Carnevale 2013

Carnevale in Ascoli Piceno

Unfortunately Carnevale isn’t much of an event in the Potenza area.Friends in Ascoli Piceno invited us up to spend last week-end with them to partake in the festivities there. We remember fondly our time in Ascoli and Carnevale was always a fun time in town with the piazze packed with people of all ages in costumes.

Venice may be the most famous city in Italy for this holiday but there are cities up and down the peninsula that have events just as interesting, and probably easier to attend. Ascoli Piceno’s events focus on the children in their costumes during the day and the citizens dressing up at night to perform some elaborate skits that generally mock the local politicians. Men in drag is a recurring theme – I have yet to get a reasonable explanation from an Italian for this practice.

We had a great time revisiting the city and with our friends. As always, we ate well and were able to pick-up a few souvenirs to bring back to Trivigno with us.

HHI link

Since House Hunters International filmed here in Trivigno many have asked how they can view our story if they miss it on HHI or don't have access to American cable. Since airing in 2011 the episode has been removed from the HGTV website.

We have posted the video on our YouTube channel for My Bella Basilicata: HHI in Trivigno

We hope you enjoy this and other videos on our channel.

Now Really, It’s Not Reality!

It was one year ago this weekend that we finished-up shooting our episode for House Hunters International. We had an enjoyable experience and the crew we worked with was great and fun. Some of the locals in Trivigno still talk about how the “Brits” can put away their fair share of Peroni.

Our story has aired a couple times on HGTV and this has led to some inquiries about our town and even a stint on the local RAI station. All in all it was and has been a positive experience.

This past week there have been some stories in the US press that the House Hunters episodes may not be a true representation of how it really happens. No kidding!?!
My response is - if you think any of the “reality” shows on TV are realistic and without any staging, then you better stay away from used car lots.

It is entertaining to see the different locations where people buy properties on HHI. It can be a fun way for an expat to tell their story and have a few moments of fame.

House Hunters International – Trivigno

Last night HGTV aired the episode they filmed of us last spring about our house buying experience in Trivigno, Italy. This episode highlighted Trivigno, Basilicata (the region this small town is in) as well as Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region.

For those who may be finding this blog after watching the HGTV episode, we moved from Corrales, NM to Italy in 2006. We settled into Ascoli Piceno and after locating family connections for Valerie in Basilicata purchased a home in the small, but charming, hill town of Trivigno.

If you are look for more information about Trivigno and Basilicata, including available properties, be sure to visit My Bella Basilicata.

If you want to know more about our adventure in Italy and Trivigno then read more on this blog under the labels section.

Musical Barista

Bar Oscar, Ascoli Piceno

When we lived in Ascoli Piceno one of our regular bars for caffé in the morning and also stuzziccini in the evening was Bar Oscar on Corso Mazzini. Oscar and his wife, Anna Laura, run this establishment and they became our good friends who always took the time to chat with us.

Oscar makes a very good caffé and cappuccino. He also has a hidden musical talent that he expresses on his coffee equipment: he enjoys tapping out a tune that always ends with a big smile. We visited Ascoli Piceno recently for our House Hunters International shoot and Oscar serenaded us with this tune...

Nothing like a little entertainment to go with your caffé in the morning.

A double jolt to start your day.

House Hunters International in Trivigno

We just finished-up almost a week of shooting here in Trivigno and Ascoli Piceno for an upcoming episode of the popular American show called House Hunter's International (HHI) that airs on HGTV. They will focus as much on our lifestyle here in Basilicata and how we have been welcomed in Trivigno, as on the house purchase process itself.

A year ago when we were in Northern Virginia the program emailed me and we corresponded some but I didn't see the benefit of pursuing the project at that time. HHI contacted Valerie just over a month ago (they found us via our blogs) and she corresponded via email and talked to them by phone. We had not watched much of this show previously but we viewed a few segments on YouTube to get a better idea of what it is about. We put together a short video so they could see and hear us and emailed that off. They liked our unique story of finding Valerie’s family roots in this area and locating a house without a real estate agent.

