The Boys in the Bar

We knew last year that there would be big changes in our neighborhood with the departure of our local barista Adriana.  She was giving up the bar in October and when we left we weren't sure what we would find upon our return.  Well, we needn't have worried.  Our local watering hole is back up and running and by all appearances is doing great! 

A group of young men have gotten together and have made this spot the place to be for youngsters and old folks alike.  They painted, cleaned and spruced things up, making for a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.  Even the bathroom, which I never dared enter, has been redone and is clean and pleasant.  There are new high top stools and tables, a flat screen TV that broadcasts sports from morning to night, a selection of newspapers and, of course, bottles and bottles of Peroni beer! 

For me, the best part is the free Wi-Fi.  How nice it is to come in and sit down at a comfortable table, buy a Coke Zero for 1E and then spend an hour or so catching up on all the news and putting some thoughts together for family and friends back home.  Later in the evening, the old guys gather for a game of cards, the local kids come in for bags of chips or ice creams, and the millennials visit with each other all while checking their iPhones. 

It's a different atmosphere from what it used to be.  There's definitely a younger vibe to this spot now, and that's all to the good.  Whenever I despair that Ioffredo  is aging and we're losing too many people, I realize that there's a whole new generation of young folks who are keeping the neighborhood vital and lively.  And for those who are coming to visit....rest easy.  There's a friendly spot where you can get a drink and check on the Red Sox, all in one place. 

Road Trip!

Living in Europe is challenging in many ways; bureaucracy, strange regulations, stranger store closings....but it definitely has its rewards.  First of these is how close we are to other countries, other cultures, other languages.  Unlike in the States where we have to plan a full day of travel complete with passports and long trips to airports, visiting other countries here is a matter of a 90 minute flight or a bit of a road trip.  This year we opted for the latter.

Our good friends and habitual travel buddies arrived at 6 am on June 8 and we were there to pick them up and head out onto the road.  Poor folks....they endured 8+ hours in an airplane, only to move into a car for another five hours of driving.  We pulled into Chiavari, a seaside town outside of Genoa and settled in for our first night.  This was just a stop on the way to our final destination of the south of France. 

Next morning we were back on the road bright and early, enduring dozens of tunnels, switchbacks and traffic jams.  We eventually made our way into France, via Monaco.  A brief visit to the Monte Carlo casino was our first stop, one that we could have done without, imho.  Lots of glitz, not much substance. 

We eventually arrived at our B&B in Antibes, Bastide de la Brague.  What a lovely spot!  Isabelle and Franck were wonderful hosts and our three days there passed all too quickly. 

Day trips to Nice, Gourdon, St. Paul de Vence, Biot, Antibes Vieille Ville, and others filled our time and our cameras with wonderful sights. 

We left the Bastide and headed off to Avignon, with an interim stop in Aix en Provence.  This was a Sunday and the town was very quiet, with a great little market set up along the Cours Mirabeau.  This street is a simpler, southern version of the Champs-Elysees, and we certainly enjoyed strolling in the shade of the plane trees and admiring the craftsmanship of the local artisans. 

Arriving in Avignon that evening, we were met with a few shocks.  Our apartment, which was our home for the next week, was not one flight up as we had been told, but two, plus one more internal flight to get to the upper sleeping areas! Two flights of curving stone steps that were a challenge for us all, but especially my husband and me, and the internal steps with no handrail!  Thank goodness for our good friends who did the bulk of the heavy lifting to get us settled in.  We travel light, but carrying anything up those steps proved challenging all week long.


That said, this apartment was in a superb location, right on the Place des Corps Saints.  I didn't realize it when we booked it, but Rick Steves talks about this place in his France book, saying it's really the best place for aperitifs, dining and enjoying local life.  Indeed, we were able to get everything we needed at the little markets in the area and we enjoyed several nice meals sitting outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. 

Avignon itself is a lovely city and we certainly had nice walks through the old streets and markets, but we also took advantage of its location in the heart of the Luberon to visit everything from Roman ruins, medieval abbeys, ochre hills, lavender fields, great wineries and even driving to the top of Mont Ventoux, the highest mountain in the area and one that left us breathless as we drove higher and higher on narrow roads with no guardrails.  We were all a bit on edge at the end of that day!  We saw a lot, but there was so much more we could have seen and I hope that before too long we'll be back in Provence to take in more of what it has to offer.

