Today we traveled to Monteferrante to have lunch with some of Chad’s relatives.  Monteferrante is located in Abruzzo which is the region just north of Molise.  Monteferrante is the home village of Chad’s great-grandparents. 

We’ve been there twice before, but always in August during the national holiday month called Ferragosto when there are other visitors.  It was interesting to visit the village on a quiet spring day. 

Monteferrante is a typical example of an Italian hilltop village that is dying.  The village is very cute, but it has dwindled to about 50 inhabitants.  (When we first visited in 2016, there were 87 full-time residents.)  It has no restaurants and just one little multi-purpose store where you can buy cigarettes, underwear, some groceries…the necessities.   The lone bar has cut back on its hours.  There is a pharmacy that keeps a few hours a week and a post office and a church, but nothing else to entice new residents. 

We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with the family.  We had lunch with cousins Gabriella and Antonino, their daughter Alice, and Alice’s son Achille, and we ate at the house of Gabriella’s father, Adolfo.  We met Adolfo in 2016 and enjoyed our time with him, but he passed away in 2018 a few months before our next visit to Monteferrante.  Now his house belongs to his daughters who visit it from time to time.

At lunch, the food was wonderful, of course, and the conversation was lively.  We last saw Gabriella, Antonino, Alice and Achille in 2018, so it was fun to catch up with everyone.

After lunch, we visited with cousin Silvana who lives across the street.  Her mother Maria passed away last year which made us sad.  Maria was always so friendly to us and made the best food.  She was a good lady.  Anyway, it was good to see Silvana and spend some time with her.  I meant to take a photo, but I forgot.  We’ll be going back to Monteferrante in 3 weeks, so I’ll get a photo at that time.

To wrap up, let me tell you about our drive to Monteferrante.  For some reason, when we left Guardialfiera, Google Maps took us through and up and over the mountains instead of on the highway.  We traveled on narrow country roads, winding around hairpin curves.  The total drive to Monteferrante was two hours, and 1-1/2 hours were on these mountain roads.  At one point, we had to pull over to the side of the road and get out of the car to walk around for a few minutes to recuperate. 

At another point, Chad stopped the car and said, “Get your phone and take a photo, because no one is going to believe that Google Maps guided us on this route.”

We did enjoy the countryside and the views.  We were in the middle of nowhere, frequently with no houses or signs of human life, just looking at fields and forest and mountains.  We also saw A LOT of solar panel installations.  I’m guessing that the state or national government or public utility companies have built these, since they are out in the middle of nowhere and not associated with houses or other buildings.

In any case, we enjoyed the countryside, and we never want to do that again.  Thanks but no thanks, Google Maps!  NB: the drive home to Guardialfiera was on the highway.  It was flatter and straighter, and it only took one hour and 45 minutes.