Steve, Bryan, Paul, Bill, Valerie

The film crew, based in London, arrived last Tuesday and we spent three days together doing scenes in Trivigno, Anzi and Matera. Saturday we drove to Ascoli Piceno for a day of shooting. The story line will follow our house search from Ascoli since we were already living in Italy when we started looking for a house. Bill the director, Paul the cameraman and Steve the sound tech were all great to work with. They made the process easy and fun and also appreciated the Southern Italy hospitality that we find so endearing.

We hope this will be a boost for some of our friends here who have an agriturismo, our friend Tonino who is an engineer that has helped us so much in the process and for Trivigno itself. When others see why we find it so inviting they will also be interested. With the new web-site, My Bella Basilicata, and our desire to help the town that has been so inviting to us, we decided this is a good project for us to pursue. The actual episode will air in a few months; I will share the date when we are notified.

Besides, the film crew of Bill, Steve and Paul made it fun!

Foto Friday: Campanile

La Cattedrale di Sant'Emidio

This is the bell tower for the Cathedral in Ascoli Piceno. When ringing the bells swing out beyond the tower walls.

Festa Italiana

More Italy in Ohio

This will be a quick follow-up to my last post as we had a great Italian experience this past weekend. The Unione Abruzzese Society of Akron held the Festa Italiana in nearby Cuyahoga Falls along their riverfront park area.


There were various booths providing food and drinks, a combination of Italian and your basic fair food. The best surprise for us amongst these booths was the one called “Emidio & Sons”. Sant’ Emidio is the patron saint of Ascoli Piceno and the name Emidio is very much an Ascolano name so we knew there had to be a Marche connection. While talking to the family member running the booth we learned that indeed their family is from a small town near Ascoli Piceno and the family has recently visited that area and attended La Quintana.


The best thing about the Emidio’s being there was they had Le Olive all’Ascolana, a wonderful reminder for us of Ascoli Piceno. These are olives stuffed with a mixture of meat and spices, breaded and then deep fried. For those of us who generally do not like olives these are good.

There was plenty of Italian music in the riverside amphitheater including several groups from Italy. The highlight for the ladies was Salvo Randazzo from Sicily whose good looks matched his amazing opera voice.

Farewell to Ascoli Piceno

Today we are off to Roma after one last week in Ascoli Piceno surrounded by familiar streets, faces and historic piazze. It was bittersweet spending this time to say farewell to so many friends.

L’Aquila is not very far away and everyone had a story of their experience with the morning of the earthquake last month. We heard about locals who spent a few nights camping in the local soccer stadium and cemetery parking lots for fear of falling buildings. Several buildings are closed pending inspections by the proper authorities to verify their safety, though there are no obvious signs of damage from street level.

We also noticed that in just a few months several shops have closed in the centro storico. Since we visited in March with my sister we have counted as many as ten stores that have closed and the general attitude is that the economy will not improve until at least 2010.

We have so many fond memories of this charming city and her warm people and we have assured everyone that we do plan to return.

The best of Ascoli Piceno

My personal favorites...

This weekend we are headed south to Santa Maria di Castellabate and I thought I would look back at my personal selections for the best of what Ascoli Piceno has to offer.

Caffé: This is a hard choice as I have developed good relationships with several barista and they all make a good cup of liquid gold. That said, my consistent favorite is made by Gianluca at Café Pretoriana, lui e un maestro.

Paste: This means pastries and you will find many of the same pastries from one location to the next here in town and unless the bar or pasticeria has a warmer on the counter they are served cold. There is no comparison between a cold and warm pasta. My favorite is the cornetto integrale at Café Melleti, served scaldato, warm. This whole grain pastry is filled with honey and lightly brushed with butter…no holds bared on the calories.

Gelato: I prefer Yogi which is located in Piazza Arringo. Their specialty is cioccolato, everything chocolate, and they make a chocolate gelato that is extremely rich, so rich I have to balance it with fiordilatte to not go into chocolate shock.