Our next stop was in the Haut-Savoie where we were meeting up with an old, dear friend of mine.  Josie lives in a tiny town, about 15 minutes outside of Geneva.  Her house is a former barn and she graciously offered us her two bedrooms while she moved in with her daughter who lives about 50 yards away.  Our first night there, Josie prepared a raclette for us and for all her family, a group of about 12 including three of her grandchildren.  Raclette is a traditional dish from this area, consisting of slices of cheese that are heated up on little triangular pans, then scraped off onto boiled potatoes, charcuterie and cornichons with pickled onions.  Very hearty and usually reserved for chilly winter evenings but it was certainly welcome on that unseasonably cool night.  Afterwards we went to a music festival at the local café and enjoyed two hours of American blues, sung in France, by an Italian singer and his band.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that provided us with some fantastic memories!

We also toured the medieval town of Yvoires which is right on the shores of Lac Leman and where we had a lunch of lake perch at a waterside restaurant, we visited Geneva and walked through its old town, and we drove up the Saleve mountain to view Geneva from on high.  Supper there consisted of "potence", a local dish of chunks of meat stuck onto an iron mace and then doused with whiskey and set on fire tableside.  Quite the spectacle!

Alas, it was time to go and we eventually found ourselves back in Italy after going through the Mont Blanc tunnel, truly an amazing engineering feat.  The views we enjoyed as we drove to and then from Mont Blanc were breathtaking.  Neither photos nor words are capable of describing the majesty and beauty of this area. 

Two more days on the road, with overnights in Parma and Orvieto completed this trip.  We discovered new foods and drinks (Aperol Spritz anyone?), reconnected with old friends and made new ones, and we made many deposits of glorious sights, both manmade and natural, to our respective memory banks. 

It's not easy traveling.  The strange beds, the crazy surprises, the packing and unpacking, the traffic and driving challenges all serve to make it a sometimes stressful event.  But would I change it, or quit?  Never!

Blue on Blue

We're back from our travels in France and Switzerland, and are again working through the chores and cleaning that two weeks away demand.  But today is Sunday, and the church bells were calling us all to mass.  A special mass indeed, because today was the San Nicola parish first communion service.
This was the second first communion we've been to this year and it was nice to see how the services compared to each other.  But one thing was a constant: the fashion parade that accompanies this very important family day.

The tradition now is that all the children dress the same, in white robes and simple flowers.  That's so much nicer than how it used to be, where girls vied to outdo each other in the elaborateness of their dresses and floral arrangements.  But now it's the parents who make sure to be dressed to the nines, in all their Sunday finery.

The women are always elegant; shoes that challenge gravity, fine fabrics and the latest fashions.  How they manage to stay on their feet in spike heels that are at least 3 inches high as they teeter across the cobble stones is beyond me, but again, this is the woman who fell and fractured her knee cap while wearing sneakers crossing a well paved street!  Maybe I'd be better off in a pair of those platforms!  Dresses of brocade, tulle, and polished cotton were all in evidence today, and for the most part they looked great.  No one can say that Italians don't have a fine sense of fashion!

Strangely enough, it was the men I noticed the most.  There is a strange style that has been showing up the past couple of years, that of the high water/size too small pants and jackets.  Why?  Why do grown men wear slacks two inches above their ankles?  Why do their suit coats look like they should be handed down to their younger brothers?  Usually Italian men look pretty spiffy, so I'm not sure why this look is so popular now.



But the look that was most prominent was the blue.  Not navy, not cobalt, but a sort of deep, royal blue that looks good on just about everyone.  We had noticed a preponderance of blue in the store windows during our travels, including some very neat blue suede shoes.  Indeed, quite a few of the men in church today, both parents and spectators alike, were sporting these blue suede shoes.  Those who didn't have on those moccasins were wearing blue leather slip-ons or even blue sneakers.  The effect is quite nice, the blue footwear coupled with blue suits and lighter blue shirts.  I'm sure that this blue on blue will make its appearance in the US soon, if it hasn't already.  I'm certainly not always up on the latest trends.  In the meantime, I look forward to analyzing how American gentlemen will adopt/adapt this Italian style to our more casual appearance. 

Cold and wet, but always beautiful!

Well, we've been back in Cervinara for five days now, and today is the first time I've had a minute to put together some thoughts. 

