A Hearty Jaunt Up and Down

Like most things Italian, except for the trains, there is no roadmap nor timetable for the festival.
The closest they come: tiny pictures with the names of each venue, as seen on this card.
Except even the natives, stationed at the info centers, are unfamiliar with some of the sites or the designations.
So it’s been up and down, all around the town, for three days now: with some surprising discoveries along the way.

Art in the City

There have been previews before: the opening exhibit
Last week, as announced in the poster on the right,
And all the weekend festivals we’ve seen in the past.

But this one has a much more impressive billing.
Called “The First Annual International Festival,”
It promises, apparently, to be more enthralling.

La Foto Del Giorno


The photo of the day, according to the editors,
Is, per me, an invitation rather to a selfie of wit;
And, for that matter, a test drive of my Italian:

Something something September seems like the same something November. Yesterday, in fact, the webcam of Umbria Weather immortalized [recorded, I suppose] the first [snow, I’m guessing] on Mount Vettore.

About that time, a good laugh over Rebecca’s chocolate
Was shared by all. Then, the by-now familiar daughter
Kindly helped us both out with the daily Italian lesson:

Roughly, More like November than September these days. And
Yes, The first snow indeed was seen on Monte Vettore. Then
She and Rebecca went back and forth, filling in the magic

Of our stay: pensionato, ritorno a Spoleto, il cibo, and
Any other appropriate words that rhyme, say, with vino
To explain our enduring attraction to this tiny Italian town.

The Photo of the Day, I Say

As Grazia treats Rebecca to some chocolate on her cornetto,
The familiar crowd joins in the spirit of the moment, as usual:

Back to La Cioccolateria

As if we ever leave the place for very long.

“Art in the City”: Ever Illuminating

Though sometimes observed more in daylight or up close than at night.

“Questa è troppo difficile.”

“This is too difficult,” for sure.
The line is from Dorina’s opening
Aria. But a comic opera is, by far,
The easier puzzle and the most fun.

Far more evident the tomfoolery
When opera is the satiric object.
Ego and artifice, with baffoonery
And romance, all add to the effect.

The Local News

Rebecca played no official part in the Italian competition to find the best gelato in the world. But it was, in her words, una buona idea.

And she is proud to say that she knew all along the very finest cone includes a scoop of pistacchio from right here at the Gelateria Crispini in Spoletto.

Décolletage Too