Olive all' Ascolana: I am not a fan of olives but when you stuff them with meat, coat with batter and fry them who can not like them. Grottino del Nonna Franca makes the best in town.


Bar atmosphere: This is another hard choice as there are different bars for different reasons. Café’ Melleti with its historic interior, sharply dressed staff and notable characters is the place to see and be seen in town.

Stuzzicchini: For those not in the know stuzzicchini are the snacks you get along with your drink when you order an aperitivo in the evening. Some bars give you no more than peanuts while others give you enough to make a meal. Some of the bars vary seasonally in the quality and quantity of their stuzzicchini but the one that is consistently the best would be Café Kursaal. If we are just looking for a light dinner for the price of a glass of wine we can always count on Dante at Café Kursaal.

Pizza: I mean pizzeria pizza, not the pizza al taglio where you get a slice to go. Part of having pizza is having the patate frite and a good birra Italiana. For this I prefer Il Menestrello where he will make the pizza how we want it, even if that means bringing our own green chile for a topping.

View point: If you are looking for a place where you can get a good view of the entire city you will be disappointed as the places that would have the best view are obstructed by vegetation. For a good view of the centro storico that highlights some of the towers then go just across Ponte Solesta and you will find a great location for photos.


Church: The Cattedrale is unique and has some beautiful artwork inside but for simplicity my favorite is Chiesa San Tommaso that occupies the piazza of the same name. This Romanesque church is made of the local travertine and has a simple interior with some interesting architectural aspects.

Place to eat: What one restaurant, osteria or tratoria in Ascoli Piceno exemplifies the food of this city? This is a tough choice as there are several places in town that we frequent and for different reasons - but for a good selection of local fare I prefer Trattoria Arengo in Piazza Arringo.

Piazza: I will have to agree with most of Italy and say Piazza del Popolo, this travertine covered piazza is the place to see people and be seen. There are few experiences like sitting at one of the cafes sipping a drink while you watch the parade of locals and their children go by.

Vino: The wines of the Piceno area tend to be strong, 14% is the norm and there are several that I think rival the more famous vintages of other parts of Italy. My favorite for its flavor, color and that it is unique only to this area is Vino Pecorino.

Event: There are many events during the course of a year in Ascoli Piceno but for the sheer magnitude, color, pageantry and the history involved my favorite by far is La Quintana. This medieval festival lasts four weeks and includes over a thousand costumed figuranti, jouste competitions, archery, spandetori and knights in armor. You do not understand the magnificence of this event until you actually witness it.


Museum: I tend to think of the entire city as a museum as there is so much history visible as you walk around. The museums in town are relatively small and you can easily see any one of them in about an hour but they do tend to have good exhibits. My favorite for the quality of the artwork is the Diocese Museo that is located near the Cattedrale.

So next time you are in Ascoli Piceno check out my favorites and see if you agree, Ascoli is a great place to visit for a day, a year or even a lifetime.

What are they watching?

It seems that we men have this uncontrollable desire to watch others doing manual labor, especially when it is something involving digging.

Over the past year they have been laying new utility lines under the streets around Piazza del Popolo here in Ascoli Piceno. In each of the major sections when they do this they have had to stop for months at a time as a result of some artifact that is discovered under road surface. The contractor is repeatedly blamed in the newspapers for delays but how are they to know what might lie below the surface?

This is a common problem in Italy where if you dig around enough you are bound to discover some ruins from a couple hundred or even thousand years ago. I have heard stories of people who have land and if they are digging and discover something they quickly cover it back up as they don’t want to deal with the bureaucracy involved with such a discovery.


Last Christmas they stopped work up near Piazza Roma as they found a wall section from a building dating to the Roman period. Last summer they stopped on the east side of Chiesa San Francesco as they uncovered a ceramic shop, complete with a kiln, dating from the medieval period. The most recent find was a little morbid; a grave. On the west side of Chiesa San Francesco they uncovered the skeleton only a few feet below the surface just outside the former monastery that was attached to the church. There are various speculations circulating as this is suspected to be a monk - but why was he buried outside the monastery?