As usual, we have been busy getting the routine maintenance on the old house under control.  Unfortunately, there has been more than the routine to handle.  We arrived to find that the sitting room on the second floor had been the victim of a pretty severe roof leak.  A tornado (yes, an actual tornado!) hit the area in November and the strong winds knocked a dozen or so of our roof tiles out of position, making the roof vulnerable to leaks from the abundant winter rains.  The ceiling and walls of this room have turned black due to the mold and mildew and the furniture, linens, and wall hangings all have had to be either disposed of or washed down with bleach and very hot water.  Two days of hard labor and I think we have it all under control. 
Our good friend Vincenzo came as soon as we called and was up on the roof a couple of hours later, replacing broken tiles and even fixing our TV antenna.  This is one of the nice things about living up here in the hills; when there is a need, there is almost always someone willing and able to come to our rescue and help us out.  There is a sense that we're all in this together. 
As usual, things have changed as well.  Sadly, we lost two good friends over the winter.  Brothers, Pasquale and Mario C., almost two decades apart in age passed away within two months of each other.  They were quiet gentlemen, respected members of the community and just very kind fellows who will be sorely missed. 
Our little local bar has changed hands too.  I knew that the previous proprietor was leaving in October and I really worried that our neighborhood would lose its only meeting point.  I needn't have worried!  After a couple of months of renovation, a group of young men have taken over the bar, modernized it and made it into a fun place to hang out.  There is never a lack of young men here now, playing cards, foosball, watching the TV or just gathering for a drink and conversation.  And there is free WIFI! I am still the only female who frequents the bar, invading what is traditionally a bastion of Italian machismo, and I think the young fellows get a kick out of this grandma showing up with her SurfacePro to write her blog posts and check email.  I'm definitely not their usual type of client!  The guys have promised me an interview for a future blog post, and I'll make sure there are photos to accompany it. 
The weather has been off this year.  Mornings start out beautiful with sunny, blue skies.  By noon, the clouds have come in and by 3 pm we are usually being rained upon.  Fortunately it isn't violent rains, but the gray and wet afternoons are getting tiresome.  Plus, it's a good 20 degrees cooler than usual.  When we left Connecticut it was 92 and muggy.  We got here expecting temps in the 80s.  No such luck!  We have spent every evening huddled under blankets with the little plug in heater six inches away.  We sleep with the windows closed and I'm in my flannel nightgown and long sleeved undershirts.  We are both ready for some real June weather!
Now that we have done with most of the housework we are looking forward to regular excursions in the area and catching up with our local friends and family.  Another Cervinara summer awaits!  Ciao!

Small Blessings

I haven't gone into the backyard at all this year. When we first got here, Gianluca sent his crew to come whack the weeds and trim the palm trees so the kids could make use of the space. But I was still in my knee brace and on crutches and I never dared venture out to where the wild things were. As I progressed in my rehab work, the weeds progressed as well and now it is back to vines and roots growing rampantly, posing a real threat of tripping the none too stable wobbler that I am. 

But this afternoon I threw caution to the wind. 

We had a spell of lovely cool weather where a stroll down to the church was manageable but now we are back to days well into the 90s. We have been comfortable inside during the hot times of the day but that means not getting much sunshine at all. I was just complaining to Mike that I felt like a troglodyte living in a cave. It's quiet and peaceful, just maybe a bit too much so. 

I looked longingly out the back door and then I noticed it....ripe figs on our tree! I  put on a pair of boots and headed out to do some harvesting. 

Treading very cautiously I took my first tentative steps. Head down, I studied every footfall.  I got to the tree and saw a dozen or so figs ready to be picked. This requires pulling down branches so that they bend down enough to reach the fruit and testing each purple orb to check for ripeness. 

I was well into this job when I finally looked up from my labors. There in front of me was the craggy granite facade of Mount Pizzone. In its shadow was the tower of our castello. The sky was a brilliant blue, the cicadas were singing, and a warm breeze wafted through the leaves. Our yard always reminds me of the film "Jean de Florette" which takes place in the south of France but which is very similar in feel to our little spot here in Cervinara. At that moment I stopped to say a little prayer of thanks for all that we have here. The beautiful heat, the buzzing flies, the scampering geckos, and our views of some marvels of man and nature....all give me a sense of gratitude for the blessings we have been given. 

And, the menu for tonight? Figs and prosciutto!

Sant'Agata di Puglia

We've been back in Cervinara for a little over a week. The first couple of days were spent doing general maintenance, always an issue with this old house. We did some shopping to restock the larder and we spent one morning hooking up my new stove. And there were a couple of lump days where we just listened to the thunder storms rumble outside while reading and doing crossword puzzles. So  this morning when Mike asked me what I wanted to do, I was ready for an outing. 

A few years ago, an Italian soap opera that I watch filmed some episodes in a little hill town called Sant'Agata di Puglia. The scenes were so beautiful with piazzas overlooking rolling hills below, I immediately put it on my list of "wannasees". Google maps said it was 40 miles from here, an easy day trip for us. So off we went. 

GPS is a wonderful device. It has helped us navigate strange cities all over the world. But it has also led us into some sticky situations. On the map it looked like the most direct route was easy but not terribly scenic. We followed Gilda's (our GPS) directions and got off the Autostrada to follow the green road. We passed through some lovely little towns and up winding roads. The roads eventually became narrower and steeper. Not a guardrail in sight. 

