This past week was a good one. On Wednesday evening President and Sister Allen invited us, along with the Canos over to the mission home for dinner. Sorella Cano has cleaned the mission home, as well as the mission office, for the past 20 years. This includes doing the mission home laundry, ironing his shirts, cleaning the car, etc. She also cleans the stairwells, etc., for the apartment building in which we live, which includes the mission office. She is employed by the landlord for the building and by the Church for the office and mission home. She was just "let go" by the church's facilities manager a couple of weeks ago; we haven't been able to figure out why. Myrna has been coming down early in the morning to do what is needed, and he has promised that an "agency" will be coming on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to two hours to clean, but they haven't shown up yet. Fratello Cano is a plumber, but after Christmas he was hit by a big truck while riding his bike (they don't have a car) and was in a hospital for surgery (the entire stake prayed for him) and then to a rehab hospital and we didn't expect him to get out until around Christmas of this year, although he was let out early and can walk okay. They are in our ward. She was just released as Primary president, and he is also very active. They have children who have served missions. Anyway, we were to have dinner at seven, and the president went to Milano to pick them up. (She commutes about an hour on the bus to get to work and is generally here by 8 am.) Apparently he put their address in wrong and it took an extra hour for them to get to the mission home, so we waited with Sister Allen. Dinner was excellent and we enjoyed the two hours we spent, all speaking Italian. The Canos are from South America and speak Spanish at home, and their, especially his, Italian, has a Spanish accent. He said he had never been inside the mission home before, that his wife has cleaned for the past 20 years, and she said she has never been invited to dinner (although cleaned up after countless), which was very thoughtful of President and Sister Allen, who cleaned up by herself.
On Saturday we went with the Salitinos to see a couple of castles between Piacenza and Parma (think cheese), which aren't very far from each other. We are still worried about what we will show Jan, Ginger and Brian when they come for two weeks in a month, so I hope you are thinking about it, Jan, and will let us know. We rode in Saliino's church owned car, a Toyota electric/gas Yaris, so I took pix out the shotgun window.
In this part of Italy they grow corn, tomatoes, which are harvested (we saw spillovers on the road), and the fields already plowed up. They also grow grapes, which are not yet harvested, but look good.
This is the same hill as above, but a little further down the road, and shows the church on the hill. Italians like to build churches in visible locations, like we like to build temples. Of course, I would have liked to have seen them all, but there are way too many. It would take a lifetime. I suspect to see that one you would have to drive up the hill on a very windy, narrow road, with switchbacks, for about 15 minutes, one way, and then it may not be open.
We got to the castle and in the parking lot were lots of rose bushes with the largest "fruit" I have ever seen on a rose bush. I did not attempt to eat one.
There was this monument to the war dead from the First and Second World Wars. Italian towns, especially the small ones, have these monuments listing the names of the boys from that area who gave their lives, like our American soldiers did, for our freedom from Fascism and Nazism. One of the boys, Italo Sesenna, was only 22 years old when he was killed for our freedoms, including religion here in Italy.
Also nearby was a road sign showing the castles in this area. I took this pix in Picasa, cropped and fixed it so it was much easier to understand how medieval many castles there are. I don't know how to put these fixed pictures in this blog, or I would do it.
This is the castle, as seen from the road. It is called Vigoleno. It is on the top of a hill. This is hilly country, as you can see from the previous pictures.
This is the gate in the wall to go inside. There was a moat around it, and I wondered how they got that much water on the top of a hill. I suspect there was a draw bridge too, but it is now gone.
Inside the castle was this fountain, where I suspect the town folk got their drinking water. In this pix one can see two women carrying a portable music keyboard We later saw them in one of the churches practicing for a wedding, which took place about 1 pm.
Myrna took this pix of me getting a drink from the fountain. You can see one of the old churches in the back of this square. This is the larger of the two churches in this borgo.
On the door of that church is this sign, saying that at 7 pm that evening there was a concert of violin and piano, a Brahms sonata. I would have loved to have attended.
Within the borgo, or little town within the castle, there was a small shop for tourists. A woman was giving free samples of the cheese and salami they sell, which is made there in the area. This salami is air dried for about six months, it is not cooked, but cured in this way and is very tasty. I bought one of the long salami for €7.50, which is actually a good price too. Myrna does not like it, but I really do, especially with crusty bread and cheese.
Down the street, but within the castle walls, was this second medieval church. They were getting ready for a wedding, putting flowers on the benches, practicing the music, etc.
The medieval church did not have an organ, so they were using the keyboard and the soloist was practicing. I listened to all three numbers they were performing, including Shubert's Ave Maria. They sounded wonderful in that very reverberant church. It was very dark in the church, I didn't dare use flash and took this pix at quite a distance, so as not to disturb people. I would have loved to have stayed for the wedding, mostly for the music.
There are a few occupied homes within the borgo, so we saw clothes hung out to dry.
Some of the houses had little arbor areas and gardens, again within the walls of the medieval castle, where people have been continuously living for at least a thousand years.
Even grapes, apple and fig trees, all with ripe fruit.
This is an antique wine or apple press (I can't tell, but I am sure someone can.)
Every once in a while we could look over the walls to the valley below.
