There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!

It's been several years since Cervinara has seen a good chestnut harvest.  Because of a variety of ills, including a Chinese worm and some bad weather, three years have gone by since there has been a good harvest.  We were worried about this year as well because our area as well as most of the rest of Europe suffered under an incredibly hot and dry summer.  Weeks of temperatures in the 100+ range and months that saw not a drop of rain had many worried that 2017 would be another washout Well, I can tell you first hand that those worries were unfounded!


Last weeks our cousins came down from Milan to check out their piece of the mountain.  We enjoyed several days of good company, nice hikes and great food.  Climbing up onto their property on a windy day, we were bombarded by dropping chestnuts, still in their spiny shells.

It's a tricky business, chestnut gathering.  If the nuts haven't escaped from the "ricci" when they drop to the ground, they have to be released by heavily gloved hands.  Then each nut must be examined for worms and mold before it can be added to the collection.  Every brown morsel is like a little voice calling out "Pick me! Pick me!".  It's impossible to walk by without scooping up as many as you can carry.  And that's a problem, because as pleasant as it is hiking up to the groves, it's not so much fun when you're toting 40 or 50 lbs of chestnuts in your backpack!  It always gives me newfound admiration for the women who for generations would hike up to the mountain, gather 100 lbs of chestnuts into their sheets, bundle them up and then tote them down the mountain....and not to a paved road where a truck would await but all the way back down to town, with that bundle balanced on their heads.  Those were strong women!

There were lots of women up there when we were and believe me, it was clear what dilettantes we were!  We strolled from spot to spot, looking for easy picking and mostly leaving the ricci behind.  When we'd filled a backpack we headed back to the road for our ride home.  But these women were there all day, filling bag after bag, hoisting them into the trucks or tractors that were awaiting, and even cooking the noon meal on the mountain.

There are huts and primitive lean-tos that have sheltered the mountain workers for generations.  During rainy days the work doesn't stop and these structures provide some measure of protection from the elements. Cousin Umberto gathered up a nice pile of chestnuts, covered them with leaves and damp grass and lit them on fire.  The damp greens created a nice stream of steam that cooked the chestnuts perfectly, right there on the mountain.  In wetter weather this would be done in a hut like this.

It's fun to play at being a mountaineer, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to handle it on a regular basis.  There's a saying that you shouldn't curse the farmer with your mouth full, and that goes for the gatherers of all the riches of the mountains.  It's easy to criticize or be unappreciative of the laborers who put the food on our tables, but if we just tried doing their work day in and day out  I think we would all change our tune.

There are more riches than just the chestnuts at this time of year.  It's also the perfect time for mushroom hunting.  While I spotted many, my companions were quick to point out that I only have an eye for the poisonous ones!  It's a good thing I have nice friends who are eager to share their good fortune with me and we had some yummy funghi to accompany our lunch back home.

This October on the 28th and 29th, there will be another sagra in honor of the chestnut.  There will be restaurants opened inside private homes where traditional dishes will be served.  There will be desserts based on chestnuts, huge roasting machines and lots of other culinary treats.  There will be music and entertainments, parades, flag throwers and drill teams.  But most importantly, there will be lots of local chestnuts, not chestnuts imported from Greece as they've had to use the last few years.  It's reassuring to know that after an unpleasant interlude, the gold ricci that cover the hillsides of Cervinara are back in strength, just waiting for some hungry and enterprising folks to pick them up and take them home!  Buon appetito!

Shame on Us!

I've written so many times about how we don't appreciate the beauty that we see every day, that it takes the eyes of an outsider to make us see what surrounds us.  Sadly, this week I was on the receiving end of this message and it makes me ashamed that we have ignored what's in our own backyard for so long.

We all know about the big cities, and the medium sized towns that Rick Steves has brought to light.  But the tiny villages and hilltop towns tend to be ignored.  That's where the website borghipiubelliditalia.it comes in.  I found out about this site while watching a weekend travel show called Linea Verde.  This program celebrates so much of what makes Italy special, from the beautiful scenery to the magnificent buildings to the delicious food.  The borghi piu belli site puts all this information into easily clickable bits of information and when I visited it I was surprised to see that there are several towns very near here, and one that we have gone to dozens of times over the years.

Montesarchio is one town over from Cervinara.  I've always admired the castle and tower that dominates the landscape, and have known that there is a very good archeological museum there, but we've always just used Montesarchio as a shopping venue.  There's a little mall that we've visited, a supermarket that carries all our necessaries, and our Tim Telephone tech center.  I've always ignored the historic center.  Well shame on me!

This past week our friends and cousins from Milan came down for a visit.  On their list of things to do was to visit the Castello in Montesarchio.  I'd been homebound for several days due to dear hubby's nasty cold and was ready for an excursion. 

We started with a fantastic lunch at Colle d'Ercule, a family run restaurant at the foot of Mount Taburno.  What culinary treats awaited us!  This wasn't our first time at this restaurant but it was certainly our most enjoyable!  Varied plates of antipasti, pappardelle with porcinis, and a fig and robiola crostata made for a most satisfying lunch, all accompanied by well chilled falanghina wine.  Superb!

After lunch and a nice stroll through their gardens we drove up to the top of the promontory that looms over the town below.  This was a really lovely spot that is worth a visit and I feel so bad that with all the friends and family who have visited us over the years, we've never taken them here. 

We went through the museum that is free of charge and were amazed at the wealth of this collection, all relics from ancient civilizations in this area, and many excavated from Via Cervinara!

From the museum we walked down a narrow pathway and into the old borgo, in search of an 8th century sanctuary.  There isn't much left of it, but it was lovely finding this ancient place of worship.

Our day was blessed with blue skies, mild winds and strolls through history. 

I promise to all those who will come to visit us in the future that we will not ignore the beauty and history that lie not 15 minutes from our front door.  And I also promise to try not to be one of those who require the presence of "outsiders" to appreciate what I have been given! 

Next year we'll be exploring Sant'Agata dei Goti, another town in our area that is among the most beautiful borghi of Italy.  There's always something new to discover, here in this beautiful part of the world!