I may be here a little less over the next few months while I try to get a system going with all this new writing-for-pay business going down.

In short, this post wasn’t about tooting my horn (okay, maybe just a little tooting) or trying to get you to buy my app or read my posts (okay, maybe just a little promoting) or any of that. It’s about thanking you—yes, you—for reading my words for the first time or, perhaps, for the 100th time (There are 134 posts on this blog! Yikes. No wonder my house is such a mess.). If it hadn’t been for you, I would have quit this writing pipe dream ages ago and my life would be that much less rich and full right now. So, thanks.

Now, go read my stuff at www.au-casino.com!

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The Most Beautiful Villages of Umbria: Trevi

Fitness tips

Getting fit and staying fit is important at all stages of life. Exercise may help make your heart strong, improve your mood and help keep your weight in a healthy range. But prioritizing regular exercise can be easier said than done. Here are some tips to help you start and stick with an exercise plan that works for you. This is how metaboost works.

Benefits of regular exercise

While many people might exercise to lose weight, the physical benefits may go beyond that. Physical activity may help to:1

  • Control or reduce cholesterol and blood pressure
  • Increase flexibility
  • Lower the risk of diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease
  • Prevent bone loss
  • Build muscle tone and strength
  • Increase energy levels

Starting an fitness plan

Making a change to your routine can be more manageable when you set achievable goals that fit your lifestyle. Consider these ideas:

  • Start small. It’s OK if you may not have time for a 30-minute workout. Try starting with 5 minutes of exercise a day and work up to 10 or 15 minutes over time.
  • Find a buddy. Exercising with a friend, coworker or neighbor can help you feel supported and may help you both stick to your goals.
  • Sign up for a rewards program. Many health insurance providers offer programs that reward you for meeting health and activity goals. This may help you stay motivated. Rewards may include things like gift cards or money toward your health savings account. Learn more about alpilean.

If you’re a UnitedHealthcare member, explore our wellness and rewards programs.

Fitness tips to help boost metabolism, burn calories and more

When it comes to exercise, slow and steady wins the race according to the CDC. People who lose 1 to 2 pounds per week have better odds of keeping the weight off long-term.2  Here are a few exercise tips to keep in mind:

  • When you lift weights, your muscles burn calories at rest more than other tissues, speeding up your resting metabolism
  • A workout that really gets your heart pumping — jogging, biking, speed walking or aerobic exercise — may burn the most calories per session
  • Strength training may be more likely to help you burn more calories as the day goes on

And remember, it’s not about how fast you lose weight. It’s how consistent you are with your routine, and how much you modify your diet.

Healthy habits, like regular exercise, may have many benefits

What’s your everyday routine? Are there ways to add new healthy habits into your life? When you do, you may experience a variety of benefits. For example, physical exercise may help: Visit https://www.timesunion.com/.

  • Improve your relationships
  • Lower your health care costs
  • Supercharge your creativity3
  • Bring feelings of joy to your life — exercise releases endorphins, which can make you feel happy

Easy ways to fit exercise into your schedule

No matter how jam-packed your schedule may be, you can still “sneak” exercise into your day. Some simple ideas might be:

  • Do squats while you brush your teeth or blow dry your hair
  • Park a little farther away, whether driving to the office, grocery store or an appointment
  • Consider how much you stand during the day
  • Schedule walk breaks into your day
  • Play with the kids. Chase around the yard, play sports or active games with them.

There’s lots more you can do to keep moving throughout the day — for you and your family too.

Staying motivated and sticking with an exercise

How can you keep up your exercise routine? Just do your best and consider ways to focus on your progress every day by taking steps like like:

  • Scheduling workout time on your calendar and trying your best to stick to it, but try not to be so rigid that you’re discouraged if life may get in the way (it might).
  • Not dwelling on the workout itself, and instead thinking about putting on your shoes and getting to your destination, wherever that may be. Sometimes just getting on your gear may be the biggest hurdle.
  • Not comparing yourself to others. Many people’s fitness journey looks different.

Try to visualize your success. Remember why you started. Every step you take — even little ones — are steps in a positive direction.

4 comments

Italy Roundtable: The Fall Museum Crawl

  • Steps to Implement an Employee Experience Strategy

    Employee experience strategy is designing and implementing an integrated set of activities, initiatives, and programs that collectively create a positive and productive work environment.

    Gartner has identified that the employee experience (EX) is about more than just the technology used to enable work – it is about all the interactions employees have throughout their day-to-day work and how their contexts influence these interactions. In this sense, managers are beginning to recognize the importance of designing an optimal employee experience that can help them increase productivity, foster innovation, and attract top talent. 

    Although IT leaders used to overlook the importance of their employees’ experience, now Experience Management is one of the most relevant digital trends of 2023 for a good reason: it gives organizations a competitive edge. So much so that they are taking it to another level by implementing a total experience strategy, impacting leadership positively.

