Auguri a me! Today is another bloghiversario– blog anniversary.  I feel like we just celebrated 10 years of Un po’ di pepe and now it’s 12! In numerology, Dodici (doh•DEE•chee), 12 is associated with perfection, completeness, and cosmic order. Good things for the coming year! The word dodici comes from the Latin duodecim, meaning 2 + 10.  In Greek it is similar-dodeka. In English, twelve comes from the Old English twelf, a combo of twa (2) and lif (left).  ‘2 left’ also means 10 + 2.  The Roman numeral is XII.

12 is a natural # and is important in many cultural and spiritual contexts.  It is used a lot in measurement and timekeeping because can be divided by 1, 2, 3 , 4, 6 and 12.  So we have….12 zodiac signs, 12 disciples, 12 months in a year, 12 inches in a foot, 12 hours on the face of a clock, 12 ribs in the average human, the 12 days of Christmas, 12 peers in a jury.  60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 24 hours are all divisable by 12.  The colour wheel has 12 hues, 3 primary colours (red, yellow, blue), 3 secondary colours (orange, green and purple) and 6 tertiary colours.  In both footballs (soccer and American football), the ‘Twelfth Man’ refers to the fans supporting the 11 players on the field.  Apparently there are no players with jersey #12.

As usual, I attempted to write more posts this past year.  It did not happen, but the intention was there!  Out of 14 posts, 7 were about Roma.  I attended a family wedding in Roma in July.  You can read about the location in Santa Maria in Aracoeli. I was able to see the Caravaggio exhibit for the Giubileo 2025, and also to visit Caravaggio’s painted ceiling at Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi. Roma’s waterworks were featured in Acqua Vergine , Fontana di Trevi and Nasoni di Roma.  I ate like an Ancient Roman in Hostaria Antica Roma.  A trip to the mysterious Castel del Monte was a highlight. Since I spent 6 weeks in Orsara di Puglia, with my parents, everyone keeps asking me ‘what did you DO in a small town for so long?’  I meant to write a post about Estate Orsarese...it will get written soon.  I am going for 7 weeks this year.

In a few weeks, i am off to Italia.  I will be attending the 20th Biennial AICW Conference in Viterbo.  Viterbo, in Lazio, is 1½ hours north of Roma.  Known as the city of popes, Viterbo was the seat of the Papacy in the 13th century and also known for its thermal springs, the ‘Terme dei Papi’. 

At the conference, I will be reading from the wine anthology I contributed to, ‘A Literary Harvest‘.  In case you want to read it, last year for my compleanno, I published my piece in a bilingual post In Vino there are Memories /Nel Vino ci sono Ricordi.  The anthology makes a great gift for the vino lover in your life-purchase information is in both posts.

I will also be going back to Firenze and Lucca. Yeah!  I will be home for 5 weeks, then back to Orsara to accompany my parents!  I might bring my laptop with me, so it will be easier to write while there.  Stay tuned for upcoming posts about summer in small town Italia, gelato, and other interesting stuff.

Follower #500 happened some time this year, but I lost track and didn’t notice! If you change email addresses, don’t forget to resubscribe to continue receiving notifications of new posts.  I usually post on facebook, but because the algorithms suck, you are likely to miss them.

For quite a few years, the internet kept saying ‘Blogs are dead’, ‘nobody reads blogs any more’ etc.  Well…it seems that blogs are making a comeback in 2026-and it is mostly thanks to AI!  I know that sounds like a contradictory statement, but it is true.  With all the AI generated crap flooding the internet, actual human writing with personal, lived experience is now more valuable than ever.  And AI knows it!  Chat GPT is sending me readers.  I think i have to write a post about this, as it is getting me all excited.

April 25th is also La Festa della Liberazione d’Italia, the anniversary of the liberation of Italia from Fascist occupation in 1945.  It has been a national holiday since 1946.  Viva la libertà!  I need to write about the 3 badass gun wielding partigiane (female partisans) in this photo next year.

Grazie to all of you for taking the time to read, comment, send messages and especially for giving me an excuse to share my images and research and write about things that interest me!   You know….’Devo fare ricerca per il blog’ (I need to do research for my blog) is my reason to do all the things I want to do! If you have any suggestions for future posts or just want to say ‘ciao‘, leave me a comment.

To those who discovered the blog more recently or visit occasionally, Benvenuto!  Find out more by reading ‘Perché questo blog?/Why write a blog?’, ‘About me/Chi sono’ and my bilingual interview with Silvia L’Intervista con Silvia.

Grazie a tutti i lettori di ‘Un po’ di pepe’ per continuare a leggere e per avermi dato una scusa per usare le foto che ho scattato e per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono. Ormai posso usare la scusa ‘devo fare ricerca per il blog’ per tutto quello che voglio fare. Lasciatemi un messaggio se avete delle idee per un post o se semplicemente volete dire ‘ciao’.

Per chi ha scoperto il blog più di recente o lo visita occasionalmente, Benvenuto! Scopri di più leggendo ‘Perché questo blog?/Why write a blog?’, ‘About me/Chi sono’ e l’intervista bilingue L’Intervista con Silvia.

Ciao, Cristina

Grazie mille to Isabella for the birthday cupcake!