Yesterday we took a quick trip to the neighboring town of Casacalenda, a 20-minute drive away. 

view on the drive to Casacalenda

view towards the old town of Casacalenda

We were on a quest to find an ATM machine to get cash.  We were also in search of a gas station to get GPL gas (liquid propane gas) for the car.  When we picked up our car in Rome, we were told that the car could run on either unleaded gas or GPL gas (and it has separate gas tanks for each).  We should always have some unleaded in the tank because the car won’t start without it, but GPL is cheaper for filling the tank and driving.  Not all gas stations have GPL, so you have to hunt around for them.  Alas, the two gas stations that we visited did not have GPL.

Casacalenda is a town of 2,100 people.  As we were walking around the town, I told Chad, “After being in Guardialfiera for 10 days, Casacalenda feels too big.”  This coming from someone who grew up in a town of 3,000 which seemed entirely too small at the time, and who has lived in large cities/metropolises ever since leaving Branson.  I did enjoy walking around Casacalenda, though.

we found a little home goods shop which was using the alley as retail space to exhibit plants for sale – the entrance to the shop is under the striped awning

across the street from the home goods shop was a dedicated parking spot which was reserved for pregnant women and new mothers

I like this carved face on the side of a house

I like the weeds and flowers growing out of this retaining wall

While in Casacalenda, we ran a couple of errands in addition to getting cash.  We happened upon a “caseificio” which is a little cheese-making factory that also has a public-facing sales shop.  We went into the shop and, after consulting with the clerk, came out with three cheeses.

Caseificio La Fonte Nuova – the person-sized door is the entry to the shop and the garage doors lead into the cheese-making area

the cheese on the top left has hot peppers in it, the cheese on the top right is an aged/hard/flavorful cows cheese, and the bottom left is soft ricotta which I’m sure was made just hours before we bought it

We also saw a little grocery that had all organic products.  Imagine that in a little town of 2,100 people.  However, for us, it seemed to be mostly things in jars like jam and sauces, and we didn’t need anything like that so we kept on walking. 

the organic grocery store

We then went into a grocery store to get a few things, but it was small and cramped and in the first aisle we were overwhelmed with household cleaning products and customers so we left.  We decided that our grocery options in Guardialfiera were sufficient for day-to-day needs, and we can always go to a bigger grocery in Termoli or Campobasso.

One thing that is unique and interesting about Casacalenda is its outdoor public art program.  There is a map posted in front of the town hall that pinpoints the locations of the art installations.  We walked by a few of the art pieces, but I wasn’t savvy enough in the beginning to take photos, so I was just able to capture a couple.

town map of Casacalenda with locations of the outdoor public art installations

this art was painted in a niche on the side of a building

this art was a shiny silver tree with gourds hanging from it

We returned home being happy for our adventure, and doubly happy with our adopted village of Guardialfiera.

view of Guardialfiera as we returned home

This morning, we headed to Campobasso to run our weekend errands.   We made a pit stop at an olive tree farm to see if we could buy some local olive oil, but unfortunately it wasn’t open.  We’ll have to go back on a weekday morning and check it out.

Upon leaving the olive farm, instead of directly us to the quickest route to the highway, the GPS on the phone directed us on a little country road up the side of a mountain, through the mountaintop village of Lupara (population 500), and then back down the other side of the mountain.  The road was narrow with lots of hairpin turns, but it was a nice detour through the countryside.

view from the road – note the snow-capped mountains in the distance

view on the way down the mountain – you can see the winding road at the bottom of the photo

We found GPL gas on the side of the highway.  I did the math conversion, and it was $2.80 per gallon.  

In Campobasso, we went into a huge clothing store where I bought some house slippers for five bucks.  Our apartment floors are all tile, so my feet get cold walking around.  Plus, another cold front will blow through this week, bringing temperatures in the 30s and 40s, so cozy slippers seem like a good idea.

cozy slippers

We also went to a huge grocery store to stock up on some things that we can’t find in our village. Most importantly, we stopped at a garden store to buy some terra cotta pots and dirt so we could repot the plants we got last weekend.

the plant on our front balcony

herbs on our back balcony which gets more sun

All in all, it was a successful trip, and our little apartment is feeling more like home with plants and cozy slippers.

