Ferragosto occurs on 15 August, the middle of August. Hot in most parts of Italy; quite nice in Monteferrante. It’s also the real time Italy shuts down for vacation. Busy here in Monteferrante with many more visitors than over the weekend. It being a national, religious holiday leads to even more people being off and coming up here to see relatives. And in many cases, to visit with relatives from the States. We had another Cranford, NJ, person arrive today — Sarah della Serra. The list grows and grows!

One could say Monteferrante is a very small town with not much to do. This might be true although while we have been here, there is a certain hustle and bustle of people well into the evening. The piazza, the bar, the ristorante (at least for lunch) and the streets – people out, talking, playing cards and other forms of entertainment. Part of it is the return every August of relatives and friends from all over Italy and elsewhere, including Cranford, NJ, and the catching up on news and people as well as the retelling of family histories. Certainly we have been a part of that!

On the other hand, we’ve already experienced the Cillitt (donut) festival, the grand opening of an antique house, and a concert at the bar Saturday night, or was it Friday night? We’ve attended mass twice. Yes, the priest speaks English but no, he did not give us a break from Italian during the service. But then, no Latin either! We’ve checked out the vegetable, clothes and general merchandise vendors who drive up into town every couple of days. We actually think we’ll go for a drive today, Monday, the 15^th, and this will be our first venture out of town!

Jim and I enjoy the slower pace and have not found ourselves looking for things to do. There is a bit of a routine here: once you are up for the day, dressed, and taken your morning walk, it’s time to go to the bar in the center of town for un caffè and perhaps a pastry. It is also the time to catch up on gossip or things you did the previous day and evening and what you plan to do that day. This might sound odd to some folks but trust me when I say by the time you do all of this, it’s time for lunch! Of course lunch is a cooked meal that you can either eat at home or at the restaurant. Either one is quite good and probably your big meal of the day.

After that it’s time for un pisolino (nap, siesta) which I have never done but for some reason, it’s really a good idea here. I’m trying not to do a ton of walking this soon after my leg operation. So far it’s behaving but I can tell when I’ve overdone it and it’s time to sit and put the leg up for a while.

After a little relaxation it’s time to head out for another walk, stop at the bar to see who’s there and of course sit down and chat, have coffee or a drink or watch the men play cards. There is always much to talk about or if you don’t have anything to say, you listen to the conversation and pick up what Italian you can and follow the conversation. All conversations are what I call “open to the public” so you listen, add your own comments and laugh. Once the people of Monteferrante find out you actually have a connection here and who your family was/is, then it’s all good and they are happy to have you here and ask you all sorts of questions. It’s a lot of fun but I don’t always understand the language and do my best to figure it out. Thankfully Jim is better with languages than I am and gets me out of some tough spots.

We are also learning more about our family here and that is really interesting. We plan to document everything so I can pass it along to our family in Cranford.

We toured la casa antico on opening day – it’s a house that was left behind when its owners emigrated to the U.S. (There are many such houses here and other little towns in Italy. They simply transfer to the communities after some number of years of total vacancy.) The town association decided to fix it up to it’s original state and show it to the public. Saturday was the grand opening and boy were we in for a nice surprise. Of course it is a very small house, kitchen on the first floor and a bedroom upstairs. You notice I did not mention a bathroom! The rooms were set up exactly as they had been all those years ago and I just could not imagine how much work the women had to do in such a small space and raise a family in that same space. I can only say we are extremely spoiled today!

In a lower level room, just off the kitchen, is where the animals were kept. The association had fixed up and plastered the room in order to display photos of townspeople and their activities over the years. There were people from the town who were on the Andria Doria ship when it went down. We’ve actually met one of the survivors, Ada de Fabio, who is here now and who lives in Cranford normally! But the biggest surprise was finding this photo of Sophie Massa, one of the ladies with whom my grandmother used to spend hours talking on her front porch.

We then went to the museum and saw tools used by the farmers and the items women used in their homes to cook, bake and clean. They had quite the collection and it was nice to see everything so nicely displayed. Yes, I am a member!

If things really get slow, there is always Adolfo’s garage to keep us busy. These photos do not do it justice. It is like the tool section in Sears! Everything from wood cutting and splitting equipment to wood carving tools to drills and drill bits for boring holes into the stone walls of these buildings. Air compressors, propane torches – well, look at the pictures! And then there was his car and maybe a dozen bicycles, reflecting different ages of his grandchildren as they grew up!

Jim began his Sunday with a hike up the hill above the town where he took some great photos of the town and found where the water from the upper hills flows into the cistern and then down to the city. Monteferrante benefits from free water so to speak and the free electricity. Not only do they get their electricity mostly from the windmills and solar panels but the utility pays the town some 180,000 Euros a year. Not bad for a little hill town with no more than 40 people most of the year.

After attending mass with other family members, we headed over to Maria’s for il pranzo (lunch.) I went over early to help with the preps and cooking but mostly watched the others – and learned. The meal was fairly simple, and relatively easy to prepare. Vincenzo, Maria’s son and a professor at the culinary university here in Abruzzo, brought along several bottles of wine – all excellent. His daughter Alessia also teaches in the culinary world. This Sunday meal reminded both of us of the “olden” days when the entire family gathered around the table.

After lunch, now 3:00 PM or so, we visited the town cemetery and paid our respects to our family ancestors. My grandfather’s sisters are buried here as are many of the Ambrosini family. We also paid our respects to the Califano family members buried here as Domenico Califano, who had lived in Cranford and helped us with both of our trips to Monteferrante, had just died back in New Jersey. We’ve met one of his sons and a nephew here. The nephew owns a very nice restaurant in Rome which we’ve promised to visit when we are there in September.

Today, Monday, we finally left the village. Cugina (cousin) Gabriella drove us down the hill to see the Tenuto Villa Rossa where Chad, Juli, Michele, Connie and Simon will stay. Beautiful, and a good bit more modern than the homes here. Today is a holy day and a big holiday. There are even more visitors in town now. Then there are the cyclists and motor cyclists riding through town. It seems more busy than Cranford or Oro Valley!

Well, I think I hear Gabriella calling Francesca and Jim a pranzo (to lunch) so I better go. Hopefully we’ll be able to post this blog stasera (this afternoon.)

Ciao!