Celebrating the Mediterranean lifestyle one delicious dish at a time.
Keli and Janet are heading to Italy in 2017 for a week of creative play, glorious food, wine, and adventure. Art Affair in Umbria: June 10-17, 2017 SOLD OUT! Nurture your mind, body and spirit with Poggi Bonsi owner, Keli Sim DeRitis, and her teaching partner, Janet Crawley, in the green heart of Italy. Our home for the …
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.
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.
One of the many perks of our job as importers is the opportunity to meet people from other countries and cultures. Every time we’re in Italy we must go through the region of Umbria to the all-important ceramic town of Deruta, near Perugia–the sister city of Seattle, and each time the story reads differently.
We were on our first visit to Montefalco to meet with a new Italian linen supplier–Montefalco, Italy is a majestic Umbrian hill town often referred to as the “la ringhiera dell’Umbria” which is translated to mean “the balcony of Umbria”. The town has a rich history in weaving Jacquard linens which we were anxious to add to our European Linen Collection.
It’s the question many a puzzled Italian has asked of us when they hear the name of our import business. We happily reply that it’s because the name is so “musicale” and fun to say!