Our typical day starts at a decent hour.  With the recent “daylight savings” time change in Italy, the day dawns at 6:30 am and the sun is above the horizon 20 minutes later.  This is a nice change from Atlanta where the sky barely starts to get light at 7:00 am, and it can be annoying to get up while it is still dark outside.  Here, the bedroom balcony doors face east, so we are pleasantly awakened by the sun. 

dawn

early morning

Also, our neighbor has a pet turkey, so the gobble-gobble is sometimes the first greeting in the morning.  I posted a short video to Facebook while I was looking at the view across the valley and listening to the church bells and the turkey:

https://www.facebook.com/juli.abbott.9/videos/5443558655747610

Breakfast at home for me is usually fresh bread and jam or a pastry (from the local bakery), yogurt, juice (peach nectar this week) and hot tea.  Sometimes we go down to the little bar just down the street instead and have a coffee/cappuccino and a cornetto.  A cornetto is the Italian version of a croissant, and it frequently has a filling such as vanilla cream, chocolate, or marmalade.  Even if we don’t go to the little bar, we do take a walk around the village most mornings to get some exercise and get ready for our day.

Since Chad is working remotely, he usually spends a couple of hours in the morning on work.  He has a team of colleagues in Kyiv Ukraine, so this allows him to troubleshoot things with the team in Europe before the client in the U.S. starts work.  Since I am NOT working, I take the time to catch up on the daily news, read my Kindle, do some morning stretches/exercise, and take care of little chores around our apartment.

Before lunch, we take another walk around the village.  With no restaurants in the village, we typically eat at home at 1:00 or 2:00 pm.  Then Chad works a full afternoon, liaising with the client and managing the team.  I have several activities in the afternoon, so much so that I can’t get everything done.  I explore the village, study Italian, read my History of Molise book (we are staying in the region of Molise), run any errands if needed, work on a blog post and read my Kindle again (after I finish working my way through The Complete Works of Jane Austen, I have Gone with the Wind tee’d up).

Our lunch and dinner meals at home vary.  So far we’ve had lots of veggies, pasta (of course), polenta, rice, chicken (from the local butcher), chicken noodle soup (thanks to Chad’s amazing cooking), lentils, garbanzos, fresh bread, seafood, and then fruit for dessert.

lunch – arugula salad with tuna, carrots, red bell pepper, and some local version of mozzarella on the side

dinner – sauteed shrimp, grilled radicchio, polenta

Getting back to our daily schedule, the late afternoon/evening starts with a passagiata (a “stroll”).  The passagiata is a time-honored tradition in all Italian villages, towns, and cities which marks the end of the afternoon.  Everyone goes out for an hour or two to walk as a family or as a couple or as a group of friends.  You stop to say hi and chat with other people.  You might pop into a bar to have an aperitivo (cocktail) or a small beer or a glass of wine and some snacks.  In our little village, the main street is the primary venue for the passagiata, but we stroll down other little streets and passages as well.  The sun goes down around 7:30 and it is dark by 8:00, so then we retire to our little apartment for the evening. 

Here’s a nice view of the clouds during sunset while we were sitting at a cafe table at the bar and having a little beverage

We have a little snack while Chad makes dinner – cheese, deli meats, savory crackers, olives. 

appetizers

Then, because Chad made it, we eat an amazing meal, even if it just very simple cooking.  After dinner we might watch a little something on the computer together.  Chad figured out how to connect his laptop to the TV in the apartment, so we can watch things on Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other services.

At the end of the day, we hit the hay while listening to a random dog barking outside and the church bells tolling the hour.  And since we don’t hear the fire engines and ambulance sirens and train yard clanks and the angry Atlanta drivers honking, I sleep like a baby in the rural mountain silence.

view from our bedroom at night

After our day trip to Termoli yesterday, we spent a quiet Sunday in our little village.  Well, relatively quiet.

Let me back up for a little bit.  Four days before we flew to Italy, we were privileged to experience the daylight savings time change in the U.S.  Then we came to Italy and dealt with the change in time zones.  Then today, we were privileged to once again experience the spring time change, this time in Italy.  Perhaps one of these days my body will know what time it is.

In any case, the church bells went crazy this morning at 6:50 am.  Since this is our first Sunday in the village, I can only guess that these bells are aa regular occurrence on a Sunday morning.  Our bedroom balcony doors face east over the valley, so we are usually awakened early by the morning sun.  But I did hear the bells this morning and then looked at the time on my phone and said, “What the…?”

The main church on top of the hill

We had a lazy morning with a breakfast of fresh bread that I bought at the bakery on Friday, spread with fig jam, and served with juice, coffee and hot tea.  I read my Kindle for a while (currently plowing through Jane Austen’s works, she is so funny) while Chad did some chores around the house. 

Throughout the day we took several walks around the village as many people do.  Around 12:30 pm, we went to our local bar to have a beer and “be seen” before lunch, and we met the local Canadian couple at the little bar just down from our house.  They moved to the village four years ago, so they had lots of interesting things to say about getting settled in the village and in Italy – everything from paying your water bill to renovating a house to getting an Italian drivers license.

