As we’ve settled into the everyday life here, I’m focusing less on the big impressions and more on the details.  When we take our daily walks, I’m seeing things that escaped my notice before.  Of course, many of these details are architectural in nature because, well, I’m an architect.

I love these door knockers that I see in Europe that are little hands to knock on the doors

And here’s the classic lion head door knocker

I noticed these flowers growing out of a balcony support

Here’s a piece of tile embedded in the asphalt on the street

I like this carved stone rosette which is part of an entry portal for a house

One of the spigots on a fountain at the town piazza

I saw this on the side of a house – perhaps this is where you tie up your horse

And here’s our little mailbox with our identifications :)

And then there are also the details of nature.

Irises in the wild

These little springtime flowers

Storm clouds passing through earlier this week when it was raining

And lest we forget that we are in an agricultural region, we occasionally see agricultural vehicles like a truck carrying hay, a little farm truck, or a teams of oxen pulling three carts (which we saw over the weekend on our way to Larino.)  Since we live in Atlanta Georgia, a metro city of 5 million people, we are not used to seeing oxen and carts.  But on our way to Larino, we slowed way down and eased past the carts, waved, and continued on our way.

A farm truck in the village

A modern “wagon” in the village with a load of firewood – keep in mind that we are in the mountains and many houses are still heated with wood

This is Chad’s dream car for retirement in Italy

And we do appreciate the local farmers, vendors, and the sense of community.  Everyone is so friendly and welcoming.  We were taking our evening stroll today, and someone waved us over to come sit on a bench and chat for a while.  So we did.  The Italians have this saying: “L’arte di fare niente” which means “the art of doing nothing,” and we are embracing this philosophy.  We go on leisurely walks, we take our time with meals, we chat with people in the bar, we chat with the butcher and the grocery owners, and we just sit outside and enjoy the weather when it’s nice.  The Art of Doing Nothing allows us to notice and appreciate the little details of the everyday life.

Dawn this morning…

…and here’s the sun just peeking over the horizon…

It was kind of a quiet week for us, both literally and figuratively.  Two weather fronts came through which brought cold, wind, rain, and the possibility of snow showers.  We didn’t see snow; I was looking forward to seeing it, just for the novelty of snow in April.  We also didn’t have our balcony doors open and we didn’t venture outside as much as we’d previously done, so we weren’t as connected to the sounds of the village.

This past week was Holy Week, and we saw several new faces around town – family members who live elsewhere but who came back to spend Easter (la Pasqua) with the family.  We saw Easter wreaths on house doors and Easter bunnies and colorful egg decorations in the shops.  We bought a traditional Pasqua pastry which was a baked turnover filled with a light egg and cheese custard.  It was good!

the schedule for Holy Week in the village

the Easter pastry

the Easter pastry with its egg custard filling

On Thursday we saw a procession go down the street in front of our house, and at first, we thought it was part of Holy Week.  It was actually a funeral procession following a funeral mass at the cathedral.  There was a hearse decorated with flowers driving slowly down the street with a crowd of people walking behind it.  The church bells tolled a sorrowful song for 15 minutes.  The procession continued to the local cemetery.

The main church on top of the hill

We are getting further entrenched in our routine here.  People are becoming more friendly now that they realize we are staying here for a while and not just passing through.  The butcher gave us a taste of his homemade dried sausage (yum), the grocer gave us an extra apple during a visit, and some people have paid for our beers at the little bar.  Plus, we now recognize people on the street or in the bar and have a chat with them.

The bar near our apartment – you get a coffee here in the morning and then a beer/wine at the end of the day

The butcher shop

The grocery shop

We took a walk yesterday and a cat ran over to us and flopped down on the ground for some attention.  I didn’t take a picture of the cat because I was too busy petting it despite Chad’s protests.  As we continued our walk, the cat trotted after us for a while before taking a quick left to go explore elsewhere.  Then yesterday evening, we had a video call with Chad’s parents, Jim and Fran, and our cat Bokchoy made an appearance.  While I do miss our snuggly cats, especially on this cold and cloudy weekend, I’m very happy with this sabbatical in Italy.

