Carleen's travel blog: Giorno Cinque

Last night’s festival was surreal. There were three teams of drummers competing, all in medieval dress. The coordination and practice required must have taken hundreds of hours. My team won.

Today we went to Todi where they were having their own medieval festival, complete with more drums and a parade of hundreds of people in medieval costumes. Now I know who makes those costumes in the back of the pattern magazines. They were beautiful. There was also a group with falcons and owls. The market had a number of purveyors of cheese, sausage and truffle products and everyone was offering a free sample, The view from the city was breathtaking.

Tonight’s dinner was fish in foil that was so delicious - served over a crust of thinly sliced potatoes with capes, olives and tomatoes.

We learned a lot from our guide today. Spaghetti and meatballs is an American invention since the Italians do not eat that much meat with their pasta. Spaghetti bolongese is inaccurate because spaghetti is a southern Italian food and Bolognese is a northern Italian sauce. It would be paperdelle or tagliatelle. In the north, they make pasta with eggs, in the south just with their softer flour. Lasagna is only made with bechamel sauce, not ricotta.

Weirdest thing we saw on TV was Diners, Drive In’s and Dives in Italian. They have Guy Fiere dubbed in. There is also a potato chip like snack called Wackos.

Sorry about no photos. Will have to wait until I get back.