The bar has seating “al fresco” in a parking space across the street

As an architect, I thought working with an Italian contractor would be the most frustrating thing here when the attitude – not just of builders but of everyone – is that “ah, we will deal with that tomorrow.”  Now I believe that the most stressful thing will be getting an Italian drivers license.  As a foreigner, you have to go to driving school, take a written test of driving theory, and then take a driving test in a car with a manual transmission.  Yay.

After getting so much great information/stories from the wonderful Canadian couple, we went home to make lunch.  One thing that Chad and I have remarked upon is the fact that the food that we buy here is so delicious and of such high quality, that we don’t have to do a lot to it when we make a meal.  Lunch was some chicken sautéed in a pan, grilled radicchio, boiled potatoes, the local version of mozzarella, and some olives.  And for dinner tonight, Chad used the leftover chicken, radicchio and potatoes to make chicken soup, adding some pasta noodles.  So good!

lunch

appetizers

chicken soup for dinner

Between lunch and dinner, we drove up into the hills to explore the terrain around our village.  We passed farmhouses, olive tree groves, and fields of wildflowers.  The roads were all single-lane country roads – some paved and some just gravel.  When a car came from the other direction (which was rare), we just scooted way over onto the shoulder and took a pause to let the other car pass.    For me, it was a very peaceful drive exploring the countryside.  For Chad who was driving on narrow, winding mountain roads, it was not so pleasant.

driving on one of the country lanes

country roads, take me home, to the place I belong…

during our drive through the hills, we encountered this little donkey and his best friend, the white puppy

Now we’re firmly ensconced in our little apartment.  We watched some British television after dinner and are now winding down for the evening.  

a view from our front balcony down the main street of the town

It’s supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day tomorrow and then Tuesday is supposed to be quite cold – high temps in the 40s – so we removed our new plants from the balconies and brought them indoors for the time being. 

all little plants have to come inside before the next freezing weather

And while we settle in for (hopefully) one last blast of winter, we wish everyone a good week, and we look forward to more adventures in the village.

Today is Saturday, so Chad didn’t have to work.  We took the opportunity of a free day to make a trip to the city of Termoli on the east coast of Italy, about a 30-minute drive.  We wound down the mountain from Guardialfiera and crossed the plains to the coast.  On the outskirts of Termoli, we stopped at a plant nursery that Chad had seen on the map.  The nursery had flowering plants, succulents, fruit trees, olive trees, palm trees, herbs and other plants. 

i fiori – flowers

citrus trees

pretty flowers on this little tree

We had fun walking around and talking to the proprietors.  In the end, we bought a spiky-leaf plant for our front balcony and marjoram, thyme and mint for the back balcony.  (See below.)  We decided to wait to buy flowering plants from the flower shop downstairs from our apartment so we can support a local business.

olive trees at the nursery

pretty flowers on this tree

an overview

I loved this tree with these little flowers – they were so delicate

The city of Termoli has about 33,000 people, and it is the second largest city in the Molise region after the region’s capital, Campobasso (with its population of 50,000 people.)  Today, Termoli is a fishing, tourist, and industrial center.  (Fiat has a factory here.)

Along the Adriatic coast in Molise and Abruzzo to the north, you can find trabocchi.  Trabocchi are traditional fishing piers from the 19th century where wide nets are strung out to catch fish as they swim along the coast. 

a traditional fishing pier

For tourism, Termoli has an old medieval town plus many kilometers of beach along the coast.  Today, there were only a few people on the beach, but I can only imagine that the beaches are unbelievably crowded during the holiday month of August.

one of the beaches in Termoli today – see the white stuff in the distance? those are snow-capped mountains! how cool is that!

Termoli has a parcel of land that juts out into the Adriatic Sea.  This piece of land includes a hilltop, so this was a perfect location for the early inhabitants to establish a village.  The location would have been easily defensible as well as providing a good port for seafaring and trade.  In fact, despite the many miles of Molise coastline, Termoli has the only usable port.

fishing boats in the port of Termoli

In the middle ages, the old village on the hill was enclosed by defensive walls and turrets.  Then in the 13th century, a defensive tower, now known as the Swabian Castle, was built.  All of these structures were built as fortifications against invasions by other peoples.

an old turret

here’s the castle on the left and part of the old town and its wall on the right

a gate into the old town

The 13th century also saw the construction of the town’s main church on a large square at the top of the hill.  

the main piazza of the old town – the basilica is tucked around to the left

The church is built in the Romanesque style which is typically fairly plain without all of the decorations of the Gothic style or the Renaissance style.

the basilica

the interior of the basilica – note the wooden roof, similar to the Romanesque churches in Campobasso that also had wooden roofs

the pipe organ in the Termoli basilica

mosaics in the crypt of the basilica at Termoli

Just to the left of the cathedral is the former bishop’s house, built in the 16th century.  How convenient that the bishop could walk right next door to his “office,” the cathedral! 

the bishop’s house

On the other side of the cathedral is the Chiesa di Sant’Anna, also from the 16th century.  Now, why you need to build a church right next to the cathedral, that is a mystery to me.

