Letizia Mattiacci

Don’t ask an Umbrian to be on a diet after the holidays. We rural folks don’t do diets, especially if they don’t include pork and a glass of red wine. And besides, the Umbrian winter is too boring for salads. …

Umbria explodes with a kaleidoscope of wildflowers from April until well into June. If you walk through any of Umbria’s pretty hill towns like Assisi, Spello, or Perugia, you will notice buildings adorned with huge bushes of blossoming rosemary and lilac. Walk outside the town …

The whole world seems to have a pretty good idea about what a focaccia is. Is a very thick Italian flatbread, right? And what about pizza? Easy! It’s a thin flatbread! Well, as a matter of fact, it’s not so …

Bread may be the one Italian food staple that most visitors don’t seem to envy. Over the years I’ve heard all ki Please consider that Italy has hundreds of kinds of bread, most unique to each region. Sardinia offers thin …

In Italy, a well-prepared sformato is revered almost as much as a good plate of pasta, especially in the summer.  A sformato is a typical Italian savory flan, somewhere in between a French soufflé and a frittata. It has the same creamy …

I like to think that pasta is in the Italian genes – we consider it the mother of all foods. Pasta is a prominent memory in many moments of our lives. That tiny star-shaped pasta in your baby soup. Using …

In Italy, humble sagra (plural sagre) is a festival that celebrates a specific type of food, drink, or product from a town. Sagre have become such popular events that almost every village in Umbria, and probably in the whole of …

Here in Umbria spring does not want to arrive this year: it’s cold and wet. The countryside however, is dotted with marvelous flowers. Wisterias and lilac adorn edges and walls, cherry and almond trees look like heavenly clouds. Poppies make …

Il Peposo, also known as Peposo del Chianti or Peposo alla Fornacina, is a deeply delicious beef stew from Tuscany which was traditionally prepared by kiln workers of the Chianti region. The men spent long hours by the kiln making terracotta tiles and …

For centuries, Umbrians have considered game a great delicacy. Besides the more famous wild boar, you might find pheasant, pigeon, or guinea fowl taking the center stage in the menu of an exclusive dinner.  On the other hand, visitors are often surprised …