Have a look around. Public signboards throughout our paese will display announcements for current events and seasonal feste or sagri, the local celebrations for anything from a town's Patron Saint to a freshly-dug truffle. Most last for 2-3 days and include vendor stalls, exhibits, handicrafts, food and drink, music or theater performances, games and children's activities, costumed Medieval or Renaissance reenactments, and leisurely multi-course dinners followed by dancing or other entertainment. This is the way to get to know the locals and create some treasured memories of your time here. Packaged tours and big cities simply can't compete.

Yearly events of particular interest in Anghiari include the spring artisanal crafts faire (April), the "Palio di Victory" footrace and costumed celebration of the Battle of Anghiari, 1440 (June 29), the summer music and theater festivals (August is packed with events, but the locals will have "closed shop" and gone to the sea), the early November food festival (Cento Gusti di Apennines), San Martino (bringoli pasta festival in mid-November) and the indescribable Scampanata, held throughout the month of May every 5 years (2010, 2015, etc.). A good calendar of local events, as well as more information about our town, is available at Anghiari's web site: www.anghiari.it.

Tourist offices in Anghiari and Sansepolcro (where English is spoken) will provide suggestions, maps, guidebooks and itineraries for hiking, art and architecture, and information on special events for the period of your visit.

Anghiari is especially well known for its art and music schools, and its well-earned expertise in antique restoration, furniture building and historic pottery making. There is a wide range of shops in town, including the world-famous fabric designer and manufacturer, Busatti, and Ravagni, our local olive oil producer, which stocks its own oils, soaps and Vin Santo, as well as gourmet items from other vendors. Their labs or factories can be visited by appointment, as can nearby wineries, cheese factories, artists and antique restorers.

There are banks, bankomats, pharmacies, food and vegetable stores and weekly markets, restaurants, butchers, hairdressers, an internet point, museums, antiques, art and jewelry galleries, and a variety of excellent coffeshop/bars to start or end your days. Daily newspapers, including a selection in English, can be bought from the local edicole, or magazine stands, which also offer office and school supplies, children's toys and recent books. In addition to their namesake products, tobacco shops also carry prepaid phone cards, stamps and postcards, and most will handle your lottery bets (Buon fortuna!) through a complicated system based on the calcio (Italian football) standings, or simple scratch-off cards to test your luck.

There is plenty to do within Anghiari, and you can spend a week or more here without ever feeling the need to leave town. (Your Doctor and therapist will notice the difference, and your blood pressure and stress levels will drop noticibly. Don't forget the well-documented medicinal benefits of red wine—we usually have plenty of local varieties available). However, we chose this location to remodel and offer our apartments because it is centrally located to many of Italy's most sought after tourist destinations, and they can be reached easily without having to repack your suitcases or move.

Our favorite activity during most of the year is to select a late afternoon table on the outside terrace at Bar Garibaldi and relax with an aperitivo or glass of wine (and free snacks, provided by your bello hosts, Gennaro and Claudia), while the world of Anghiari practices its leisurely passeggiata, the traditional ritual walk about town to greet friends and neighbors, catch up on local news and gossip, start a loud and gesture-filled discussion about sports or money or celebrities (rarely politics), and plan for the evening meal.

For travel suggestions outside Anghiari, visit our page on LOCATION, or consult your map, guidebook or the web for information on our neighboring villages—Monterchi, Ponte al Piera, Caprese di Michelangelo, Sansepolcro, Pieve Santo Stefano, Monte S. Maria Tiberina—all are only minutes away, and offer hours of exploration and cultural activities. For most of the year, only your overnight trips and the bigger cities will require advance reservations for trains, hotels and galleries. Your planning can be done "spur-of-the-moment," based on your own daily discoveries and accomplishments.

While here, follow the local philosophy of letting life and today's experiences guide you to your next ones, and don't rely too much on a predetermined or ironclad schedule of "must dos" that you prepared in advance. Italy has a way of overruling those, just for fun. Relax, enjoy what comes your way (even if it's an unexpected train strike in an unknown town—they still have red wine while you wait, right?), and you'll be a happy traveler and return home with a pocketful of interesting stories to tell.