La Chiesa di Sant’Anna

As you can imagine, all of the streets in the old town are narrow and lined with cobblestones.  Some are wide enough for a single car to navigate, but most are pedestrian-only.

And here’s the most fascinating street.  There is one alleyway that is only 41 centimeters wide (16.14 inches).  It competes with one other street in Italy to be considered the narrowest street in the country.  The other narrow street starts at 43 cm and then narrows down to 38 cm.  In any case, this little alleyway is quite creepy to traverse if you are claustrophobic.  (I kept thinking, “deep breath, deep breath, deep breath…”)

the narrow alley with Chad on the far end with his red shirt

me trying to hold myself together in this claustrophobic little alley

In contrast to the old town, newer Termoli stretches beyond the old defensive walls and into the surrounding plains and hills.  We walked just outside of the old walls and into the newer area to pick up some things for the house (stickers to make labels with our names for our apartment intercom and mailbox, soup bowls, cheese grater, spatula) and just to check out things in general.  We found the main shopping street which is pedestrian-only, and people were out in droves enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

the main shopping street in Termoli

…and our purchases at the “home goods” store

Since Termoli is a fishing town, for lunch we went back up into the old town and had a five-course seafood tasting menu at a really great restaurant.  This meal lasted for three hours. 

the very cool dining room of restaurant Svevia

we had a really good local white wine which comes from a vineyard 5 km from Termoli

octopus and cuttlefish salad with celery

savory bread pudding with seafood served in a fish broth – this is a traditional dish for poor fisherman – the black decoration is some sort of fried cheese thing – there were mussels in the bread pudding and shrimp and a tubular thing in the broth

fresh pasta with seafood – shrimp, mussels, something tubular, little tomatoes

baked fish fillet – very light in flavor and texture – served with roasted potatoes

It was all very delicious, but it was entirely too much food for me, although I tried to eat as much of it as possible.  By the end, I was so full that my stomach hurt, and I really wanted to burp but I was afraid that I would throw up if a burp came out.  So I just moaned.  Oh, and I had little floaty stars flying around my vision.    But I did eat every bite of the dessert, pistachio gelato!

pistachio gelato with chopped pistachio on top, served in a Spanish crust (not sure what this means but it was delicious) – all served on a bed of pistachio cream, pistachio reduction that was like a simple syrup, and pulverized pistachios – uh, yum!

and then an after-dinner drink – grappa for me and a local amaro for Chad that was delicious but “hoo-boy!”

Now it is 8:00 pm, and we are both still so incredibly full from lunch that we are not even remotely interested in an evening meal.  So on that note, I will leave you with photos of our new plants on our balconies which makes this little apartment feel more like home.

our spiky plant on the front balcony

our herbs will live on the back balcony where they will get more sun

We met the local police officer yesterday.  We were wrapping up a late breakfast when our door buzzer rang.  Chad went out on the balcony, looked down, walked back inside and said, “It’s the po-po” and then went downstairs to let her in. (The police offer rang our doorbell at the lighter brown door on the right, and Chad went out on the balcony to see who it was.)

the door to our upstairs apartment is the lighter wood door on the right

Since we are on an extended stay in the town and Chad is pursuing Italian citizenship, the police officer stopped by to ask some questions about what we’re doing here and what are our intentions.  She was so nice and just doing her job.  We had a great conversation, and while she does speak some English, we had our entire conversation in Italian.  

Speaking of which, everyone here automatically speaks to us in Italian with not even a reference to English.  I’m not sure how many people even know English here, so this will be a great experience for practicing our Italian language skills.  Some people speak slowly, some people speak quickly, some people include some dialect.  After each exchange, Chad and I say to each other, “Did you catch when he said…” or “did you understand what she meant when she said…”  We do try to ask clarifying questions to the other person to make sure we do truly understand what is being said.

In short, the people here are very friendly.  When we walk about town, we always get a “ciao” (hello) or a “buon giorno” (good day) or, better yet, a “buon gior” which seems to be the local dialect where they shorten the word “giorno”.  (This is usually said by the older people.)

And now some photos of the village.  The oldest houses and narrowest pedestrian streets are around the main church in the old city center.  The newer houses and streets are a little further out, although still within a couple of minutes’ walk since the town is so small, and it’s faster to walk everywhere than to even attempt to drive.

