Guardian of the Tap

"I dare you to turn this off!"

Cena Bianca

Last Friday night was the second annual White Dinner in Todi.  This year we bought tickets right away...no standing on the wrong side of the barrier watching the big party!

Despite earlier weather predictions, the day dawned bright and sunny, so of course we headed straight to the piazza to check on the preparations.

The work continued nicely while we enjoyed our morning cappuccino in the shade at Bacio.

Yes, that is a 10-foot high pile of tables being carried by forklift.

Eventually we had to get on with our day, making excuses to walk out to the piazza every few hours to watch the transformation.

Midday

Late afternoon

Once all those plates were down the tablecloths stopped threatening to blow away.

Ready for dinner!

Party time!  Five courses served by waiters (in white, of course) and great live entertainment.

 It was all gone by the time we emerged for coffee Saturday.

Abbazia di San Felice...a happy little field trip!

Yesterday, Florence and I took off to the wilds of Umbria (call it 40 minutes from the house) to visit the Abbazia di San Felice ("Abbazia" = "monastery" and "San Felice" = Saint Felix, but "felice" also means "happy"). Since it was the end of a holiday week, I did take the time to call in the morning to make sure they would be open. After a brief hold, a monk answered and said there was no problem visiting the site.

Off we went. The scenery around there is beautiful: a combination of wild, unspoilt hilly terrain with occasional olive groves to punctuate the vegetation. The sharp hills and the windy roads make for a delightful trip.

We arrived in the parking lot, only to find the entrance door sternly signposted with (roughly translated) "Not in service. Entry strictly forbidden for reasons of safety." Nothing daunted, because by now we well know the flexibility one can see (plus, they told me we could come, by golly!), we rang the doorbell. Nothing. I tried calling them. Nothing. Florence rang the doorbell while I was calling them. Nothing.

But wait! We heard voices! We peered around the construction fencing, only to see people who were plainly tourists. After a brief consultation, we decided to go around the complex to see if there was an alternate entrance.

The door on the left just behind the shrubbery
was our "do not enter" entryway
Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it

Right on cue, an older woman plainly dressed for cleaning opened the "not in service" door, and asked what we were doing. We explained the situation, and she somewhat brusquely said we should follow her back through that door (and instructed us to come out the way we had entered when we were ready to leave). Our route took us through a lovely interior courtyard with frescoes and a fountain, and then through another door into the church. Said door ALSO had a "do not enter/not in service/sucks to be you" type of sign, but we decided it was best to ignore the sign and follow her spoken instructions.

Interior.
Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it

The church itself is a lovely Romanesque structure dating to the 11th century. Its crypt is small and created with a series of complex arching, meaning that we just had to sing to enjoy the acoustics. We promise that we made some appropriate musical selections!

The crypt.
Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it

The altar itself is located up a steep stairway from the main part of the church, which is a very interesting effect. We wondered how it would be for priests in full regalia and possibly carrying monstrances as they went up and down the steps.

An intriguing thing we noticed were the carvings of animals, done rather schematically, but also somewhat at random. These carvings were found in the capitals of some columns in the crypt (a little odd, but sort of made sense...although they contrasted strangely with some of the other highly ornate capitals), but even more strangely, they were located also in the middle sections of some of the walls.

From the outside, you can see a splendid view of the countryside
Photo from www.ilpoderedellaia.it

All in all, this made for a delightful morning.

Love,

Alexandra

July has been eventful!

I'm seeing that I've failed to capture what's been going on, because, well, we've been busy! Highlights of the month include:

 courtesy of Gabriella Dozi

• A spectacular concert by an accordionist. This wasn't your bog-standard "whoompa whoompa" jig music (which, yes, I also adore), but a particular type of accordion ("sordita") that lacks the vibrato used to play classical music. The performer sounded like he was either an entire orchestra or (at times) had an enormous pipe organ at his disposal. It was just fantastic! This concert was held in the courtyard of the high school. Given that it's summer, it was a great choice: there was a pleasant breeze, plenty of room, and great acoustics.
• Another concert, this time in the theatre. There were two large-ish groups (all male) who were performing soldiers' songs from World War One. Obviously doleful, the sound was tight harmony with extraordinary range. It brought to mind barbershop quartets and/or the Welsh miners' songs. The themes were obviously quite difficult given the context. After the concert, we were outside on our way to dinner, and one of the groups hadn't had enough of singing: they were collected on the steps outside the theatre singing popular hits, and had a great crowd around them singing and swaying. A two-for-one special!
• Ballerinas from Canada in the piazza, dancing a variety of styles, including modern, tap, etc. It was great fun to see them, and they did a fantastic job with rapid costume changes. 
• About three band concerts in the piazza at various times.
• A rock band in the piazza, as well as a deejay earlier in the day (or was it the day before?)
• The hot-air balloons! So pretty, but you have to get up early to see them! There were more than ever this year, and it was just a delight to have them back. They left Todi for Montefalco a few years back (political tiff of some sort), and the Tuderti are delighted to have them back. Facebook is blowing up with gorgeous photos.

  

  Courtesy of Giulia Cresta

• Florence's birthday, which Michael and I partially spent coming back from England...but we were home by lunch!
• A trip to Washington DC for a celebration of 100 years of marriage! Michael's parents and his aunt & uncle were both celebrating 50th wedding anniversaries this year, so we had a wonderful family reunion. It was great to see all the cousins and nieces and nephews and so on. There were a few missing, but it was nonetheless a group of about 60! 

While Michael is gone, I'm working on a dress for an upcoming dinner: this is towards the end of the month, and everyone has to wear white. We felt like the kids left out on the playground last year as we looked over the barricades into the Piazza where all these beautifully-set linen-clad tables were ready to serve an eight-course meal for the 1000 who had bought tickets. This time, we were determined not to miss it! Michael already has his white trousers and shirt, next up: white shoes! My 94-year-old shoe man is finishing up a pair of sandals for me, bless him!

Love,

Alexandra