The guests were beginning to arrive for the wedding. Italians dress up for weddings, like this. The reception for after the wedding was also being held within the castle, at the restaurant.
Many of the guests were bringing wedding gifts.
This gives times for guided tours of the part of the castle where the lord's family lived. This is not open at all times and generally you have to have reservations. Also, things in Italy, including castles, close for a few hours around mid-day, and that is when we were there, so we did not stay for a tour, which would, undoubtedly, have been interesting. I thought about Jan being there, and whether they would like to have experienced this bit of Italy.
The bridesmaids, in their frilly dresses arrived, the mother carrying an OVS bag. OVS is a large department store chain in Italy. I am wearing an OVS white shirt as I type this.
The missionaries walked on every street in town, few are flat, walking shoes highly recommended.
More wedding guests arrive, notice the ladies dress styles, and definitely not wearing walking shoes.
A couple of guys getting the get-away car ready. They use bows and had a basket of goodies and a cooler of beverages, but no tin cans, toilet paper, sprayed windows or "just married" signs.
One of the signs showed this castle, Borgo di Vigoleno, near Vernasca, from the air. Sorry about the reflection. One of about 25 in this small part of Italy. I would not be surprised if there are not at least a thousand castles in Italy.
On the way back to the parking lot, down the hill, we passed by an ancient fig tree and I ate a couple of figs. I really like them, but none of the other three of us do. (Next to the public well, from which I draw 1.5 liters of sparking (carbonated) water each morning about 10 am, there is a fig tree and I always eat a couple of them on my short walk back to the office.) Italians like figs as an appetizer with raw (cured) ham and melon (cantaloupe. which literally means, in Italian, running fox, but was named for Cantalupo, a place near Rome in the early 1700s.)
Driving down the hill we passed by many vineyards, with ripe (I guess almost ripe, because they aren't yet harvested) grapes, both red and green.
I do eat figs off "public" trees, but I do not steal grapes from vineyards, as much as I would like to have tasted one. These are for wine and probably would have had seeds and not have been like table grapes, anyway, at least that is what I told myself to keep from stealing one. Now, Jesus' apostles did "harvest" corn from a field, on the Sabbath, and it would have been illegal, because, according to Jewish law, it was unlawful to harvest anything on the Sabbath.
On the way to the next castle, we drove through many little towns in the Parma (think cheese) area, all with old churches. We stopped at a few of them, either closed (this was mid-day) or they did not have playable organs.
When we got to the town with the castle, we were hungry and Sister Salatino likes her salads for lunch (Myrna and I, last Saturday, stopped at a grocery store and bought a couple of fresh rolls, ham and cheese and made ourselves "sandwiches," which we ate on the tailgate of our car.) So they wanted to go to this trattoria, which is like a folksy restaurant, which is called Trattoria del Teatro (trattoria of the theater, which we did not see, but I suppose was adjacent.)
Although it would have been pleasant to sit outside, where it was cooler (there was no air conditioning), we were seated inside, next to the kitchen, where we could see the waiters bringing food out (that was interesting to see it all). We ordered pasta dishes. Myrna's was large tortelli, which are like ravioli, only larger, stuffed with a cheese and a veggie mixture. She asked about one stuffed with asino, but our busy waitress, said, when asked what asino is, made a hee-haw sound, and Myrna did not want to eat what that sounded like (literally ass), so she opted for cheese. Mine was large home-made flat egg noodles with meat sauce. (Notice the lace"Last Supper" on the back wall, real table cloths, large wine glasses, etc.
My half-eaten lunch, €13, and pretty "typical." I made some sugo today that tastes pretty much like this, but have yet to make home made egg noodles.
The end of Myrna's meal. Anziano Salatini had the same pasta as I did, and she had marinated (in olive oil and sugar, agridulce), veggies like green beans, carrots, onions etc. because they apparently did not have have salad. The total bill, including water and cover charge (you don't tip in Italy any more) was €53, compared with the €8 Myrna and I spent last Saturday for our panini and drinks, but it was an interesting cultural experience, priceless, for which Mr. Visa paid.
The parking area at the trattoria was only a short walk from the castle near the center of town, which was not on a hill. The moat water was green.there was no river nearby, that we saw.
Another view of the moat, with a church to the left and castle to the right.
The entrance to the castle. The drawbridge was also gone. This castle is owned by the city, and is maintained like a city park.
The ceiling of the entrance, with ancient frescos with coats of arms, which must have been a big deal, because there were so many everywhere.
I spotted this one for the Farnese family, which was a very prestigious family for many centuries. I have a friend in Soda Springs, Darrell Farnes. I don't know if this ancestors were Italian or not, but it was typical of Italians, who immigrated to America, to drop the final vowel, to make their name sound more "American," so perhaps he is descended from this family. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't over 100 of these family crests.
In the inner courtyard we spotted a knight and lady, to which we were drawn.
Knight Giovanni, il rotondo, and Lady Myrna, la bellisima.
We had to wait about a half hour for our tour to begin.
We walked around the garden area, where, according to an old painting we later saw, must have been a nice garden area, where veggies and fruits were grown, within the castle walls.
At this point my blog died, so I started another post, and then was able to resurrect this one, so continue to the next posting for this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment