A very Happy Easter to all from us here at Bellaugello.  Last night I noticed the video selection was raided as guys settled in for lazy evenings with silly film.

Today Umbria is misty and magical, I so adore it this way, the greens become more alive and verdant, clouds hang low and mist shrouds the Chiascio valley, clinging to the woodlands and swirling across the fields to rest as puffs of cotton wool on the hilltops, the quiet punctuated by birdsong.  Here at Bellaugello Gay Guest House we seem to be on top of the world.  Umbria once called the ‘land of saints and hermits’, certainly seems that way this morning,   a day of rest and relaxation

I have just readied breakfast, laid out on our old family table in our dining room; For Easter our usual selection of home-made  jams and preserves, honey form the farm, local pecorino cheese and cold meats, together with home-made bread and cakes, we celebrate Easter with a ‘Colomba’ the delightful rich sweet sugary almondy cake traditional to Italy at Eastertime, this one from the finest bakery in Gubbio.  Also on the table is a ‘Crescia di Pasqua’ a local speciality bread baked in the shape of a Panettone but instead filled with cheese, it is so scrummy when toasted….

And of course there are chocolate Easter eggs and hard-boiled eggs with a selection of coloured pencils ready to be coloured by the guys ready to take to Pratale for the traditional egg-rolling games prior to lunch of new season organic lamb and potatoes roasted in their wood fired oven.

Tonight Beau and I are cooking dinner here at Bellaugello.  We have wonderful large leaved sage plants in the garden, so will coat them with a light batter and fry them until crispy, a good appetiser prior to our truffled lasagne, which will be followed by roast quails, and home-made apple pie, undoubtedly with some good grappa…

Indeed a day of celebration and feasting…