A few days after I took these photos the skeleton had been removed. Soon, as with the other finds, this area will be filled in, covered with concrete and paved over with the rest of the surrounding streets. Who knows what they will find under the next section of street they excavate?

A wine unique to the Piceni

Vino Pecorino

The grapes have been picked and the wineries are busy processing the grapes for wines that will be introduced next year and beyond. When we drive the roads of the Piceno area in the early fall we are very likely to encounter several slow moving tractors as the local farms take their grapes off to the local winery.

The Piceno area of southern Marche is a great place for some unique wines, and a few that you will find nowhere else in the world. One of these is made 100% from a grape with Greek roots that is grown in a small area of the Ascoli Piceno Provincia; Vino Pecorino.

The first time we saw this name we thought of the cheese, pecorino, which is a staple of the Italian diet and this wine does have a connection to sheep, for whom the cheese is named. The pecorino grapes were originally discovered by shepherds tending their flocks in the hills of the Sibillini Mountains. They made these white grapes into a wine which was part of their regular diet.

Now the pecorino grapes are grown closer to the Adriatic coast but on north slopes to take advantage of the cooler climate. These white grapes are then the sole ingredient in Vino Pecorino but also used in the local Vino Falerio. They make for a typical hearty Piceno wine with an alcohol content around 14%.

The color and aroma of the wine does remind you of the cheese but this wine is strong enough to stand on its own.

A day in the piazza

Piazza del Popolo

11:00 AM

3:00 PM, riposo

7:00 PM

10:00 PM

A friend of mine had recommended awhile back while we were discussing the beauty of Ascoli Piceno that I should post a series of photos showing how the piazze change during the day. Piazza del Popolo is the heart of Ascoli Piceno and recognized by Italians as one of the most beautiful in all of Italy. Unfortunately there is not a good webcam in Ascoli Piceno but this series of photos will give you an idea of the pulse of town during a regular weekday.

Sky hook

Wool hooks

When I was in the Boy Scouts there was an innocent initiation we used to do with new members on their first camping trip. We would send them off to another troop’s campsite and tell them to ask for a “sky hook”. Of course there is no such thing but most eleven years olds didn’t know that. Ascoli Piceno has its own unique version of a “sky hook”.

As you walk around the streets and rue you will notice iron hooks sticking out from some of the buildings. Some of these have rather ornate ends to them and they all are about two feet long. I wondered what these were for until a friend of ours who is a medieval expert explained that these were used to dry wool. A wood pole was hung between two of these hooks then the wool was hung over the wood poles.

Just another reminder in Ascoli Piceno of the roots this city has to sheep and the wool trade.

Let the festivities begin...

La Quintana 2008

Today starts La Quintana in Ascoli Piceno. This summer festival pitches the sestiere of the centro storico against each other in a competition of sbandieratori, arcieri, bridge painting, costumes and two giostre. The events culminate in the Festa S. Emidio, honoring the patron saint of Ascoli Piceno the first weekend in August. As with any true Italian event there will be numerous dinners and sagre in commemoration.

The bands and sbandieratori have been practicing all year and there have been full rehearsals in Piazza Arringo for the past two weeks lasting until midnight to avoid the heat of the day. We are torn as to which sestiere we will cheer for as last year we lived in Piazzarola but this year we are in Porta Maggiore; and then there is always the under-dog S. Emidio.

There will be four weeks of nonstop activity here in Ascoli Piceno with the city filled with the sights, sounds and aromas of a truly unique event; you can’t comprehend it until you experience it yourself.

Fried Food Festival

Fritto Misto all’Italia e dal Mondo

This past week-end there was the 4^th annual Fritto Misto all’Italia e dal Mondo for four days here in Ascoli Piceno. They had record crowds; approximately 40,000 visitors packed the centro storico sampling fried specialties from various regions of Italy and four international locations.