    In this article, we’ll explain how EX isn’t just one thing. It’s the combined effect of all areas of an employee’s daily and overall experiences at work; hence you’ll find a guide to properly implementing your EX strategy – and succeed. Read more about the intranet features.

    What is an employee experience strategy?

    An employee experience strategy is a plan for creating positive, engaging, and meaningful experiences for employees throughout their employment. It looks at how to ensure employees are engaged, motivated, and satisfied with their work environment, and creates a culture that encourages learning, growth, and development. 

    This strategy focuses on creating a workplace culture where employees feel valued and are given the tools they need to succeed. It also entails providing a comprehensive package of benefits, programs, and services tailored to meet employees’ needs. A well-executed employee experience strategy can lead to increased employee engagement, productivity, retention, and satisfaction.

    Because of that, it involves assessing the impact of policies, processes, systems, technology, and environment on employee engagement and performance.

    The areas or people involved in an employee experience strategy typically include Human Resources, leadership, employees, technology specialists, and other departments within the organization.

    An employee experience strategy aims to create a workplace that employees look forward to coming to each day and one that they are proud to be a part of. As a result, you get: 

    1. Improved employee engagement: Employee experience strategies can help to create an environment where employees feel connected to the organization and its goals, fostering a sense of loyalty and commitment to the company. 
    2. Improved recruiting and retention: It also builds a stronger emotional connection between the employee and the employer, making it easier for employees to stay with an organization for their careers. 
    3. Reduced turnover: Having a great workplace experience can help to reduce human resource costs, including recruitment, training, and replacement in the long term by making it more likely that employees will want to stay with their company. 
    4. Increased productivity: Staff satisfaction increases motivation, leading to increased productivity from workers who are invested in improving their performance and that of the organization. 
    5. Improved bottom line: An engaged workforce is more productive and loyal to an organization, which translates into increased profitability.

    6 steps to implement an employee experience strategy

    Before diving in, we would like to remark on the three key factors contributing to an employee’s experience: company culture, technology, and engagement. 

    • Company culture is often defined by a company’s values and how those values are put into practice through policies and procedures. Find ways to implement a culture that values your IT teams.
    • Technology plays a large role in how employees interact with each other, from communication tools to learning management systems. It requires collaboration between HR and IT teams.
    • Finally, engagement is important for keeping employees motivated and connected to the organization as a whole.

    The three key factors contributing to an employee's experience: company culture, technology, and engagement. 

    With that in mind, this is the employee experience strategy we suggest you implement.

    1. Implement people-first culture in your company

    people-first culture is an organizational approach that puts people first regardless of position, seniority, or job title. It is a strategy to create a workplace where employees feel valued, respected, and supported. Crafting a culture that offers personalized support can create a collaborative, trusting atmosphere that further contributes to innovation and productivity. It also enables more meaningful relationships and encourages creativity. 

    This approach will also help you foster strong employee relationships, increasing employee satisfaction and loyalty. We know from experience that IT teams can find a lot of benefits in this type of implementation.

    It is the first step because everyone needs to be on the same page. You must create a culture of mutual aid and support if you want a winning strategy. Let your workers know that is the direction you are going. Establish core values of this culture and communicate them to employees regularly. A way to materialize this is by:

    • Encouraging collaboration
    • Respecting differences
    • Recognizing achievements
    • Supporting growth
    • Creating communications channels and pathways

    2. Collect employee feedback

    Not only does employee feedback help you to pinpoint problems in your employee experience strategy, but it can also clue you into areas of employee experience where your organization has the potential to excel.

    Ask employees directly for their feedback on the overall experience they have while working at the company. This can be done through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or any other method of gathering information. Moreover, you can leverage InvGate Service Desk’s features for this purpose (here are a few examples). Many organizations use employee experience software to run a regular employee survey and get actionable insights that can inform HR decisions throughout the employee experience journey.

    With the right tools in place, managers can understand what works best for their organization and make necessary changes accordingly. For that to work, there are two aspects you must keep in mind:

    • Creating an environment that encourages open dialogue and collaboration from all your team members involved is a great way to foster creativity. 
    • It’s important not to rely solely on you for expertise and decision-making but to share the responsibility to produce the best outcome.

    3. Determine areas of improvement

    Now, don’t think about measuring EX at this point, but focus on building a positive one with the information you have. 

    Yes, researching employee experience can help you understand what your IT team needs, but taking action is what makes the difference. So, once the data has been collected, it should be analyzed to identify patterns or trends that may indicate areas for improvement within the company, leading to better use of resources and improved overall performance.

    Here are some areas of improvement you might find along the way:

    • Time management
    • Cooperation
    • Conflict resolution
    • Written communication
    • Accepting feedback and constructive criticism
    • Flexibility

    4. Map the employee journey

    A career development map is a great tool for any organization to provide employees with guidance and support to reach their career goals. It outlines each step in the employee journey, from recruitment to training and advancement.  