Our cat Bokchoy a couple of years ago – such a ham

Since Chad works during the week, we try to take advantage of the weekends to make trips around the region.  We knew it was supposed to start raining this afternoon and rain through tomorrow, so we took advantage of the clear skies in the morning to go to Larino.

Larino is another hilltop town.  While it is just a few kilometers away, it’s a 25-minute drive since most of the drive is on curving mountain roads.

Similar to our visit to Casacalenda, Larino felt big to me with its population of 6,700 people.  The new part of the town is higher on the hill with several supermarkets, retail shops, and other businesses, and it sits on the site of the original Samnite/Roman town of Larinum from the early second century BC.  On the edge of the newer part of town are the remnants of a Roman amphitheater.

view of the amphitheater

another view of the amphitheater

The medieval town center is a little further down the mountain and is nestled in a little valley.  Similar to Guardialfiera, some streets are wide enough for cars and some are pedestrian-only. 

street view in the old town

a small plaza – note the short height of the archway which is a pedestrian alley connection to the next street

another street view

The buildings are typically two or three stories, frequently with shops on the ground floor and residences above.  Sprinkled throughout are former family palazzi (mansions) which were built in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

a cute shop entrance

a palazzo (mansion)

the entry courtyard of another palazzo

There are also a few churches in the old town center with the main cathedral (il duomo) being the most important.  The duomo was built in the early 14th century just after the town had been flattened by an earthquake and sacked by the Saracens.  When we travel, we have a rule:  If we see a church and the door is open, we must go in and look at the art and architecture.

the duomo

inside the duomo

at some point the duomo was renovated with new plaster on the walls, but portions of the old frescos were left exposed

another church – the door was open so we went in to look around – that tower to the left is the former bell tower for the church, but it is now a private residence

inside the church

view towards the church entrance – I couldn’t figure out why there were no benches or chairs

another church

another church

the churches that we entered had signage in braille – I’ve never seen this before in Europe

After wandering around the old town, we followed our noses to a panificio (bread bakery) which smelled so good!  It turned out to be a large bakery kitchen without a retail shop.  We talked to one of the workers and learned that they usually have a table and cash register during the mornings, but today they weren’t selling; they were just baking.  She advised us to come back on Tuesday morning.  (Easter Monday is a religious holiday so they will be closed.)

Then we popped into a pasticceria (sweets bakery) to have an espresso.  We were quite surprised to learn that an espresso there was only 50 cents.  It is usually 1 euro.  We also picked up a few dolci (sweets/desserts) to bring home.

at the pasticceria, our dolci were wrapped up in paper since they were to-go

i dolci – the chocolate ones are filled with chocolate pudding, and the triangles in the bottom left are filled with cream custard and flavored with cinnamon

Before we left Larino, we took the opportunity to go to a supermarket to pick up a few things.  Friends of ours have chickens and have given us some fresh eggs, so, in addition to other items, we purchased some wheat flour and some semolina flour to make pasta from scratch.  We left Larino just as it started raining.

some groceries, clockwise from top left – anchovy paste (to spread on bread as an appetizer), basmati rice, arugula, semolina flour, savory crackers flavored with pepperoncini (hot peppers), wheat flour, and pasta and couscous from La Molisana which is a Molise brand of pasta made in Campobasso

fresh eggs from our friends

We made it back to Guardialfiera at 12:45 pm, just in time to stop by our little bar to have a beer before lunch.  Plus, we saw our friends who gifted us with another batch of eggs.  Now we’ve settled in for a cold and rainy afternoon with the heat on (via radiators), some snacks, and Netflix.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

I liked this door knocker

we saw this funny face on the side of a house – perhaps the metal ring was where you could tie up your horse

and we walked by this little door – with me for scale and perspective

This week is Santa Settimana (Holy Week) in Italy.  Italy is a Catholic country, and most people in the country still practice the religion even if just doing so at important holidays. 

Growing up in the Presbyterian Church, my family celebrated Holy Week at our church acknowledging Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Easter Sunday.  Italian Catholicism recognizes these days as well but in a way that is steeped in local tradition.