Our friends Giorgio and Francesca came to town to sample the frito and the first night we saw a couple local friends walking through the stands set-up in Piazza Arringo. However, all of our local friends that we asked have said they did not eat at the Fritto Misto event. The consensus was that this was a good event to bring tourists to Ascoli Piceno but no reason for them to venture into the crowds. One of the things I find odd here is many locals complain there is not enough to do in this city yet for some of the major events they do not seem inclined to attend.

We enjoyed sampling specialties from several other regions. With the lack of ethnic eateries in this area we took the opportunity to also sample the international specialties on Sunday for pranzo, including some very good fish and chips from England and tempura from Japan.

I have no problem venturing into a crowd for some good fritto.

Fellow Americans in Ascoli Piceno

It is always a pleasure for us to meet others who have come to enjoy all that Ascoli Piceno has to offer and this past spring we were fortunate to meet such a family. Steve and Michelle spent a couple months here with their two children while Michelle was on sabbatical. Steve had found this blog on the internet and they contacted us soon after arriving and we were able to give them some tips on life here.

They lived in an apartment in our area of the centro storico and seemed to fully enjoy immersing themselves into the Italian lifestyle. Michelle has family roots in this part of Marche and has an obvious passion for her homeland. I think Steve was a little leery of what their adventure here had to offer when they arrived but he quickly adjusted and I believe truly enjoyed the pace of life.

Madeleine and Henry enrolled in the local schools and quickly became the resident experts in their respective English classes. Through them we learned new insights into the Italian educational system; not that it is better or worse, just different.

We were fortunate to be able to spend some time with the four of them and it was always a pleasure; enjoying an aperitivo, pizza or just strolling together through the centro storico. By the time they left this week they had some experiences we have not had in our two years here. We look forward to when they can return to Ascoli Piceno, if not just for a short vacation.

The best way to enjoy our area

Vacation Rentals in Marche

If you are looking to visit southern Marche to enjoy all that this wonderful region of Italy has to offer we have two projects that can help to make your trip the most enjoyable. Our love of the Ascoli Piceno area led us to set-up Panorama Italy Tours which are targeted to those who want to experience the best of this area. We know the local cantine, specialty food producers and the hill towns as well as our home town of Ascoli Piceno. Whether you are looking for a half-day walking tour in the centro storico of Ascoli Piceno or want to see and taste all that the area has to offer be sure to visit Panorama Italy Tours.

If you already know this area or have family connections and are just looking for a place to stay for a week then be sure to visit Vinci Properties to see the list of vacation rentals that are offered. I work closely with Vinci Properties in all aspects of their rental properties and have personally inspected many of these listings. There are homes in the countryside with pools and apartments in historic hill towns overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

These resources can make your first, or next trip to beautiful Marche a unique experience.

I can't see for the trees

If only I had a chain saw.

It is not that I am against trees; I am an Eagle Scout and fully enjoy the forest and the animals that inhabit that domain. I have spent countless days and nights enjoying the wilds of the American West under magnificent trees and starlit skies. But sometimes removing a tree or two can be a good thing.

Ascoli Piceno has a good sized hill that rises above the city and this location would provide beautiful vistas of the medieval city below…if it weren’t for the trees. Since we moved here we have gone to several locations to try and get a good view of the city but each new promising place is blocked by trees. Some of these just need a good trimming and the view would be fantastic - the city could sell tickets to tourists. Maybe even make enough money to plant a few more trees.

A friend of ours, an Italian-American who has a house nearby, explained that in Italy there are laws against cutting trees, even on your own property. You are required to obtain permission for any tree cutting. However as with any permit process in Italy, many people just cut down the trees they want removed and then pay the fine that is imposed.

Given the problems of this past summer with forest fires Italy may need to seriously rethink some of her forest management strategies and allow for tree cutting.

There is nothing like the smell of fresh cut wood!

The popular names are...

The comune published the population statistics for Ascoli Piceno for 2007 and the comune grew from 51,503 to 51,629 people. Not a big growth spurt! There were slightly more women than men.

The most common names for babies in 2007 were Alessandro for the boys and Aurora for the girls. Reflecting the immigrant population the comune made sure they pointed out that there was also a spattering of oriental and mid-eastern names.