    The map provides a comprehensive overview of what needs to be done to make everything better for your teams. So, study how you can assign areas of improvement within them. The map looks like this:

    1. Recruitment
    2. Onboarding
    3. Development
    4. Retention
    5. Exit and offboarding

    5. Prepare an action plan with clear objectives

    After you have identified your goals, create a plan for how you will achieve them. This plan should include elements such as how you will communicate with employees, what resources will be available to them, and how you will measure success.

    To do that, keep in mind that your employee experience strategy should be effective for in-office, hybrid, and remote workers. Understand the unique needs of each group. Consider factors such as:

    • Time zones
    • Preferred communication tools
    • Access to resources
    • Availability of support

    6. Invest in appropriate technology

    At last, investing in the right technology is essential to creating an optimal user experience for your teams. This includes providing remote workers the necessary equipment and software to enable them to work as effectively as in-office workers. It is necessary to assess what tools and applications are used, how they are used, and if there are any areas where you can improve the performance of your existing technology infrastructure.

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Postcards from Umbria: I Primi d’Italia

One of the odd dichotomies stemming from the extreme regional divisions which define Italy is that you are much more likely to find a wide variety of Italian foods and ingredients in, say, New York or London or Sydney than you are in, say, Rome, Milan, or Naples. And most Italians would recognize more readily Japanese sushi or Moroccan couscous than they would Calabrian ‘nduja or Piemontese Cugnà.

Jars of red-hot nduja.

Because people interested in Italian food outside Italy are generally curious about all Italian food, but Italians themselves consider their local dishes—ideally prepared in their mother’s kitchen–the apex of their national cuisine and really only sample delicacies from other regions when they are actually visiting there. And, even then, mostly out of a sense of duty and to cement their opinion that their local dishes are the apex of Italian cuisine.

So, on the rare occasions when there is an opportunity to check out what people are eating all down the Boot, I jump at the chance. This past weekend Foligno held its annual Primi d’Italia food festival, which features pasta dishes from a variety of Italian regions. I passed on the tastings (word on the street is that the food is average and the prices high), but did check out the stands selling everything from bread from Puglia to cheese from Trentino. Great fun, lots of goodies to try at home, and a reminder of this crazy patchwork-quilt nation of histories, cultures, dialects, and—of course—foods that is Italy.

The one food that might just unite the nation: Bunga Bunga sauce.

Olives in all shapes and sizes.

Umbria holds its own in pork charcuterie.

The further south you go, the spicier the cuisine gets.

Perhaps the most picturesque booth, with its giant loaf.

 

A fun display of pasta shapes from every Italian region.

I picked up some pasta from Naples and Abruzzo. To sniffs of skepticism from the folks at home.

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Soul/Food: Hosteria 4 Piedi & 8,5 Pollici

One would think, right? One would think—what with my extensive arsenal of feminine charms, my glam slam social life here on the farm, and the household-name fame that is part and parcel of blogging—that I would be fending off dinner invitations from handsome strangers daily. It would become a chore, really. I would be rejecting them with a languid wave of my hand and an, “Oh, I couldn’t possibly take on one more engagement, darling. Honestly. I have a limit of four nights out a week.” I would be leaving a veritable trail of disappointment and heartbreak in my wake.

Ahem. Yes, well. I know this may come as a surprise to you (It certainly did to me), and I’m going to try to break it to you gently. That’s not exactly what goes on around here. Apparently the life of a working mother of two who writes an incredibly niche (that’s French for obscure) blog on the slow travel charms of one of the smallest regions in Italy is not exactly the most sought after arm candy on the social diaspora.

Which is why, when I received an email this summer from a fellow expat of the XY chromosome persuasion complementing me on my blog and inviting me out to lunch (I believe his exact words were something disarmingly elegant like, “I think you would enjoy one of my favorite restaurants in Umbria and I would be delighted to take you as my guest”), I literally glanced over my shoulder to check and make sure he was actually writing to me and not someone infinitely more attractive and interesting who might be standing behind me. But he was, indeed, addressing me and we settled on a date a few weeks hence (just because I don’t have a very refined social life doesn’t mean that I’m not, sadly, insanely busy).

I quickly came to the conclusion that the only explanation for this anomaly had to be that my new expat friend was some sort of psychopath (this is how the mind of a South side Chicagoan works). To fend off any possible attacks, I did what any responsible adult would do: I brought my nine year old son along. Apparently Mr. X had the same thought, as he informed me he was bringing along his niece. And so, our motley foursome was formed.

