While it's easy to idealize a "nonna" cooking for the kids in a bucolic kitchen, rural realities were different.

Participating in a grape harvest is great way to meet people, break a sweat (and bread), and pick up delicious recipes.

Celebrity chef creativity is fine. Calling Italian dishes Italian when they're personal twists is not.

The joy of Umbria isn't merely art and nature, but craftsmen who make even little things ornate, including paper.

First, a trip to flowery Spello; later, zucchini and raisins cooked up to celebrate.

Every year, April brings false spring to Umbria. The real thing is happening now.

A cook's trip annual trip to the United States produces joy and stirs memories.

What, you ask, is the role of the Tiber in Umbria. The answer was once in the region's flour.

The author's Sicilian mother worked to prove her dignity in a time when most Italian women stayed at home.

Italy's best oranges come from Sicily, and until recently the northward trek was rare.

For those who can't stand big-store Christmas shopping, try the artisanal alternative — and then make cookies.