We did not attend Palm Sunday events in Guardialfiera because we spent the day in Abruzzo with family and had a wonderful time there.  On Monday, Guardialfiera had a Via Crucis event that we didn’t know about.  (I think this was something to do with Stations of the Cross.)  Then there was a break on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday night was a Community Adoration which we didn’t know about.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, I got the bright idea to go to the church bulletin board and look at the schedule.  I lamented the events that we had missed, but then noticed there was a procession through the village in the evening.  There was holy mass at 6 pm followed by the procession at 7 pm.  Chad and I went down to our little bar at 6:30 to have a beverage, sit at a table on the sidewalk and check out the scene. 

A few minutes before 7 pm, people started gathering on the street in groups of two or three.  Then, as soon as we could see the procession approaching, the lights went off in the bar out of respect, and everyone came into the street.

The procession started at the church after mass, came down the hill, and then went down the main street, all at a solemn pace.  The sidewalk spectators removed their hats, stopped their conversations, put out their cigarettes and generally ensured that there weren’t any beer glasses or wine glasses on the outdoor tables.  As the parade passed, the spectators crossed themselves.

As far as the parade, the first person carried a wooden cross that had a white cloth stole wrapped around it.  This person was accompanied by young boys.  Then there were about 50-60 citizens following.  Then a silver-plated cross on a large pole which is a sacred object from the church treasury.  Then 50 citizens.  Then a very large cross with a statue of Jesus hanging on the cross.  Then the priest,  Then 50 citizens.  Then a large statue of Mary carried on a platform by four men, with Mary having a silver crown and a blue fabric cloak.  Then 50 citizens.  Then a small bed carried by four girls.  Then 30 citizens.

During the procession, the citizens and leaders sang songs and recited the Hail Mary phrases in Italian.  I was able to recognize a lot of it because it was recited slowly and the words were familiar, even to a Presbyterian.

The procession then went around a corner, and everyone either went back into their houses or went back into the bar (because it was cold outside).  I wondered why so many elderly people hadn’t gone to mass, but then I realized that the elderly have trouble walking, the church is up the hill, and the procession lasted for one hour.

While the procession went to the other end of the village, had a ceremony, and then turned back to head up to the church, the rest of us finished our little apperitivo inside the bar where it was a little warmer and we ate some snacks.  We all knew, however, that the procession would pass by again. 

When the procession arrived at the outskirts of the village out of our view, the Jesus was removed from the cross and placed onto the bed carried by the little girls.  We knew that the procession would come back through the main piazza where the bar was located, the people would stop to do some singing, and then walk back to the church in stages.  And we knew that there needed to be respect for the ceremony.

So the older men went back onto the sidewalk at a certain point to keep watch for the procession.  At one point, one watch-guy opened the door to the bar and said, “It’s coming!”  The bar owner switched off the lights and everyone abandoned our drinks and prepared to go outside to see the return of the procession.  And then the bar cat Tigre slipped in.  Tigre was the “it” that was coming – for dinner – not the procession.  We all had a good laugh.  But we were all still attentive to paying respect to the procession.

Shortly thereafter, the procession returned.  The group was singing a solemn song and Jesus was lying on the bed in a re-enactment of his death story.  On this return of the procession, little girls (instead of the boys) were at the head of the parade with the leader of the procession.  I expected to observe the  end of the procession as a dispassionate observer, but I got teary-eyed watching everyone go past.  There was the sound of the song with so much emotion, the traditional ritual of the procession, and the dedication of the local citizens, even the dedication of those who weren’t participating in the parade. 

Certo, I didn’t take any photos.  That would have been a very high level of disrespect.  But I did take mental and emotional photos that I will remember for the rest of my life.

I saw a woman documenting the procession with a camera and a man documenting with a videocamera, so I will do some research over the next few days to see if I can find links for posting.

In the meantime, we are soaking up the culture, food, history, and traditions here.

We’ve seen a lot of animals so far during our short stay in Guardialfiera.  (And, of course, we’ve heard the turkey behind our house plus roosters and chickens.)

