The last Mosaico Sonoro and the earthquake fundraiser

Last night was the last of eight free nights of music in the piazza, Mosaico Sonoro. These are financed by the local traders and businesses and the range of music this year has been quite wide. Last night's entertainment was a classical group named Liricamente.

The two photos below were taken by Aldo. 

Due to the sad news of the death and destruction caused by the earthquake, it was decided to make last night's event a fundraiser. You can see the collection box by the fountain. Panicale is only a small village but it is quite busy with tourists at present so combined it was good to read that 1070 euros ( about A$1650 ) was raised for the appeal.

The Treasure of San Sebastiano in Panicale

The Church of Saint Sebastian in Panicale has an art treasure on its walls; a large fresco by  the greatest Umbrian Renaissance painter Pietro Vannucci, known as Il Perugino. Entitled 'The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian', it was painted in 1505. San Sebastiano was a Roman soldier who was attacked by his former comrades after he converted to Christianity. He is always depicted in art with arrows in him, sometimes just one but often a large number. I love his serene look in this depiction .

Note the local landscape behind, Lago Trasimeno and the surrounding hills.

For the next eight weeks they have an extended collection on display entitled ' The Treasure of San Sebastiano' which includes other art, manuscripts and sacred furnishings and vestments from the church's archives.

A fresco from another of the old village churches has been lifted from the wall, restored and placed in San Sebastiano for preservation. It was thought to be another Il Perugino however more modern techniques and references have ascribed the work to Raphael, who was a student of Il Perugino. Entitled 'The Madonna Enthroned with Angels', the detail is extremely beautiful.

This tempura on board ' Adoration of the Magi'  is entirely different to the other works yet intriguingly worth a long look. The photo does not do it justice at all. It is a modern work, 1982-84, but unfortunately I cannot remember the artist.

The exhibition includes manuscripts, votives and a relic. Fascinating old stuff!

An earthquake in Umbria

Another side to today (Wednesday 24 August) is the sad news that an earthquake over night has killed 159 people and left large numbers either homeless or with severe damage to their towns. This 6.2 magnitude earthquake centred on Norcia has caused severe damage to four villages but was felt as far away as Naples and Bologna. We are only about 90 kms direct line from Norcia and it was felt here in Panicale and Macchie.

I was woken during the night by a lot of movement and blamed Kelly, he later blamed me for tossing around. At 3.45 I got up and shut the outside door because I felt unaccountably uncomfortable.

This morning we discovered that an earthquake had rocked Umbria at 3.36am and that locals had run out of their houses as they knew what was happening. Being unaware of these things we learned about it from our many friends enquiring after us on Facebook, email and Skype. Thank you all for caring about our safety.

The loss of lives is very sad, as is the loss of communities. We have noticed that after previous earthquakes these ancient towns are often not repaired or able to be repaired.
Relocation must be a very unhappy option for many. 

Thursday:

Sadly the the death toll has risen, possibly as high as 237.

Tonight's music in the piazza, the last for the season, is to be a fundraiser for the village and people of Amatrice. I have often mentioned that Panicale is a designated Most Beautiful Village in Italy, and apparently Amatrice also had this designation. As an article on the web said, in two minutes it was all gone. Also of interest, amatriciana pasta sauce gets its name from the village of Amatrice and this coming week-end was to be their amatriciana festival.

From this morning's Corriere del Umbria - Earthquake deaths and damage fundraiser.

As always in tragic situations like this we see the good side of humanity. Rescue workers, blood donors, fundraising events, donations by nations, groups and individuals.

Lunch at Locanda Manfredi in Paciano

Today we had a superb lunch at Locanda Manfredi in Paciano, just over the hill from Panicale. The experience was one of perfect delight on a gorgeous day with wonderful views from the terrace, absolutely stunning food and a most generous and congenial host. A few moments with the chef and the resident dog added to the fun.

The menu is welcomingly smaller than many but includes quite original dishes so choosing was a satisfying experience.

These beautiful pasta dishes were so delicious, we could have gone away happy at that stage. Kelly had a semolina pasta stuffed with local purple potato, pecorino cheese and mint. My strozzapreti 'priest strangler' pasta with pesto, small potato pieces, green beans and pine nuts was beyond description gorgeous!

We followed the pasta with chianina beef with rocket, tomatoes and those gorgeous local purple potatoes again. Kelly had beef slices whereas as I had beef strips (as pictured).

This pattern on the table is the sun shining through the vino rosso glass.

A couple of contented retirees!

Back to the Oasi

We were hoping for better bird watching opportunities in the morning at the Oasi at San Savino but the wind was quite strong on the lake and there were very few birds about. The water level had fallen but not enough to allow us to go on the boardwalk. Still we had an enjoyable morning out.

Coming home we were able to stop to look at these sunflowers. Obviously a different breed to those mentioned yesterday as these are much shorter and in full flower now. It will be some weeks before they are harvested.

A Bountiful time in Umbria

Late summer is a bountiful time here in Umbria. Tavernelle market had many bargains in deliciously ripe fruit. These peaches were 4 kg for 5 euros, that's about A$1.90 per kg.

The home gardeners and market gardens are picking their extra sweet tomatoes because it is sugo time. Time for the tradition of getting together and preparing the tomatoes into tomato sauce to be used for pasta and other winter meals throughout the coming year. Our friend Katia tells us that her family makes about 200 bottles of tomato sugo each year.

In the last couple of weeks the lucerne has all been cut and baled and the bales carted away. After some rain last week the lucerne fields are looking green and already producing another cut.

I have been watching the sunflowers as many of them have turned brown. Yesterday morning the big harvester had arrived in the field quite near our house. By evening the crop was all cut, and this morning we see that the stems have been ploughed into the soil and all is ready for another crop.

The grape harvest is not far off as can be seen by looking at the grapes.

We are keeping our eyes on the figs too because they are nearly ready and figs and prosciutto are just as delicious as melon and prosciutto.

The olives still have until October before they are picked but they are filling out and the locals will be hoping for a good season. We are situated on the 'Strada dell' Olio, extra virgine d' oliva DOP "Umbria," one of the prime olive oil producing areas in Italy.

Bountiful perfectly describes the applause received by tonight's artists at the Musica Insieme concert at the Sbarra. Christian Schmitt, renowned oboist and Alessandra Gentile on pianoforte, gave us a magnificent  night's entertainment, one that won't be forgotten easily. The applause led to many curtain calls and an encore, it is amazing to think that we can see artists and entertainment of this calibre for free or a small donation.