Italy’s traditional Epiphany celebration includes the tale of a white-haired witch known as “La Befana” who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones.
Continue Reading Add comment December 19th, 2009
Most of the pottery known as Tuscan pottery or Florentine pottery is actually made in Montelupo Fiorentino–a beautiful little village of approximately 11,000 which is located about 10 miles from Florence. Montelupo Fiorentino was one of the most important Italian ceramic centers in Italy during the Renaissance and immediately after and has seen a revival of its ceramic industry during the last 10 years. Our Toscana Collection of Tuscan pottery is made in a family-run studio in Montelupo Fiorentino.
Continue Reading 1 comment March 25th, 2009
On our buying trips to Europe for PoggiBonsiGifts.com we are very privileged to take time to experience the local flavor. Last year, while exploring French pottery studios in Provence, we stayed one memorable night in Chateauneuf du Pape. We were envisioning that our gourmet group at home was green with envy especially our two delightful wine experts Tracy Codd and Scott (Herr) Schumacher. Here’s to Tracy and Scott!
Add comment February 13th, 2009
Roberto made some suggestions as to the perfect restaurant for our luncheon. He explained the specialities, wine selections and locations of each possible venue at length, then raised an eyebrow and said, “Or perhaps you would like to dine at an osteria in Radda that is owned by ‘una strega’ who makes an excellent bistecca di Fiorentina.”
“‘Una strega,’ a witch in Radda?” We certainly can’t pass up this adventure–Florentine beefsteak served up by a Tuscan witch. “Yes, yes, we want to go there! Is she really a witch?”
Continue Reading Add comment January 8th, 2009
Our friend and loyal customer Shawn (a.k.a. “Princpessa”) enjoys writing about daily events, family adventures, vacations and travel, her three well-behaved children and her favorite subject, her husband. She lived in France with her family for a year in 2001-2002 and her misadventures of speaking the language and day-to-day living in a foreign country are legendary. All of her stories are true with no embellishments, additives or preservatives. It is Shawn’s hope, after reading her stories, that you realize you don’t suffer the misfortunes of your spouse’s or children’s bad behavior on your own.
We would like to share one of Shawn’s adventures with you…
Continue Reading Add comment January 6th, 2009
by Candace Sheehan
As appeared in the Seattle Times, November 16, 2008
When my husband and I returned from living in Italy for the past year, we knew we had an experience of a lifetime. We studied Italian for a year, we read everything we could get our hands on about Italian culture, what documents we would need to have, and prepared for whatever a new life there would bring and what we could give back to Italy as expats living there.
We lived in the small hilltown of Montefalco, which in located in the Umbria region of Italy, known as the Green Heart of Italy. It seemed perfect for two people from the Pacific Northwest, and we have fallen in love with this area of Italy for a long time.
Continue Reading Add comment November 17th, 2008
August 15 is a holiday in Italy, Ferragosto, or Assumption Day. The holiday celebrates the assumption of Mary into Heaven. Almost the entire month of August is taken as holiday and leisure time in Italy in honor of this feast day. Italians take time away from work, visit sea-side resorts, and celebrate with festivals, food and, of course, wine!
Continue Reading Add comment August 2nd, 2008
Thanks to the generosity of Emmanuele Bizzarri and Caffe Umbria, who contributed the extra costs of sending the Marvin Oliver sculpture, “Sister Orca,” to Seattle’s sister city, Perugia, Italy.
Continue Reading Add comment June 8th, 2008
Seattle is sister city to Perugia which is the capital of Umbria; a region in central Italy between Tuscany and Le Marche. Perugia is not far from Deruta the world-famous Italian ceramic village where many of our Italian ceramics are made. The Seattle-Perugia sister city association encourages educational, cultural, commercial and personal exchanges.
Continue Reading Add comment May 24th, 2008
We have logged many miles on the winding roads of central Italy in our search for the perfect products for our web site www.poggibonsigifts.com. We often get tips from other suppliers or people we meet in restaurants or shops. Sometimes these tips lead to something wonderful and other times they lead to a dead end. It took us two years and a few dead ends to find an olive wood supplier.
Continue Reading Add comment April 23rd, 2008
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