Here are the some of the main landmarks:

A view of the old town with the main church on top of the hill, the newer houses are spilling down the hill

The main church on top of the hill

The smaller church on the main street

Town hall

Here are the daily amenities near our apartment:

The grocery shop – the door where the customer is entering is the main grocery, next to that is a small garage for a car for the apartment above, and the open area next to that is an annex for the grocery

The grocery annex contains a freezer with frozen meat/seafood/veggies and shelves with bulk cleaning products – liquid soap, laundry detergent, household cleaners, etc where you can bring your own container and fill it from the bulk jug

The pharmacy (with the green cross) and the multi-purpose store (with the blue Tabacchi sign, selling toys, jewelry, groceries, etc)

The butcher shop

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 bar has seating “al fresco” in a parking space across the street

The bar also has a foosball table that keeps the young boys occupied after school

The flower shop next door to our apartment

And now some photos of the rest of the village:

A typical street in the oldest part of the village – this street is pedestrian-only as it has many steps spilling down the side of the mountain

Another typical street

Many houses have potted plants decorating their entrances – which reminds me, I need to make some purchases at the floral shop to decorate our balconies

Since the oldest part of the village was built on the hilltop, you can see where the houses use the mountain rock as foundations

And here’s a closer view of the rock foundations, and someone has created little plant gardens as well

I like this little plaza at the edge of the oldest part of the village – from where I’m standing, steps go down to the plaza and behind me is an asphalt street where cars can drive

And the little plaza includes a public water fountain

Imaging walking up these stairs to get to your front door – there are four different apartments which are accessed via these stairs

And here’s a photo of the newer part of the village, houses on this part of the street seem to have been all built in the 20th century – you can tell it’s newer because 1) it is paved in asphalt and 2) it is wide enough for two-way car traffic

Tomorrow Chad and I will drive to the coast (30 minutes away) to spend the day in the seaside town of Termoli and see historic sites and eat our weight in seafood.  Stay tuned…

We arrived in Guardialfiera two days ago, and this will be our home for the next two months.  Guardialfiera is a hilltop village in central Italy with a population of about 1,000 people.  A main street runs through the middle of the village with a couple of parallel streets on either side, some of which are pedestrian-only.  These streets are all interconnected with cross-streets and pedestrian ways.  The main street is so narrow that it is one-way and only has parking on one side.

View from our apartment up the main street towards the main plaza

view from our apartment down the main street towards the churches

To support the population, the village has a small grocery shop; a butcher shop with meat, poultry, and cheese; a flower shop; a “multi-purpose” shop with everything from groceries to toys to jewelry; a pharmacy; a bakery; a flower shop; a clothing store; and four bars/cafes.  In addition, there is a larger church at the top of the hill and a smaller church on the main street.  And of course, there is the town hall.  We’ve also seen the offices of a civil engineer, a lawyer, and an architectural products studio (selling windows, shutters, etc).  There are two restaurants a couple of kilometers outside of the village, and we plan to check those out, perhaps this weekend.  I’ll post some photos of the village in the next day or so.

We can find almost everything we need in the village, but we decided to make a grocery run to the nearest larger town to get some additional essentials.  This other town was also up in the mountains, and on this rainy day, it was literally in the clouds.  It took 40 minutes to get there, so I’m thankful that we can find most things in our village such as vegetables, fruit, bread, eggs, milk, cheese, meat, poultry, butter, wine, yogurt. 

we bought this broccoli in our little village for 50 cents, best broccoli of my life, presumably fresh from the farm – wine bottle for scale – Chad noted “this would have cost 6 dollars at our local farmers market in Atlanta”

Essentials from the nearby town – chili pepper crackers, fennel/anise tea, creme caramel, cheese, mortadella, local pasta, our favorite chips in red pepper and lime flavor, fig jam, unfiltered beer from Sardinia, cookies, genziana (a local after-dinner liqueur), Campari, and yes, two jugs of table wine

view of the grocery store parking lot up in the clouds – it looks like fog, but we were actually in the clouds

Down in the valley is Largo di Guardialfiera (the lake).  This used to be just a river, but a dam was built in the 1970s to create the lake to provide a water supply for the surrounding towns and farmland.  We have a great view of the lake from our apartment.

view of the valley and the lake with some Guardialfiera houses in the foreground

The people here are very nice.  The village is small enough that people walk everywhere, and everyone says hello.  Several people have stopped to chat with us since we are a bit of a curiosity as outsiders.  Our car has French license plates, so people keep asking us if we are French.  Now that we’ve been here a couple of days, I think word has gotten around town that we are American. 

here’s our little car parked in front of our apartment – just before lunch today, it was surrounded by little boys checking it out since it’s an out-of-town car

We leased our car from a company in Paris, so it has French license plates

We are making a point of getting out and about so we can meet people and become integrated into the village.  We’re also trying to go to all of the little stores and bars so we can meet the shopkeepers, strike up conversations, and support local business.  Sure, it’s more convenient to make a coffee or tea at home, but it’s so much fun to the go the bar and get a proper cappuccino and a pastry for breakfast.  And then at the end of the day, you go back to the bar to get a beer or a small aperitivo/cocktail and chat with your friends before dinner.

