Today (July 10) the kids spent the morning in the pool at the villa while Paul and I went on a hike. It took us 45 minutes to go up Monte Penna (which translates roughly to feather in the cap.) We started at the villa, walked past the road that brings you to the center of town, and followed the path up, up and up. The road was rocky and vertical, we passed the town cemetery (which were all above ground mausoleums) and signs requesting that people do not pick the mushrooms, asparagus and other items “of the soil” while walking the trail. At the peak there was a small shrine to the virgin Mary with flowers and someone left a note of prayers as well. The view was spectacular – 360 degree view of the Umbrian countryside including Lake Trasimeno. Took about 20 minutes to walk back down, and then we took a dip in the pool before lunch.

This afternoon we went to the city of Perugia which is about a 15 minute drive from the villa. We parked at the bottom of the hill, and took the mini metro several stops to get into the center of town. The kids loved the individual train cars that zip up the mountain with such frequency. Like a little roller coaster.

The Umbria jazz festival is happening this week in Perugia with Sting closing out the event the day after we leave. There is music on every block and the kids enjoyed a parade of musicians down the main street.

We did some shopping in the city center (a Furla bag for me, Benetton clothes for the kids, and more Stefanel purchases since their 50% off sale started a few days ago.) While relaxing outside the Brufani Hotel, we met Enrico Rava, a famous Italian jazz trumpeter. Papa told him about the time he saw him perform in Montreal, and Mr. Rava was very sweet with the kids. We saw his pictures on the wall in a nearby cafe next to Carlos Santana and other musicians.

There are a lot of middle eastern restaurants near the duomo serving baklava, khadayif, and one was named Kebab Ararat so I went to talk with the guy behind the counter. He was Turkish, not Armenian, asked where we were from, and had no idea where Boston was, so I told him we were from New York. He was out of khadayif, so he gave us three baklava on the house.

After dinner, we took the mini metro out of Perugia, and then drove back to Monte Melino….another successful day!

Food report:
Grandma made us a frittata with peppers and onions and sauted some eggplant and green peppers, all from Lino’s garden. We also had a salumi plate, some delicious fruit and dined on the shaded patio of the villa. The kids had cherry tomatoes, cream cheese sandwiches, and bananas with nutella. It was a lunch without our friends, the ants, since Lino sprayed again for us.

Phenomenal afternoon gelato at Augusta Perusia Ciocolata in Perugia where we enjoyed “after eight,” chocolate mousse, dark chocolate, lemon, caramel, amarena and zuppa inglese.

A glass of prosecco, a beer for Paul, and lemon slushies for the kids, plus a cup of fruit and a huge slice of watermelon for the kids to keep everyone happy before dinner.

Dinner in Perugia at Al Mangiar Bene…very good. The bread was very dense and flavorful unlike the Tuscan bread that we’ve been having which is without salt or leavening agents in it. Paul and Papa each devoured a Pizza Perugina (Both with sausage, but Paul’s with buffalo mozzarella vs regular mozzarella) and Paul repeatedly exclaimed that it was one of the best pizzas of his life. My gnocchi with chinagale (boar) was good, and I ate the entire plate, but I’ve had better gnocchi. Miss M loved her pizza margherita, and Grandmas panzanella salad was a bit odd with breadcrumbs in the salad versus pieces of bread as we expected. We had an antipasto plate, and an insalate caprese which was a winner because of the buffalo mozzarella. The wine was Grechetto Colli Martani – DiFilippo 2011 – which was excellent. Only issue was the heat. They had air conditioning, but maybe it was because the place was crowded or the pizza oven churning out pizzas at a rapid pace, but we were very warm in there.