Sabina's activity

Wow....what a question!  There are just so many of them!  Given me a few days and I'll try and come up with some of the best:there are however two websites that tell you whats happening "now":  www.sabinainfesta.it  and www.gosabina.comwww.sabina.it also gives info about some of the individual towns etc...some of which have been translated into English - but much is in Italian only. Inevitably most of the sagras are food related...local villages famous for a particular type of pasta and sauce...or mushrooms, or oil but there are others...medieval jousts, processions in costume etc etc...

Its called Terminillo....they have been investing in it recently with a few more lifts and a snow machine (or two?) but I doubt it would offer enough choice of pistes for a week's holiday etc - but for a weekend or day., just to get the skis on - more than adequate.  Lots of Roman's head off there on a Sat or Sunday...and I think it has just extended the ski pass area too. For more info, just google Terminillo and they have several sites all about it

Yes, it really is unspoilt...driving around the countryside, especially in the hills it seems impossible that Rome is only about 60 km away...and given that it is only a 20 min detour off the Rome - Florence motorway it still amazes me that it has remained such a secret!  I am sure that if you asked 100 people born and bred in Milan where Sabina was, most would look blank and at best, say somehwere near Rome.

Yes...this is the place!  According to local legend, the reason Romulus chose these women over those from othe nearby tribes was that they had a reputation for being great cooks!  Also interesting (well, I think!) is that in Italian they refer to the "ratto" rather than the rape of the Sabines...which actually translates, more or less, as kidnapping with a view to marriage...so perhaps not quite as grim as the idea of a mass rape!

I had a dog that was "diagnosed" with this horrendous disease when he was about 14 months old - and my vet at the time said he would die if I did not give him two injections a day of some awful stuff that burned as it went it (and that there was no alternative treatment)...as even the vet couldn't manage to give him the injection I was desperate. I spent a couple of days on internet exploring atlternative treatments, and eventually came across the name "Stormogyl" (or something like that).  My vet refused to use it, so I spent a couple of hours on the phone to find another vet who would.  When I took the dog in to see him he queried why I thought the dog needed to be treated - in his opinion the blood test was not definitive - barely positive - and so ordered a second (which did in fact confirm he was clear).  He then examined the dog and determined he had tonsilitis!  So...do bear in mind that if the blood test is not decidedly positive, it is worth retesting.  That said - my vet would have treated him with Stormogyl plus another tablet -(the name of which I can't remember)  which he said was as effective as the injections - he and his practice had been part of the network of vets who had trialled it.  There is no cure - but if caught in time, it can certainly be treated.