If I wasn’t disappointed about the woeful state of my social life before this lunch, I certainly was afterwards, as it turned out to be one of the highpoints of my summer. Mr. X is a delightful, erudite retiree who has lived in Umbria with his wife for the past few years and devotes much time and energy sussing out wonderful unknown eateries. His adult niece, visiting from Brooklyn, was a fun and funky designer who was great with my son.  The conversation was easy and engaging, and before we knew it we had been at the table chatting for three hours (and my son was officially late for his rugby practice).

But the best part of my surprise invitation was, by far, the pure find of a restaurant Mr. X had chosen. If there’s one thing I pride myself on–other than the fact that I can move my ears and I defiantly refuse to see the movie Titanic–it’s that I pretty much know Umbria, including her notable restaurants. I may not have actually been to them all (though that is certainly one of my short term goals, which conflicts with my other short term goal of weight loss), but it’s relatively rare that someone can pull a place completely out of the hat and awe me.

I believe that we put a little bit of our souls into our cooking. I mean, not in that new agey brick-heavy metaphoric Like Water for Chocolate way, but in a more down-home pragmatic human nature way. Any creative act—painting or singing or writing or love making—inevitably reflects what’s going on in our heads and hearts. That’s just how we’re wired and I challenge anyone to sit down and paint a bright field of sunflowers or bake a sunny lemon tart the day after a death or a break-up or a foreclosure. This soul/food connection is usually more direct in our own kitchens, simply because the dishes aren’t diluted with the touch of too many hands. But sometimes—sometimes—you come upon a one-man-show restaurant where alongside your pasta you find plated a little piece of your cook’s heart. Welcome to Laura’s Hosteria.

Hosteria 4 Piedi & 8,5 Pollici
Piazza del Mercato, 10
Bastardo (Giano dell’Umbria)
Tel: 0742 99949
http://4piedi8-5pollici.blogspot.com/

 

Why yes, I *do* know how to upload maps now. Expect lots of showing off in future blog posts.

I have to be honest and admit that I initially had my misgivings. The Hosteria is located in Bastardo (a wholely charmless village whose only claim to anything nearing passing interest is its name) in a secondary piazza ringed with bleak cement apartment blocks and a big box supermarket. We parked in a depressing commercial lot with its straggly grass and recycling dumpsters and my unease was lessened slightly as Mr. X pointed out the whimsical entrance to the Hosteria’s otherwise anonymous storefront, which could only be described as the result of a one night stand between an English garden show booth and the front yard of an organic co-op in Portland.

 

The eclectic front courtyards hints at the shabby chic decor inside.

The eclectic interior, with it’s meandering black and white mural decorations, fresh wildflower centerpieces, mismatched shabby chic chandeliers, vintage tableware, and—curiously—antique typewriter in the bathroom (it took me awhile to figure out why my son kept getting up to visit the loo every ten minutes), further put my doubts to rest. This was not a place which would be turning out factory-made tagliatelle with chemically-enhanced truffle sauce from the kitchen.

The small restaurant oozes personality.

Indeed, we didn’t know what would be coming out of the kitchen until our hostess, Laura, told us the specials of the day; the Hosteria is a strictly no menu sort of place. The selections are a magical alchemy of seasonal ingredients, Laura’s fancy, and customer finickiness (my son didn’t seem particularly excited about the cocoa maltagliati, ink squid tagliatelle, or ricotta and basil ravioli, so Laura took a gander at what she had in the kitchen and came up with a wonderful twist on the Roman specialty cacio e pepe, with a little guanciale thrown in for good measure. He was happy.). I was plied by the ravioli, and they were perfect…light little flavor bombs with a fresh tomato dressing. Aside from her egg pastas, Laura also makes a range of sauces to dress the dry pasta of your choice; the selection the day we visited were guanciale and zucchini, meatball and eggplant, and arrabiata.

An example of Laura's hand-shaped fresh pasta.

The meat dishes were equally diverse, ranging from a local tagliata steak, to traditionally prepared lamb chops, to the decidedly non-traditional ginger chicken or fish cakes. I asked for a cheese selection, and was treated to one of the best cheese courses I’ve had in Italy…from aged pecorino to fresh ricotta (served on a spoon with local honey), accompanied by a number of Laura’s handmade fruit mustards, relishes, and—divinely—wine reduced to an intense drizzle-able glaze.

The portions were as generous as Laura herself, so by the time we got to the dessert menu we could only handle some of her excellent biscotti (which were so good that my son managed to pocket one or two for later) and vin santo.

The Hosteria has an interesting wine list, with some off-beat local Umbrian cantine which reflect the vibe of this small (seating for about 30) restaurant and its menu. As I said, I was treated to lunch, but my gut feeling is that a couple could easily have two courses, dessert, and wine for around €50.

We had these biscotti, but without the hat.