Our apartment is on the main street right in the center of the village. We’re up on the second floor, so we get great daylight.  (The apartment below us is vacant.)  The bedroom balcony looks out over the  valley, the lake, and the hills beyond, and the living room balcony looks out on the main street. 

the door to our upstairs apartment is the lighter wood door on the right – our living room balcony looks out over the street

our downstairs entryway – note the various bins for recyclables

the stairs up to our apartment with a coat rack at the top – that curtain hides a little storage area with broom/mop/ironing board/etc

The apartment has a large room that is the kitchen/living room.

entrance to the kitchen/living room

the seating area – the built-in cabinets house dishes and pots and pans

dining table and TV and 5-liter jug of red wine sitting on a chair

kitchen wall – notice the green apron hanging on the wall that Chad brought from home

the fridge and freezer are cleverly hidden in the cabinets

the cabinet over the sink has a dish rack – we’ve seen this in several apartments in Italy – and the sink has a built-in dish drain area – genius!

Here’s the bedroom.

view into the bedroom

view towards the bedroom balcony

Here’s the bathroom.  Thankfully, the bathroom has a washing machine so we can do laundry here.  (Italians don’t use dryers, so we have a clothesline on the balcony off of the bedroom.)

view into the bathroom

bathroom with a washing machine in the corner

I couldn’t be happier with this place.  Chad is working remotely for the first few weeks, so his new “home office” is the dining table.  My home office is a comfy chair in the bedroom with a great view of the valley.  “You’re not working,” you say.  “Why do you need a home office?” you ask.  Who cares!  I can sit here all day, reading a book, crafting a travel blog post, studying Italian, or just staring at the scenery.

my home office with a view

We will make an occasional run to the big grocery store in the nearby town, and we will take some day trips to see various parts of the Molise region.  However, we plan to spend most of our time in this little village, meeting people, practicing our Italian, eating and drinking delicious things, and living the slow life.  Here are some views throughout the day looking east towards the valley.

6:00 am

7:30 am

8:30 am

10:30 am

5:00 pm

6:30 pm

8:00 pm

As we were taking our evening walk today, we stopped to look at a bulletin board that showcases local real estate listings.  Hmmm… 

So, we’ve left Campobasso, and I have some photos that I haven’t shared, yet.  Here’s a dump of misc photos of things that caught my eye, in no particular order:

Now in the heart of the city center, Piazza Pepe is just outside of the old city walls – it was originally a wooded area where shepherds would rest with their sheep while traveling from one pasture area to another – the trees were cleared in the 1500s to create this public plaza

We found this map of the old city center mounted on the wall of a house – the castle and its nearby churches are the brown buildings in the upper left quadrant of the map

a close-up of the bark of the pine trees on the path up to the castle – the bark is thick and very three-dimensional

This species of flower is critically endangered and is only found on the mountain near the castle, it is found nowhere else in the world

This Smart car is covered in a houndstooth pattern

This church looks like it was built in the ’60s, I like the open-air bell tower

I like this newish door installed in an old portal

In the U.S., you can see architecture designs with exposed air ducts, but this is the first time I’ve seen a fan attached to the duct

Speaking of interesting architecture, check out the emergency exit stairs on this building

Here’s a statue of a local singer-songwriter, composer, and producer – someone put a knit scarf on him because it was cold outside

Here is a package of Stranger Things chocolate candies – there were also versions with Star Wars Mandalorian, Marvel, Frozen, and others

And finally, we had a bottle of Falanghina white wine at lunch – we discovered Falanghina while on the island of Ischia and have been pleasantly surprised to learn that the Molise region also makes this type of wine

Campobasso has some really interesting buildings.  Following WWI, there was a surge of construction around the old city center during the 1920s.  You can see examples of the Liberty Style (the Italian version of Art Nouveau) as well as examples of Art Deco.  We had a booklet in our apartment that talked about several of these buildings, so of course I took Chad on walking tours to find them.

The Teatro Savoia is on a small central plaza.  The overall building looks classical, but the ironwork on the entry door and balconies is definitely the art-nouveau-inspired Liberty style.  This building is still in use today as a performance theater.  You can search online to find images of the interior.

Teatro Savoia facade

Teatro Savoia main entry

Several of the buildings we saw were mansions built by wealthy families.  Across the street from the Teatro Savoia is a house that mixes classical plaster detailing above the windows with Liberty style balcony railings inspired by organic, natural forms.