There are no shortage of outdoor cats, and I’m making a quest to take a photo of every single one.  Some cats are house pets and some seem to be wild, but people take care of all of them.  Chad has forbidden me from petting them, so I just take photos.  (Ask me about our trip to Panama City, Panama in 2014 when I ended up in the hospital after an encounter with a cat.  And who knew that Johns Hopkins University has a hospital program in Panama?)

someone put out some food for this cat

these two cats were supervising our neighbor as she was unloading the car

Tigre, the bar cat at the bar near our house

this cat has a permanent crick in its neck and looks perpetually curious

another cat

another cat

another cat

another cat

another cat

another cat

We’ve also seen some cute dogs.  There is little car traffic in the village, so it’s safe for the dogs to run around.

there is so little traffic in this village that this dog decided to relax in the street

these two little dogs run around the village together having the time of their lives

this little dog is quite shy but always watches us when we walk by his house – today he saw us and started squeaking a “hello”

The village looks over forest and mountains that are, apparently, home to wolves and wild boar.  We haven’t gone for any forest hikes, yet, so our one true wildlife sighting has been a little fox running across the road the other day.

And of course, there is the donkey from our exploratory drive up the mountain during our first week when I yelled “Stop the car so I can take a picture of the donkey!”

the donkey just outside of the village with his friend the white puppy

Then, earlier this week, we went for our evening stroll through the center of the village and I said, “Do I see a horse butt over there?”

in case you forget that we are in a rural, agricultural area, someone rode their horse to the bar

Finally, photos of our two snuggly kitties that we left at home with Jim and Fran.

Luna is very photogenic

Bokchoy is not

Well, it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been in Guardialfiera for two weeks and a couple of days.  It feels like a lot longer since we’ve been making connections with people here.  We’ve also noticed a lot of spring-time changes in the vegetation here.  For example, the cherry tree behind our house has lost its spring blooms and now has all of its spring leaves.  And the native fig trees (which grow like weeds around here) are also pushing out spring leaves. 

This is our first visit to Italy during the spring season, so it is fun to experience the season as things blossom and grow.  In honor of spring, here are some photos of the vegetation around the village.

you can find olive trees all over the place here

I like this lichen (do you get what I did there?)

we’ve seen a lot of irises here, many of which seem to be just out in the wild

I like this little garden

and this garden

We’ve seen a lot of citrus trees here – oranges, lemons, tangerines…

these little wildflowers are cute

this little citrus bush was recently planted, we just noticed it today

and more irises

When we started our European sabbatical in 2009, we had a very strict budget.  The exchange rate between the dollar and the euro was $1.25 to 1 euro, and we planned out our money accordingly.  Well, all that went out the window a few short weeks later when the euro rate jumped up to $1.50, so we adjusted our expectations for how much we were spending.

The best advice was from our friend Claudio in the Cinqueterre in northwest Italy.  He said, “You have to stop converting the money into dollars in your head and just think of it in euros.”  If you keep converting to dollars, you will make yourself crazy because it will seem that things are becoming more and more expensive with the fluctuations in the exchange rate.  In reality, a euro is a euro is a euro. 

This mantra has ruled our travel life ever since, and now, regardless of the exchange rate, we just think in euros.  Especially since we have learned more about hourly wages, the price of things have more meaning.  (Italy doesn’t legislate a minimum wage, but currently the typical hourly wage is around 9 euros compared to the US minimum wage of $7.25.)

In our village, we pay for most things with cash – a coffee at the bar (one euro), a few items at the grocery store, a loaf of fresh bread at the bakery (1.50 euro), a bottle of laundry detergent at the tabacchi (the multi-purpose store that has everything from groceries to jewelry to toys). 

This laundry detergent was 2,80 euro – much cheaper than the US

Most places in Italy do take credit cards, but cards are not as commonly used as they are in the States.  Plus, the cost of living in Italy is very affordable, and if you’re popping into a little shop to buy just one thing for one or two euros, it is weird to pay with a card.

We’ve learned that, in Europe, luxuries are expensive but daily necessities are cheap.  For example (and I will convert to dollars here in order to make my point), gasoline is a bit of a luxury.  Gas is currently 1.85 euros/liter which is $6.80 per gallon.  Wine, on the other hand, is a necessity, and a five-liter jug of decent white table wine is 5 euros.  When you consider that a bottle of wine is 750 ml, this translates to about 80 cents per bottle.