When I asked Laura about the name she gave her Hosteria (which translates into 4 Feet & 8.5 Inches), she told me she had taken it from one of her favorite works of Brazilian author Paolo Coelho, Zahir. “The story is a parable of one man’s search for his wife, during which he is also searching for himself and the meaning of love. Four feet and 8.5 centimeters is the distance between rails on train tracks, and becomes an allegory for static nature of marriage as opposed to the constantly changing and evolving nature of love. Because the more you try to establish rules to measure love, the more love disappears.”

Kudos to Laura, her wonderful Hosteria, and the measureless love with which she feeds her clients’ bodies and souls.

These photos were used with kind permission of Laura Saleggia, who retains all the copyrights.

11 comments

Back to School: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

This is the fourth installment of the monthly Italy Blogging Roundtable, a project organized by travel writing powerhouse Jessica Spiegel, and including professional travel writer Melanie Renzulli, art historian and general brainiac Alexandra Korey, Tuscan uber-blogger Gloria, and me. (If you missed the previous months, take a look here.) Please, pull up a chair to our Roundtable, have some Little Debbie pecan pies, and join in on the conversation.

Back to School

Draw near, draw near, stranger, as I spin you an epic yarn. A timeless story of love and betrayal, of struggle and suspense, of triumph and failure. There are heroes, young friend, and villains galore. I will tell of innocents and schemers, of noble causes and fiendish designs, of the loftiest and the basest of human desires. Draw near, wanderer, and listen to my tale of fate, destiny, and—ultimately—a moral to it all.

Hear me as I sing the tragedy of How My Children Transferred Elementary Schools.

No, wait. Don’t get up. It’s a great story, I swear. It really does have all that stuff in it. Listen, your beer’s on me if you’ll just sit here for ten minutes and hear me out. Ten minutes. Seven. Seven minutes. Ok? Ok.

The school year began here in Umbria this week, and as I lightheartedly dropped my sons off to their second and fifth grade classrooms, I couldn’t help remembering this same time last year. My older son was beginning the fourth grade, and we were both anxious. He had had a particularly tough third year; his favorite teacher had retired after the second grade and he and the new teacher had locked horns for the subsequent nine straight months. I had gone back and forth about simply switching him to the other local elementary school (in Italy you get the same teacher for all five grades of primary school, so if you don’t see eye to eye you are kind of stuck), but had decided to continue where we were (and enroll my younger son in first grade there, as well). This homepage helped me with learning activities that you can do at home with your kid.

It quickly became clear that something had to give. My nine year old was desperately unhappy, thus we were all unhappy. He started asking me if he could change schools and maybe take this as a chance to apply to some Atlanta private schools, which gave me pause, as his best friends were all classmates. He was obviously at the end of his rope. So, come January, I took both my sons (the first grader wanted to be with his brother) out of their elementary school and enrolled them in the other public school about half a kilometer away. Thus began a golden period in their lives, and a private hell in mine.

Fine, private hell might be overkill (though I did promise you drama), but let’s just say I was completely blindsided by the social ripples caused by what was, in my mind, a relatively innocuous (and, I may add, completely none-of-anyone’s-business-personal) decision. You see, it slips my mind sometimes that I live in a small town. It’s easy to forget, because Assisi gives the impression—what with the crush of millions of visitors a year—of being a teeming metropolis. But the fact is that only around 1,000 people actually live in the historic center and–of those–999 are all up in your business.

I also tend to underestimate the dark underbelly of small town dynamics because I went to hands down the most awesome, lefty, fun, accepting, smart high school in North America. I realize the correlation may be fuzzy, but from what I understand from friends (and bootleg copies of Glee), the average American high school educates you not only in algebra and creative writing, but also in how to navigate cliques, handle gossip, recognize the mean girls, and generally hone those delicate antennae indipensible in managing the subtleties of social interaction. Because–despite all the romanticizing and idealizing–life in a small town is pretty akin to life in high school, except the median age is higher and the chaos which can be wrought more damaging.

The weeks following the school switch (I should probably add that I had been my sons’ PTA president for six years, so admittedly we weren’t the most low-profile family in the school)–during which a whisper campaign was initiated, teachers I had known for years publicly denounced my decision, families with whom we had travelled and socialized since our children were three years old stopped speaking to me, friends quickly separated themselves into wheat and chaff categories, and acquaintances whom I hardly knew by sight stopped me on the street to chat conspiratorially in the hopes I might let something slip unpolitic enough to stoke the flames of debate at the local cafè—were perhaps the steepest learning curve of my adult life. My kids went back to school, and, in a way, so did I. However, while they stopped shedding tears over their lessons, I began shedding them over mine.

It’s the Economy, Stupid.

Nothing gets people’s dander up like the specter of job loss, an aspect I had naively underestimated when making my decision. Assisi has two elementary schools in the historic center, which is simply mathematically untenable given the size (and age) of the population. This is a known but unspoken truth; every spring when enrollment begins the two schools fight tooth and nail for students, because if they don’t reach a minimum class size teachers are transferred or let go. It’s that simple. So, when students leave—especially students of somewhat outspoken, public, influential families—the school (and their teachers) immediately circle the wagons, and their first priority becomes damage control, spin, and desperate number crunching. Perhaps not the noblest of instincts, but human, nonetheless.