Note the Liberty-style balcony railings – there is a pharmacy on the ground floor which was closed for lunch when I took the photo, which is why the shutters are closed

The Villa Maria takes up an entire city block.  While this house also takes cues from classical architecture, the detailing is Liberty and Art Deco.

Villa Maria facade

Decorative detail

At this house, the shorter, three-story part was built in the 1920s.  The taller four-story portion was built in the 1960s, and it wraps around the original house in the form of an L.  You can see a little bit of the 60s-era windows of the sunroom and the porches below it on the back side.  I like that the addition is in harmony with the original, but it also is of the 1960s design era.

1920s mansion with 1960s addition

This house was built for the family of an engineer.  What’s interesting here is that the brickwork is left exposed, and the decorative elements are made of concrete and aren’t covered in plaster/stucco.  Maybe this was a nod to the owner’s engineering profession, leaving the structural elements exposed to view.

The engineer’s house

Detail of the concrete decorative elements

The State Music Conservatory was built during an earlier period, but it looks like window grilles and fences were added in the style of 1920s.

The entrance to the conservatory

Some of the houses used an original building from an earlier era on the bottom floor(s) and put an addition on top.  Here’s one of them.  Note the Art Deco decorations, more geometric than Art Nouveau.

Another 1920s mansion

And… a closeup of decoration

And then there’s this interesting house in the old city center where the lower two floors were built during a much earlier era and the upper floors were added in the 1920s.  You can clearly see the stylistic difference in the facade design and materialistic treatment.  Even just comparing the balcony railings at the second and third floors, you can see the difference.  The most interesting thing to me is the use of wrought iron “supports” at the eave of the roof.  In other buildings, these supports are made of stone (reference photos of previous houses).  Note that these iron supports are merely decorative, as wrought iron could never support a roof overhang like that.  Instead, there are interior roof beams and rafters which are supporting that roof eave as it extends over the exterior wall.

The facade

Detail of the upper floors

And finally, to speak more about wrought iron…  Campobasso is known throughout Europe for its ironwork, and four generations of the Tucci family created architectural elements over several decades.  The heyday was in the early 20th century when the foundry designed and built balcony railings (including many of the items seen in previous photos), fences, gates, lamp posts, park benches, and other decorative elements.  Here are some ironworks that we saw on our walks.

Entry to the Villa Capoa gardens, note the beautifully designed street lamp

The main entry gate to the Villa Capoa gardens

The main light pole in the Capoa park

A park bench in the little park/plaza next to Piazza Pepe

And finally, a detail of the balcony railing at the Teatro Savoia – I saw this and said to Chad, “This reminds me of Antoni Gaudi”

The old town city center of Campobasso has lots of interesting nooks and crannies to explore.  Narrow cobblestone streets curve out of sight, inviting you to walk just a little bit further to see what’s around the curve.  The old town is located around the base of a mountain, so sometimes the “street” goes up an incline via steps instead of what you would think as a drivable street.

Catty-corner from the osteria where we had dinner the first night, there is a small plaza called Largo di Leonardo which is named after the Chiesa di San Leonardo which fronts the plaza.  When traveling in Europe, we have a rule that we always have to pop into a church when we pass by, and this church did not disappoint.

La Chiesa di San Leonardo

The nave of San Leonardo

A view of the side aisle and windows above

The rose window depicts a ship, perhaps to acknowledge that the city of Campobasso is just a few kilometers from the sea

Next to the church was a grand set of stairs, and we said to ourselves, “Huh, I wonder where those steps go.”  So we started going up.  And up.  And up.  We eventually found ourselves at the top of the mountain, passing narrow houses all along the way.

Hmm…where do these steps go?

And on the way up the mountain, we saw this side street going back downhill

There are some interesting structures at the top of the mountain.  The first thing you see when you crest the hill is an old defense tower. 

Note the little tiny slots in the tower which would allow soldiers to shoot arrows while being protected

Next to the tower is La Chiesa di San Bartolomeo, built in the 13th century in the Romanesque style.  The Romanesque period predates the Renaissance and the Gothic style, and the architecture is much simpler.

Facade of San Bartolomeo

Central nave of San Bartolomeo – note the wooden roof

There is a rose window, but it is just clear glass

Going up a few more steps on the path, you come to La Chiesa di San Giorgio, a Romanesque church which was also built in the 13th century.  (I haven’t figured out why two churches were built at the same time right next to each other.)  The interior of this church was renovated a couple of decades ago, and you can see how it looks much different than the San Bartolomeo church.  It has new plaster on the walls and ceilings as well as added decorative elements.