Then we came to a fork in the road. One was marked with a "road closed" sign. We saw a car go down there but we decided to follow the sign pointing in the direction of our destination. Big mistake. 

SP 101 turned into a nightmare of washed out roads, craters rather than potholes, hairpin turns and gravel surfaces. We were in the middle of nowhere with no way to turn around, so we soldiered on. 

Eventually we got to this gorgeous town and realized it was worth all our effort. This town is a one way street going up to the castle and Piazza XX Settembre. The piazza where Andrea and Arianna first kissed was just as it had been on my show. Truly a sight to behold. 

Since it had taken us way longer to get here we were both ready for lunch, but neither of the pizzerias in town were open. As we strolled along we asked a group of young women where we could find something to eat. Right up the street from us was a gorgeous little spot called la Cantina Della Canonica. One of the girls walked us right to the door and let them know that some clients had arrived. This restaurant was in an old part of a church, with vaulted ceilings and lots of charm. After looking over the menu we decided to split the antipasto of the house and then have a bit of something else.

Well, this antipasto was the best ever! First came out some prosciutto and mozzarella. Ho hum. Pickled veggies. Yawn. Then the good stuff. Pane cotto. A terrine of melted cheese. Potatoes, sausage and chick peas. Sautéed greens with sausage. Escarole in broth. A mix of fried veggies. Potato croquette. Tripe. Sausage and peppers. I'm sure there were others but I can't remember them all now. 

This antipasto was supposed to be for one person! I can't imagine it! After this I cancelled my second course but Mike took his to go for supper tonight. We decided to have a bit of a sweet and opted for the pistachio ricotta pie. Not too sweet, redolent with real pistachio flavor, this was a perfect and to a perfect meal. 

After all this, we decided to follow the signs for the Autostrada to get us home. It was completely uneventful and a rather boring ride home, for which we were very grateful. 

If any of my blogger friends find themselves in Cervinara this year, consider a day trip to SantAgata di Puglia. Just remember to take the Candela exit off the highway. Don't listen to Gilda!!

Some Thoughts

Only in Italy....

As we spend more and more time here I find myself saying "only in Italy" more and more frequently. Only in Italy would they put a traffic signal in front of a boulder that had fallen off a cliff and into the road below, rather than remove the boulder. Only in Italy would there be a town named Masseria di Pidocchio (Plantation of the Louse). And only in Italy would we have received the warm reception we did when we decided to drop in on some long lost cousins. Let me tell you the story. 

We are in Puglia, staying with my husband's cousin, her husband, and one other married couple. It's been real hot here but we decided to go off on a roadtrip along the Ionian coast. We had driven an hour or so when Angelo decides we should drop in on his cousin Issa, whom he hadn't seen in several years. It was 10:30 am. He calls and is told immediately that we should come by. We're only a few minutes away! It'll be great to see you! Pierino will meet you at the church piazza to show you the way to the house!

Fast forward 90 minutes and we finally see Pierino on his bike. After several stops, a few missed turns, and about a dozen phone calls, we are there! Pierino tells us to follow him, which we do, through a series of one way roads. Of course we are going the wrong way up every one of them. No worries. We're in Italy! We get to Issa's house right at lunch time. If I were Issa I wouldn't be happy!

What do we find there? A plumber working on a broken toilet in the courtyard. Two dogs barking manically at the plumber. A houseful of seven people in a space that could comfortably fit maximum four people. A dog throwing up because of his constant barking at the plumber. And an incredibly warm welcome from all the cousins. 

"It's lunchtime. Of course you'll stay for a bite to eat with us."  And so of course we do. 

The bite consists of ziti with zucchini topped with ricotta salata, eggplant parm, salad, mozzarella, fresh bread, a variety of meats and cheeses, melon, ice cream, coffee, shots of homemade cherry liqueur. Only in Italy!

There were twelve of us sitting around a couple of tables cobbled together to accommodate us. The dogs barked, the plumber finished his job, the dog threw up again, and we all had a lovely time. I'm not sure how they did it, and I'm not sure that their inner selves weren't cursing us out, but I know that only in Italy would we have been treated so hospitably in such bad circumstances. It's always fun to have these moments and be on the receiving end of such graciousness. But it's also fun to be on the giving end of it, and being able to reciprocate such kindnesses. Every year we also get that phone call announcing someone's imminent arrival at our doorstep, just in time for lunch. Our response? Come on in! Sit down and relax! Have some of whatever's on the menu! Only in Italy!