Groceries are also very affordable.  A six-pack of free-range eggs at the grocery store is 2 euros.  A half-liter bottle of whole milk (for my hot tea in the morning) is 89 cents and is the perfect size considering how little I use each day.  And check out this bundle of broccoli that we got for 50 cents from our village grocery store:

we bought this broccoli in our little village for 50 cents, best broccoli of my life – wine bottle for scale

Health care in Italy is also way more affordable than in the US.  I recently read a magazine article written by a British woman who had moved to Italy.  After moving here, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through surgery, follow-up treatment, and reconstruction.  She paid 40 euros for the initial mammagram, and then everything else was free. 

Compare this to my experience two years ago when I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, tripped in the dark and hit my head, and had to go to the hospital to get stitches.  It cost $2,300 out of pocket.  (Chad and I have a high-deductible health insurance plan which, believe it or not, is cheaper on an annual basis than a more comprehensive plan, even with an event like getting stitches in the middle of the night.)  So for everyone in the US who is obstinately against socialized medicine, please do a little research.

Perhaps my favorite observation on the topic of Money is the design of the euro currency itself.  For paper bills, they are each a different size and different color depending on denomination.  The 50 is bigger than the 20 which is bigger than the 10 which is bigger than the 5.  Genius!  Plus, the bills have images of building elements such as windows, bridges and aqueducts so, as an architect, I was smitten at first sight.

paper bills and coins

architecture!

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. 

View of Monteferrante

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. 

the cute bar in Monteferrante – the patio is wonderful

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.

Adolfo’s house

lunch in 2016 with Adolfo at the head of the table

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.

Antonino went foraging for wild asparagus this morning

pasta with wild asparagus and pancetta (bacon) and and glass of organic rose wine

delicious lunch

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.

Chad and Maria – that pasta was amazing

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.”

this is where Chad and I had a “What in the world?” moment – a little bridge on a gravel road, and if you squint, you can a tiny bit of the stream on the left

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.

a view of solar panels on our drive, and note the very narrow mountain road

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.

me, Alice, Achille, Antonino, Gabriella

There are a lot of things that happen during the week that don’t fall into any particular theme in a blog post, so I’ve decided to gather these thoughts into a brain dump at the end of the week.  This week’s dump, in no particular order:

When we went to Casacalenda yesterday, we took advantage of free parking in a 60-minute zone, knowing that we were just running a few errands.  30 minutes later, we passed a guy on the street who had watched us park, and he reminded us that it was 60-minute parking.  I appreciated him looking out for us, and we thanked him kindly for reminding us.  (Remember that our car has French license plates, so it is clear that we are not locals and we might need some advice.)

People usually figure out pretty quickly that we are not Italian.  However, as soon as we attempt to speak a few words in Italian, they are all so friendly and helpful, sometimes to the point where I want to say, “Slow down!  Slow down!  I only know beginner Italian!”  We’ve experienced this in all countries where we’ve traveled – make an attempt at the local language, and people will be very helpful.

Guardialfiera is a small, tight-knit village.  You always say “ciao” or “buon giorno” when you pass someone on the street, even if you don’t recognize them.  When you go into a little shop for the first or second time, the proprietor is polite but not generally so welcoming.  Since you are a stranger, they are not sure if they will see you again. 

When you go back to the shop for a third or fourth time, hoo-boy!  Now you are part of the community and there are so many questions about why you’re here, how long you will be here, and why you should move here.  It is really charming.

It also helps when you ask the advice of people.  Chad asked the butcher about different products, and then we are magically having samples of the butcher’s homemade sausage.  We go into the little grocery shop to ask about the cheese that he has for sale, and the owner says, “the best cheese comes directly from the cheese-maker, you should seek that out instead.”