The facade of San Giorgio

The central nave

The rose window is clear glass

Saint George slayed a dragon, and this is the homage to the saint within the church (Note: Antoni Gaudi designed a house in Barcelona which was inspired by St George…google the images to see the sword – chimney – slaying the dragon – the roof with ‘dragon-scale’ roof tiles)

During the recent renovation, portions of the original fresco paintings in the Campobasso church were left exposed

Leaving the San Giorgio church, you go up a tree-line lane to the very top of the mountain.  The pine trees along the lane are each dedicated to a different soldier (presumably a local man) who died in WWI.  Each tree also has a tag with a QR code that is used by some entity (regional or federal government?) to track data about that particular tree.

The tree-lined path up to the castle

This tree is dedicated to Soldato (soldier) Giovani de Santis who died in 1917

A tag to identify this particular pine tree

At the top, you first see an old monastery.  Then you curve around and see the modern addition to the building which is still a working monastery.

The original monastery building

The original monastery with its addition

Finally, across a small plaza is the castle.  The castle isn’t open to the public because – ta-da! – it is now used as a weather station administered by the national army. 

Notice the weather instruments on the old castle

There was a free-flowing water fountain at the top of the mountain in front of the monastery

Our guidebooks poo-poo’d the notion of hiking up the mountain to the castle, saying that it is better viewed from afar.  Whatever!  The hike was fun, not knowing exactly where all of those steps would lead, and the views from the top of the mountain were wonderful. 

View from the mountaintop

A close-up of the snow-capped mountains across the valley

Plus, on the way down, we popped into a restaurant for lunch and had a delicious meal that we would have missed if we hadn’t decided to hike up the hill.

See previous post for more about this restaurant

The City of Campobasso has the oldest museum in the region of Molise.  This might sound like a “big-whoop” bragging right, but get this – this archeological museum contains items from the third millennium BC.  That is 5 thousand years ago!  In my mind, that is definitely “big-whoop.”  This makes Rome, with its more-recent empire only 2 thousand years ago, a little bit of a “newbie” experience.

Arrow heads, daggers, blades, and axe heads from 3rd millennium BC through 7th century BC

Before the Romans conquered the central Italian peninsula, the Samnites inhabited the land.  There were two main tribes – the coastal tribe on the east coast of the peninsula and the mountain tribe living in the mountains that go down the center of the Italian peninsula.  By all accounts, the Samnites were peaceful people who enjoyed trading with other groups – the Etruscans to the northwest, the Greeks to the southeast, and the peoples in what we now consider the Middle East.

The museum has exhibits that show influences from these different neighboring areas.

The design of these Samnite vases was influenced by the Greeks

A replica of a ship’s bow shows how goods were transported and traded with other cultures – these jars would hold wine, oil, sauces, fish sauce, and fruit

Being an archeological museum, the key focus is on artifacts that have been discovered in ancient ruins and burial grounds in the area.  You can see ancient eating dishes, oil lamps, wine jars, building motifs, and religious artifacts. 

Plates and jars

Oil lamps

Figurines of Hercules

One of the key facts that the exhibits keep coming back to is that most of these artifacts have been recovered/discovered from ancient burial graves.  Men were buried with communal ceremonial dishes/cups because they would share a meal to celebrate a communal victory. 

Women would be buried with cooking pots, wine vessels and jewelry and elaborate clothing, because they were the keepers of the home.  Being buried with these things was an honor. 

The items on the red display platform and to the left were discovered in female graves, the items to the right are from male graves

Necklaces and bracelets made from metal, beads made from stone, amber, and pottery

Children were buried with cups that didn’t have handles (presumably because children couldn’t deal with handles and had to hold cups with both hands) and little girls who died would be buried with jewelry (to signify a wedding that wouldn’t happen) and other trinkets to signal a loss of future contribution to the community.  Same for the boys, but I don’t remember those trinkets because I’m not a boy.

Toys and trinkets

The most arresting exhibit in the museum is that of the excavation of a warrior and his horse.  While it’s apparently common to find a human buried with worldly goods, this grave included worldly goods for the horse, like his stirrups, reins, blanket, etc.  The signage said that being buried with a horse signified that this person was kind like a chief.  Other soldiers who were also good soldiers were buried without their horses.

Warrior and his horse buried together

While my interest in going to this museum was to learn more about the Samnites living in the area (in which there are still a lot of remnants in the countryside), it was also interesting to see other things which had been excavated over many centuries. 

There are tools from the 3rd millennium BC and pottery from the 15th century AD and everything in between.

15th century AD majolica pottery

I think my favorite moment in the museum was when Chad and I were looking at an exhibit of old coins from 300 BC and he said, “Well, it seems money hasn’t changed in a long time.”

Coins from 3rd-1st centuries BC

I would definitely recommend a visit to this museum.

Exhibit of warrior findings – tools, weapons, and horse gear