ANOTHER WEEK - ANOTHER SAGRA!

Yes, this is summer in Umbria, where every week brings another sagra - or two or three. Originally sagras were festivals to celebrate the arrival of a seasonal fruit or vegetable, or a dish specific to the area. Now there are sagras for everything - there's a sagra for Nutella, even for tequila! and for every type of food imaginable. Villa San Faustino, just south of us, celebrates summer with a "Sagra del Buon Mangiare" - a celebration of good eating!




Our friends Milena and Marco had invited us to the festa when we saw them at Larry and Shelly's 4th of July picnic, and had specifically told us to come on Thursday when a play would be the evening's entertainment. Although Milena was the one born in San Faustino, her husband Marco would be in the play. They warned us that there would be lots of dialect, so we probably wouldn't understand what was being said, but we still thought it would be fun.

After some prosecco and cheese at Larry and Shelly's we headed to Villa San Faustino, which is just off the E45 at the Massa Martana exit. It's known for it's bottled water, sourced from a spring since 1894. It's a tiny village but they put on a great festa! The antipasto plate was great,





and the stinco di maiale was fallin' off the bone tender! Marco told us it's marinated for two days, then slow-roasted for four hours! It was delicious!



After dinner we walked down to the outdoor theater for the play. No, we didn't understand much, the dialog was very fast paced, but we were very impressed with the acting. The play was a comedy and the audience seemed to really enjoy it. It involved a family, their uncle who had returned to Italy from the United States, and a baron. The mother was trying to fix up her daughter with the baron, and there were many plays on words, which of course we didn't understand. Despite the language barrier it was still a fun night with friends!