One thing that has been fun is that fact that people just walk up to us and ask a bunch of questions.  People will cross the street to come quiz us.  “You’re new here.”  “Where are you from?”  “Why do you have a French car?”  “I’ve never seen you before.”  “Let me tell you about my life.”  Once again, it’s quite charming and is making us feel very much at home.  And I’m practicing Italian on the fly, trying to understand the dialect and vocabulary.

We’ve met several people during our week and a half here.  Most of these people are retired men or local shopkeepers.  Younger people go away from the village to work during the week, and the older women and stay-at-home moms don’t hang out in the town square or at the bars during the day.  In any case, everyone we have met has been friendly and welcoming and, well, curious.  I’m guessing that we will setting into a social routine sooner rather than later.

A cold front came through earlier this week.  We left our house for a stroll one morning, and when we saw the police lady, she yelled at Chad to go back inside and get a jacket.  (She doesn’t like the cold.)  There was this whole exchange about the weather and the need for a coat.  Of course, I was bundled up in my ski jacket.

On Tuesday night, Chad and I went to bed and were jiggled awake at 11:55 pm by a terremoto.  Earthquakes are not uncommon in Italy.  When we were here in 2018, we experienced one while in Monteferrante.  What was unique about that one was that we actually heard it echoing around the mountains.  In all of the earthquakes that I experienced in California, I had never heard one before.  The quake this week was just a bit of a jiggle and was enough to get the village dogs barking like crazy.  We learned the next morning that it was a 4.6 quake near Campobasso.  And, of course, it was a topic of conversation in the village the next day.

In addition to settling into a daily routine here, we are also figuring out a weekly routine.

On weekdays, we generally stay in the village unless there is a need to run an errand elsewhere.  Chad has his work during the week, and I have my pastimes.  We take several walks a day, and I do additional exploring by myself to take photos and plan curated walks to show Chad the little details that I find around town such as these:

this bench is built onto the side of a house

the stand for these plants says “the garden costs less than a therapist (and there are also tomatoes)”

I noticed these little flowers growing out of a structural support under a balcony

a close-up of the flowers

One of the fun weekly events is the open-air market which takes place on Wednesday mornings.  There are vendors which have household goods such as kitchen gear (pots, pans, cheese graters, knives, etc), shoes, and linens, but there are also two food vendors – a pescivendolo (seafood vendor) and a fruttivendolo (fruits and vegetables vendor).  The local butcher doesn’t sell seafood, so we make it a point of going to the pescivendolo on Wednesday morning to get seafood.  The sea coast is only 30 minutes away by car, so the seafood from the pescivendolo is so very fresh.  In fact, some of the little creatures are still moving around as we are trying to figure out what to buy for lunch.  Yum!

a view of the kitchenwares vendor at the weekly market

the fruit and vegetable vendor at the local market

the pescivendolo at the weekly market

We also recently learned that there is a fruttivendolo truck which comes on Thursdays and a cheese guy who comes on Saturday mornings.  This reminds me of the bakery vendor who came to Chad’s ancestral village, Monteferrante, on a weekly basis when we were visiting there.  These vendors come to the small villages for a couple of hours and then go to the next village.  This means that small and tiny villages can get fresh goods on a regular basis, even if they don’t have a proper grocery store or bakery.

Chad waiting in line to get bread from the mobile bread vendor in 2018

Another exciting thing in our week is remembering which day is which trash day.  Trash day is six days a week, but every day has a different purpose so you can’t just put your trash out willy-nilly.  Each type of trash has its own assigned day.  We got this trash schedule from the town hall:

The trash calendar starts with Monday (lunedi) and sorts the trash as follows: umido (wet “humid”/organic waste), carta (paper, cardboard), plastica (plastic), secco (dry trash and non-recyclables), vetro (glass) alluminio (aluminum)

In addition to all of this, Friday is typically the day for laundry and house-cleaning for us.

our laundry day – European houses don’t typically have clothes dryers, so your balcony has a clothes line

We keep the weekend open for running errands in the bigger cities of Termoli or Campobasso, sighting-seeing in the region, or visiting family.  For example, today we went to Campobasso to purchase some things, and tomorrow we will go to Monteferrante to have lunch with some of Chad’s family.

And on that note, stay tuned for some highlights from this week.