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The other evening, looking out of the back door, there was a beautiful sky. It only lasted a couple of minutes but worth a picture. |
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Sunset over San Giorgio
Friday, December 11th, 2009Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009Today, the 8th December, is a public holiday in Italy as it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception – the day Mary became pregnant with Jesus. Traditionally this is the signal for Christmas celebrations to begin i.e. trees decorated, lights up, cribs installed etc. Like the rest of the world Piagge the next village already has its Christmas lights on but here in San Giorgio traditions are adhered to and so although the lights are up they are still not on. We are planning to spend the holiday going to a Christmas Market in Pergola and then a meal with a friend.
It’s not the English who are coming, it’s the Scots!
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009Having posted on the blog the news that work had started on the nieghbouring house and that the owners were the Roscoes we were delighted to get a email from Pamela and John Roscoe confirming their existence and the news that they are not English but Scottish. This is good news as currently if someone wants to know were we live they can ask for “gli inglesi” and having “gli inglesi uno” and “gli inglesi due” wouldn’t be very nice. Having “gli inglesi” and “i scozzesi” will be much better. Much less confusing.
Memi, their neighbour who also makes the best pasta in San Giorgio if not in Italy, was delighted with the news particularly when we told her that they can speak Italian.
Eating well in the Marche
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
The Espresso magazine publishes an annual guide to the best restaurants in Italy. There are 10 restaurants listed for the Marche. 5 of the 10 are in the north of the Marche and so within our “eating range”.
Uliassi (Senigallia) Average price: 110 euros.
Madonnina del Pescatore (Marzocco near Senigallia). Averageprice: 130 euros.
Symposium Quattro Stagioni (Serrungarina) . Average Price: 100 euros.
Hotel Giardino (San Lorenzo in Campo). Average price: 48 euros.
Antico Furlo (Acqualagna). Average price: 58 euros.
We have eaten at the Uliassi which, at 100 euros per head, is a “very special occasion” restaurant. However, it is great, particularly the fish antipasti. Service is very attentive and the only embarassing moment is when the chef suddenly appears at the table to introduce himself and once he has said “buona sera” there are some moments of embarassing silence as no one knows what to say next.
Hotel Giardino always has good food, beautifully presented and at a reasonable price.
We haven’t tried the other three restaurants but are happy to be taken to them by anyone visiting. The Antico Furlo overlooks the river in the Furlo Gorge. We often go to the gorge which was one of Mussolini’s favourite stopping of points on his way from Rome to Rimini. There is a bar beside the restaurant and it has a dining room devoted to his memory complete with the dining service he used. The “Antico Furlo” is a hotel as well as a restaurant and some of the furniture in the rooms were brought by Mussolini from the Palazzo Venezia in Rome so that he would feel more at home when spending the night at Furlo.
Turbo Gas Plant
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Living in the valley of the River Metauro we sometimes miss what is happening in the next River Valley. Today in Mondavio I noticed this poster about a proposed Turbogas plant near Corinaldo. In fact the proposal is to build a plant which will produce electricity from imported methane gas. The plant, if it goes ahead, will produce sufficient electricity for the whole of the Marche. The proposal is already meeting stiff opposition and comments about the project have to be submitted to the relevant authorities by mid December.
One issue that is causing concern is the pollution it will cause. This explains the large yellow circle on the poster and the implication that San Giorgio will be in line to receive its share of pollutants.
Fiorini vineyard wins a prize
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The Associazione Italiana Sommelier publishes an annual guide to Italian wines. It tastes about 20.000 wines and this year only 298 wines were considered worthy of the “5 grappoli (bunches)” award. 16 out of the 298 are from the Marche and 1 is from the winemaker Fiorini. This vineyard is at Barchi a few kilometres from San Giorgio. It scored its success with its “Colli Pesaresi Sangiovese Luigi Fiorini 2004″ wine at 20 euros a bottle.
San Giorgio Informa
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009The second issue of the bimonthly newsletter “San Giorgio Informa” is now out. The main points are:
Cineforum
From October to March there will be weekly films shown in the Museum. The first film was “Braveheart”, followed by “The Queen”, “Paths of Glory”, “Saving Private ryan”. Each month will have a different theme: in October the theme was history, in November it is war.
SMS Service
A new messaging service called “Il Comune communica con te” has been set up. This free service allows residents to receives texts informing them about events in the Commune.
Interview with Councillor Antonio Sebastianelli ( resposible for Environment, Town Planning)
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Antonio lists the priorities for the new Council as: repairing roads, rubbish collection by type ie. plastics, paper etc. and the creation of a solar power plant.
Questioned about making the roads more efficient and safer Anotonio said that they plan to make “Via de Gaspari” one way, create new parking areas and increase the number of road checks by the Municipal Police. |
The garden in November
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 |
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Autumn has arrived. The vines are turning gold. Next year the vine should be dense enough to let us sit under the pergola during the day. The pomegranate which still hasn’t given fruit is worth having for its autumn colour. The evergreen medlar, at the side of the house, is a star in this period as it is now in full flower and in the evening fills the air with its strong honey scent. |
Olive oil
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 |
This year we had a good olive harvest and ended up collecting about 2 quintals (200kgs) of olives. They were also in good condition with only a few damaged by the olive fly. We have been very fortunate as in some neighbouring areas the harvest has been very poor.
Sanzio, our more than kind neighbour / agricultural consultant took them to the mill for us and we brought us back 26 litres of olive oil. |
From Rembrandt to Gauguin and Picasso: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Saturday, November 21st, 2009 |
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We to go to see the exhibition of masterpieces from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts which is currently on show at Rimini. Our “exhibition going companion Elizabeth” joined us for the day.
We took the autostrada towards Rimini and as is our custom stopped off at a service station for a capuccino and a brioche. We then bypassed the turn off for Rimini as we had decided to visit the recently opened Ikea at the Rimini North Junction. You will not be surprised to discover that it is like all other Ikeas. When we moved out 3 years ago our nearest Ikea was in Bologna. Now, here in San Giorgio, we lie equidistant from the Ikea at Rimini and the Ikea at Ancona. The only difference between the two is that in the Ancona Ikea you walk clockwise around the shop and in Rimini you walk anticlockwise. We proceded to stroll anticlockwise and ended up buying a glass bowl and some lamp shades. Elizabeth opted for some candles.
From Ikea we drove into Rimini and parked the car near the exhibition. However, as it was now noon we first proceded to a cafe for pre lunch prosecco and then went searching for a nice restaurant. The first restaurant we came across had the less than impressive name of “Picnic”. But it turned out to very good and managed to eat a first and second course.
This took us up to 2.30 and we then went to the exhibition at the Castel Sismondo. On show are 65 masterpieces of the European painting from the 16th to the 20th century. It was excellent and well worth the 10 euros entrance fee. It was excellent. There were so many great paintings it was difficult to choose favourites but I particularly liked the painting by Govanni BattistaMoroni an Toulouse Lautrec.
After the exhibition there was time for a cup of coffee and then the autostrada home.