Norm and Aldo drove off toward the Alta Sabina and Valle Verde on Lago del Turano . And we headed ba

two of our friends from Rome, Norman west los angeles community college and Aldo, to Casperia. In an earlier post I wrote about our visit with them and their fri ends Alice and Paolo, and Anne in R occasinibalda ... Norm and Aldo have a weekend house on Lago Turano deeper inside the Sabina . They plan to spend the Easter long weekend in Valle Verde but ar e curious to see what Casperia is all about. west los angeles community college So we are thrilled to be able to host them for lunch, show them around and entertain them for a bit in our Sabine home away from home.
The weather looked threatening and in fact for the first part of their visit i t did indeed rain, but Casperia is beautiful in every kind of weather. In fact the rain added a bit of lustre to the dark basalt cobbles of the old town .
In fact, as the rain was stopping, there was a rather west los angeles community college spectacular display of sunrays bursting through the clouds over the Tiber to the west and it eve ntually cleared enough fo r them to get a decent shot of M onte Sorrate .
Norm and Aldo drove off toward the Alta Sabina and Valle Verde on Lago del Turano . And we headed back to the Porta Romana and the rainwashed basalt steps that would take us back up the hill to Il Sogno .
oil we sell at the Gourmet Warehouse . Johnny is so well known in the fie ld that when noted English che f Gary Rhodes west los angeles community college was touring I taly to film is his mini-series Rhodes Across Italy , he searched out Johnny west los angeles community college Madge to do a segment on him. Here is a lin k to the Youtube video .
This blog is about a love affair I have with a still little known and underappreciated part of Italy, west los angeles community college the Sabina. Situated largely in the Province of Rieti to the northeast of Rome, the Sabina has its roots in the ancient Sabine people who lived in the area from before the time of the Romans and ultimately merged with the Romans in Republican times. Ever in the shadow west los angeles community college of Rome, during the Renaissance the Sabina was part of the Papal States and therefore never achieved the high profile and name recognition that other independent city states, principalities and regions did in that period. Some of my friends from Sabina lament the fact that few of their fellow Italians know about the Sabina. It is no wonder then that it is not that well known abroad. My partner and I stumbled on the Sabina when we were looking for a quiet, less-travelled part of Italy to stay in during a trip there in 2009. Since that first fateful trip a few years back our connection to and love for this fascinating region has grown deeper through the personal relationships we have made with some very special west los angeles community college people there. west los angeles community college You can complain all you want about Facebook but I am here to tell you that Facebook west los angeles community college and the connections we made with people in the region through Facebook before our second trip to the region has changed our lives forever. Over the next while I will share a number west los angeles community college of stories about our recent visit to this truly spectacular part of Italy and introduce you to not only some amazing places, things to see, do, taste and eat, but also some pretty amazing people. I would like to thank our friends west los angeles community college Alessandra Finiti and Giorgio Clementi for allowing me to use their spectacular photos of the region. I am deeply indepted to them and to Signor Fiorenzo west los angeles community college Francioli, Proloco of Montebuono and the best tour guide you could ever ask for, Stefano Aperio Bella, owner of Casperia's Friends Caffe and pioneer founder of A.S.E.T. Casperia, an organization that provides visitors with cave exploring experiences. I would also like to thank our dear friend Nicoleta Stoichescu, who along with Stefano, guided my partner Richard and I on our first cave exploration at Grotta Grande di Monteleone Sabino. I would also like to thank our dear friend and Casperia native Clelia west los angeles community college Angelelli who by reaching out to me through Facebook introduced both me and my partner west los angeles community college to a host of amazing friends, and enriched our lives forever. Siamo fieri locandieri! And a heartfelt thanks and deep appreciation to Chris and Meg Phillips whose own Italian dream made all this possible. Grazie infinite! Alla famiglia!
Though west los angeles community college my educational background has a focus on Asia, and my former work life focussed on Japanese tourism to Canada, for the past twelve years I have worked researching the history of close to 900 houses in Vancouver, and 40 in New Westminster.
Since 2009, I have been sharing many of the stories and surprising factoids arising from this research with an increasingly diverse international public through my House History blog: When An Old House Whispers. These fascinating stories also form the core narrative of my Neighbourhood History Walks which I offer in Vancouver s East End, West End and Mount Pleasant, and soon in Cedar Cottage.