No One is Disinterested.

If there’s one thing you learn very quickly when you move to a small town, it’s that you can’t pick your nose in the car. Because everyone knows you. Even people you don’t know know you. They know you, they know your significant other, they know your boss, they know your cleaning lady, they know your postman. Not only do they know them, they are probably related to them. They may not like them, they may barely speak to them, but if the universal currency of information is on the block, you can be sure that there will be some exchange…and often the heftiest price paid is by you. And in a social crucible where knowledge is power, where gossips wield stunning power, and where—to be honest—very little goes down of particular interest on any given day, even the most banal of events (who had coffee with whom, whose car was seen parked where, whose kids were taken out of one school and enrolled in its rival) acquire the whiff of scandal.

Change is a Big Effing Deal.

The City is all about change. About progress. About evolution. About new horizons and frontiers. The Province is all about tradition. About history. About roots. About stability and comfort-zones. And I like that about the Province; after a life of constant movement and adaptation, I like the sense of past and belonging to a larger social tapestry. I especially like that for my children. That said, just as the dynamism of cosmopolitan life can veer into superficial self-absorption, so can the solidity of country life veer into stodgy mistrust and fear of change. Career transitions are whispered about as if they were some sign of failure, rather than simply that of a wish to try something new. Separations are akin to a death in the family, rather than an opportunity for a new beginning. New hairstyles and hobbies are viewed with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. And a change in schools—even to one that is just a few blocks away, even when the classmates are all friends from preschool, and even when the teachers are familiar faces from around town–is viewed as a traumatic, life-altering folly. (Just for the record, my sons are thrilled with their new school and have been from day one. I should have trusted my intuition and transferred them earlier. Another lesson learned.)

I’ve Been Damned Lucky.

The most positive lesson taken from all of this has also been the hardest to internalize:  gratitude. I have learned to be grateful that I can both enjoy the advantages of living in a small community, yet see beyond it to a bigger picture. I can get past defensiveness and finger-pointing when I feel censured, and take a hard look at myself and the mistakes I’ve made. I have a life that is so stimulating and joyful that I don’t need to pay much attention to the minutiae of my neighbors’ days to fill my own. The deep roots I’ve put down have favored, not stunted, my growth and I see the challenge in change, not just the apprehension. Though I smile and wave and chit-chat and trip my social butterfly way across the piazza, I know who my true friends really are…in Tucson, Bali, Piemonte, California, Castiglione del Lago, Chicago, and—a precious few—here in Assisi,  I have the extraordinary fortune to have a crowd watching my back, supporting without second guessing, and caring without judging.

And I suppose that if there is a moral to this story, it lies here. You can’t appreciate the light until you see the darkness, the loyalty until you feel abandoned, the serenity until you get lost in the chaos. The microcosm of small town society puts this into sharper relief, perhaps, but these lessons are all around us regardless of where we are. Life is full of teachable moments, but we have to show up to class with our minds open, pencils sharp, and pride tucked away in our lockers. Because life is also a tenacious bitch of a professor, and each time you flunk her class you can be sure that you’ll keep finding that same topic covered on the next final exam until you finally—finally—get the answer right.

Curious to hear what Alexandra, Gloria, Melanie, and Jessica had to say about this month’s topic? Check out their blog posts, and leave your comments.

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If You Have To Do It, Do It Right: Umbria Harvest Week Tour

I’m not a big lover of organized tour travel, which will hardly come as a shock to anyone who has hung around my blog for more than nine nanoseconds. I am all about indie, slow, off-the-beaten-track, sustainable, and all those other buzz words we self-satisfied hipster travellers use to differentiate us from Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue who spent ten days on a Trafalgar coach touring the European Capitals (which they pronounced dirty and their citizens rude).

That said, every once in awhile I come across a tour which is put together which such thoughtfulness and criteria that even I—even I, I say—can’t help but recognize that if I were to choose to visit Umbria with a group, this is how I would want to do it.

Fall is my favorite season to visit Umbria.

Kathy McCabe, publisher of the excellent Dream of Italy newsletter, has pulled together a fabulous itinerary for getting to know Umbria during one of my favorite seasons. This November she will be visiting the region with a small group during her Umbria Harvest Week for cooking lessons, Montefalco vineyards visits, truffle hunting, ceramic painting in Deruta, and—yes—a bit of touring (Assisi and Perugia). It’s basically what I would suggest as the perfect week-long visit in Umbria, but hassle-free.

I met up with her group last year for dinner, and it was a lively bunch—engaged and engaging, well-travelled, curious, and lots of fun. Not what I had imagined a tour group to be, honestly.

