punditalia.net
Acqualoreto
The village has been affected by the coronavirus much like everywhere else. Both the Circolo and La Cruccola, our local restaurant, were shut down in March 2020. Both have reopened in June with safety restrictions. At the Circolo, service is extended to members in the piazza but entry to the bar is restricted to members who enter to buy drinks etc, but so far not for indoor social gathering.
The entrance to the main art exhibition in 2016, with "Caravaggio" by Gennaro Grisci and CD gufo by Mauro Martini.
The Terziere Fraporta di Narni performing on stage.
Acqualoreto, home of Punditalia, is a small relatively well preserved medieval village situated on a hill over the Tiber Valley between Todi and Orvieto in the Comune of Baschi. The number of residents is officially about 200, which is a little more than the 150 that lived here in 1290, but considerably less than the 500 residents in 1551, or the peak of 885 when it became a part of Baschi, early in the 20° Century. The real size of the population is extremely elastic, since some residents leave for the winter and when the weather turns warm, uncounted summer residents and their guests flock in from Rome and all over the world. Most of the local folk are stone masons, farmers or retirees, while the summer influx consists largely of writers, painters, professors, journalists, actors, teachers, musicians and miscellaneous professionals and intellectuals, along with many former residents who left for the big cities decades ago. Thus, a village, which can appear to be a ghost town in the damp, cold, foggy days of January, comes fully to life in July and August.
In addition to a couple of bed & breakfasts in the village, a number of people in town rent their houses, or parts of them, for stays of a week or more. Most of them have swimming pools. If you'd like to stay in the area, I suggest that you google "Acqualoreto" to see what's available.
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In most years the Acqualoreto summer festival extends from August 10th through August 15th. It always starts with the traditional big supper in the piazza, Cena sotto le Stelle, on the 10th and ends with fireworks on August 15th. Food is available in the piazza throughout the festa. Other events include a mercatino and a show of art works by many of the artists living in the area. Some are shown on this page. Most years, there is a theatrical production by Gli Instabili di Acqualoreto, directed by Francesca Attilianese, although there were no performances in 2019, 2020, 2021 or 2022 due to the pandemic wiping out our the festa. 2016's production, L'Anfora, was well enough received that we were asked to do a repeat performance five days later in Collelungo. We're hoping to be back on stage in 2023.
The Malina Brothers Band, the bluegrass group from the Czech Republic, has appeared here a number of times over the past decade and we're always happy to see them return, as they have many friends and fans in the area. 
Two of the Malina brothers are seen here in 2014 performing in Morruzze.
The Circolo- Following years of negative growth which saw the closing of the pharmacy, the general store and the local Post Office, the residents of Acqualoreto got together to form the Circolo Ricreativo di Acqualoreto to provide for the organization of the summer festival in August and lesser events throughout the year, as well as to provide a bar where members can socialize. The Circolo Bar is open to whoever wishes to join, and while most members are local Italian residents, the membership, which I believe went over 250 in recent years, includes people living part of the year everywhere from Dublin to Sydney and Capetown to Santa Monica, citizens from more than twelve countries other than Italy. At the regular Wednesday afternoon International Happy Hours, foreign residents and visitors congregate to celebrate being in such a wonderful place. Although our winter month attendance is generally sparse, on summer Wednesdays, more than thirty people sometimes show up, the leading contingents being from Ireland and Holland, while we're seeing more and more people from Australia and New Zealand.
The Circolo is maintained by its modest membership fees and also receives financial support from the Comune of Baschi. Newcomers and visitors are urged to support the Circolo by joining, or if you are already a member from years past, by paying your dues for the calender year. Thank you.
Acqualoreto is one of the villages in the Township (Comune) of Baschi. The town of Baschi is 24 km away but has its own attractions
The Municipal Building seen from the main piazza.
The main church of Baschi.
Newsletters of the Circolo have been sent out to everyone who has visited our Happy Hours and signed the guest book. Back numbers of the newsletters can be seen here.
Newsletter # 11
Osteria la Cruccola has been around since 2004, when Neysa Forbicioni, a native of Acqualoreto, former teacher and member of the Town Council, decided to open a small restaurant. It was named in honor of a local woman who had lived in a house owned by the Forbicioni family, and who had been very attached to Neysa and her sisters. On Ferragosto, 2019, Neysa turned the restaurant over to a young couple, Gemma and Giulio, who ran the restaurant until the corona virus forced its closing. In 2022 the restaurant reopened under another Giulio and through the summer months the restaurant has been open for four or five evenings a week as well as for lunch on weekends by reservation.
At present La Cruccola has shut down operarations for the winter. We hope to see a well organized reopening in the spring.
Pictures below are from the fest of 2016.
Kids emerge from the workshop with their newly created works.
Children's painting transferred to their gallery.
Paolo Patrigniani and one of his students entertain in an internal courtyard of the village with virtuoso jazz and rock guitar.
Laura Cannapa's work above the list of artists.
Painting clockwise from top left by Rosemary Luckhurst, Roberto Banfi Rossi, Cecilia Piersigilli, Luisa Fagioli, Janet Strayer and Danilo Donati.
Works by Jim Karlovich, Paul Russotto, Severina Creste, Graziano Marini and Gennaro Grisci. To the left, the entrance to the photo gallery.
The photo gallery with photographs by Keith McGregor, Ruth Gruber, Brian Luckhurst and Juliette Barge.
Work by Piersigilli, Fagioli, Sandro di Mattia and others.
A painting by Daniela Pasti above.
Don't forget Happy Hour at the Circolo, every Wednesday at 18:00, moved up to 17:00 in the cold months of standard time.