Ok, so I lied. When I wrote previously that Cannara was our home, I lied. Today we came home. To Florence.
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Home. That's what Cannara has become. Home.
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I have a very vivid mental image from one of my trips to Italy, a sort of motion picture or clip that replays itself in my mind, one that is etched deeply in the recesses of my mind but which can erupt to the surface when triggered by the right stimulus. It is a memory that is the result of an instantaneous, violent twist of fate. When I close my eyes, I can see it in detail as real as the instant in which it transpired.
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Abruzzo holds a special place in my heart. Shortly after we first opened Bella Italia we received an invitation from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Trade to be part of a delegation to visit Abruzzo and meet key producers in the confectionary industry. The five day visit,
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Within an hour or arriving at our villa in Cannara our first stop was for a bite to eat and a splash of wine with our good friend Simone at his restaurant in Bevagna – le Delizie del Borgo.

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Every now and then during our travels in Italy we come across something so completely unexpected and so completely eyeopening that it makes us step back, shake our heads and just say, "wow," and think how lucky we were for coming across it. Our visit to Fabriano was just such an occasion.
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Sorry for the piccola pausa. We arrived at our villa in Umbria in the early evening on Tuesday but were tied up in meetings in Rome and Terni all day yesterday and unable to post. Shortly I will upload a post that was written last weekend in the town of Fabriano in Le Marche. I also have a review of our wonderful hotel/B&B in Pescara (Abruzzo). And I am finishing up a piece on our visit to our friend Rita in the earthquake ravaged city of l’Aquila.

Then we’ll be up to date, with future postings covering our adventures at our home base in Umbria. Sunday our children and other family members begin to arrive. It’s sure to be a blast!

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy

I am not sure if the Abruzzo town of Penne is named after the pasta or if it figures in any way into the origin of the noodle. For me, Penne is important for one reason only. It is home to Brioni Roman Style S.p.A., makers of the world's best men's clothing. At least in my opinion. And James Bond's.
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Brioni is one of the finest tailors in the world. Since I first discovered their fashions a number of years ago, I have absolutely loved every pair of pants that drape and flow like a Roman toga, every distinctive dress shirt, every perfectly tailored jacket, hand stitched in the most elegant and finest fabrics that I have owned.

Unfortunately, Brioni is not cheap.
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When we began planning our trip to Italy some months ago, we toyed with the idea of spending a little time visiting Le Marche and Abruzzo, two regions sort of between where we were starting and where we were going. They had the added bonus of being regions that we had visited before, briefly, and had want to return to.
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Day 3 of our loosey-goosey tour. Day 19 overall.

This is called foreshadowing.

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