Last year's group. Fun was had.

So, for anyone bouncing around the idea of a fall trip but not keen on dealing with the logistics independently, this is a tour that even a die-hard non-tour gal like myself can recommend.

 

These photos were shamelessly nicked from Dream of Italy’s website. Don’t sue me, Kathy.

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Eight Years in 7 Links

When I was nominated by Jessica Spiegel of WhyGo Italy to participate in Tripbase’s My 7 Links project, I couldn’t say no. First, Jessica sits at the head of the Italy Blogging Roundtable (of which I am a participant) which makes her kind of my boss, if by “boss” one means “very nice person who lives nine time zones away and invents writing projects which are super-fun but unpaid”. Second, Jessica is a rarified Real Travel Writer, whereas I am Just Some Chick Who Futzes Around, so I’m thinking I should probably follow her lead.

The third–and probably most compelling–reason I couldn’t say no is that it was an excuse to go back through my old posts and indulge in a bit of nostalgia. The project has participants publish a link to one of their own past posts in seven different categories.Though I’ve been blogging for just over a year, some of the older articles on my blog are pieces that I wrote between 2003 and 2006 for the Slow Travel website (back when the word blog had yet to permeate our culture), and it had been awhile since I’d had the excuse to read through them. Almost eight years have passed since those first articles were written, and it was fun to say hello to my 32 year old self again.

So thanks to Jessica for calling me out, and to the folks over at Tripbase for coming up with these seven great reasons to shake the moths out of the archives.

My most beautiful post

Though many of my blog posts offer pragmatic information and travel tips to help visitors discover Umbria, the ones in which I tend to wax most poetic are, of course, those where I touch on my personal life. And nothing is more personal than this crazy hold Italy has over my soul—and, as I said in this recent post (this is an extra link, so it doesn’t count as one of my seven) sometimes Italy comes close to breaking me. During those times I dig out this love letter I wrote to Italy close to a decade ago and rekindle the flame that made me fall in love with her in the first place.

My most popular post

Everybody loves a good rant, and boy did I tap into a pulsing expat frustration artery with this post from last year. I was surprised and touched by all the wonderful, thoughtful comments and dialogue this post generated and realized that as isolating as the expat life can sometimes be, there is also a lot of affection and support in our community.

My most controversial post

I was actually expecting this post to spark more controversy than it did. Nothing gets folks riled up like a good religious debate, which is why I generally hold my own spirituality cards close to my chest. But, as it turns out, my blog has a passel of openminded and accepting followers. Thank god.

My most helpful post

No ifs, ands, or buts…people love an itinerary to give their trip planning some structure without the hassle of all the background research. My one week Umbria itinerary continues to be the nuts-and-bolts post readers love the most (my two week itinerary, as well. And no, this doesn’t count as one of my seven) and was also one of my favorites to write.

A post whose success surprised me

Okay, the popularity of this post was totally shocking to me. A piece that I totally pulled out of my derrier one grey January weekend when I was stumped about what to throw up on the blog ended up going as close to viral as I’m ever going to get and snagging me my first speaking engagement. Ever. Who knew that so many readers out there harbored an interest in hog butchering?

A post I feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

A dear friend turned me on to Umbria’s dragon legends, and this post remains one of my all time most entertaining (both to research and write). Unfortunately—and I know this may come as a shock—not many people are running Google searches with the terms Umbria + dragon. At least I can never be accused of writing for SEO.

The post that I am most proud of

I don’t have many redeeming qualities beyond my freakish ability to wiggle my ears and to sniff out a fib from a six year old at 50 paces, but I do concede that I am very good at finding the humor in otherwise trying situations. When our phones were out for over a month, it caused me such stress that I think I am still working the knots out of my shoulders seven years later, but I was able to write one of my funnier pieces about it and make myself laugh. And that ain’t peanuts in this tough world.

 

 

I’m sort of late to the game, which means that most of my favorite bloggers seem to have already been nominated. That said, I enthusiastically nominate my guilty pleasure: Liz from the irreverently hilarious Letters from Florence.

 

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Italy Roundtable: Sliding Doors, What-ifs, and the Cross of San Damiano

This is the third installment of the monthly Italy Blogging Roundtable, a project organized by travel writing powerhouse Jessica Spiegel, and including professional travel writer Melanie Renzulli, art historian and general brainiac Alexandra Korey, Tuscan uber-blogger Gloria, and me. (If you missed the previous months, take a look here.) Please, pull up a chair to our Roundtable, have some Cracker Jacks, and join in on the conversation.

My Favorite Work of Art in Italy

If I were to name my favorite work of art in Umbria purely on merit of aesthetic beauty, technical skill, or creative mastery, I would be hard-pressed. From Etruscan stonework dating two hundred years before Christ to the twentieth century avant-garde artist Alberto Burri—this region has been producing breathtaking art for millenia.

Now, if I were to name my favorite piece of art in Umbria purely in its ability to inspire my imagination, give flight to my fancy, move and amuse me, and make me want to sit my butt down in front of the computer on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in July when everyone else is out swimming in the creek to share it with you, there is one piece of artwork that immediately comes to mind.

Surprise! Betcha didn't see this coming.

I like to imagine that there are tens, hundreds, thousands of parallel universes out there, populated with the anti-versions of myself. Every time I find myself at a crossroads in life where I have had to make a choice about which path to take, I like to think that a separate reality splinters off and continues on a different trajectory, spinning out a version of what my life would have been like had I taken that other, rejected road. Each time I’ve been courageous or cowardly, kind or cruel, thoughtful or hasty, a new world has spun away, carrying on it a slightly altered cast of characters and plot line. I step off the walkway, tread on a butterfly, and set off unpredictable chain reactions.

These alternate realities present a fun-house mirror of my world and myself, just distorted enough to be new but just similar enough to be recognizable. And when I’m in line at the post office, or in the dentist’s waiting room, or up in the wee hours of the morning wandering the dark rooms of my house, I like to wonder about these anti-Rebeccas in these parallel universes, and conjecture about their lives there.

In the beginning of the 13th century, young Francesco Bernardone–son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi—decided to abandon his life of luxury and war-mongering for spiritual pursuits. He took to praying in the semi-abandoned country churches around his hometown, and in 1206 knelt before an unremarkeable Romanesque rood cross in the small, humble chapel of San Damiano outside Assisi’s city walls. This icon crucifix, with its 12th century cartoonish Byzantine-style decoration based on the Gospel of Saint John (probably painted by an anonymous Syrian monk), would surely have faded into obscurity had not an extraordinary event taken place. Or, I should say, two extraordinary events:

  1. The cross spoke to Francis.
  2. Francis listened.

A copy now hangs in the church of San Damiano; the original is in the Basilica of Saint Claire

Tradition holds that Francis heard the cross say to him, “Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin,” three times. Francis did just that…first interpreting the message as a call to restore the neglected San Damiano and Porziuncola chapels and later taking it to mean a tweaking of the Roman Catholic Church itself. In this vein, he founded the Franciscan Order and the Order of Saint Claire and—many hold—became one of the most influential figures in religious history, pioneering virtues of poverty, brotherhood, respect for animals and the environment. He is the patron saint of Italy and his hometown of Assisi is one of the most visited in the country, primarily because of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Basilica di San Francesco.

But it could have gone differently.

Francis could have never heard the voice, or never listened. He could have heeded the message, but become demoralized and given up.  He could have stuck to restoring churches (perhaps becoming the patron saint of general contractors) and never founded an Order. He could have continued ministering to the poor and sick and died in obscurity, as so many devout did over the centuries, or simply joined one of the many rich and corrupt orders already thriving in medieval Italy. Catholicism would be fundamentally different (as would many other religions, as Francis–with his spirit of humility and fraternity–is a figure almost universally admired), Italy would be fundamentally different, Assisi would be fundamentally different, and my life (and most likely yours, my friend) would probably be fundamentally different. All this the legacy of one young man and the choices made in one moment of his life.

This is why I—a proud Secular Humanist and largely Non-Lover of Byzantine Art—have always been drawn to San Damiano’s cross which, were it to have a less compelling backstory, wouldn’t draw a second glance. Because when I look at it (it now hangs in the the Cappella del Crocifisso in the Basilica di Santa Chiara here in Assisi), more than making me pause to reflect on beauty, or skill, or genius, I find myself pausing to reflect on choices and consequences, on caution and risk, on sliding doors and what-ifs.

And when I do, I say a little secular prayer to Il Poverello:

Francis, may I have the courage to listen to voices speaking, to walk through doors opening, to take paths beckoning. May I have the wisdom to choose the right voices, the right doors, and the right paths. May I have the serenity to one day stand on this spinning Earth, look at all those countless other planets hurtling past with all those countless anti-Rebeccas standing on them and know that of them all, I would choose to be on this crazy planet living the life of this–at times, crazy–Rebecca.

Curious to hear what Alexandra, Gloria, Melanie, and Jessica had to say about this month’s topic? Check out their blog posts, and leave your comments.

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Rebecca as Guest rather than Hostess: Five Ways to Explore Umbria alla Cheapo

In these tough times, even travelling has been pared down to the bare bone. That said, there are some great cheap and/or free A list attractions  in Umbria if you are keeping your eye on the bottom line but still want a memorable trip.

I was asked this week by the budget travel site extraordinaire Eurocheapo to suggest five cheap thrills in Umbria, and it was tough to whittle down my choices to just five.

But whittle I did, and you can take a look at the finalists here.