Well, we could say it was a “standard,” “common” or perhaps “traditional” Sunday with an Italian family. We began the day with a cornetto and caffè down at the bar and then walked up to the chiesa to attend la messa. This is our fourth visit to Monteferrante for a total of perhaps six weeks living in the village so we are familiar with the town. Still, we’ve not figured out why all those years ago the residents of this and other Italian towns chose to place their churches at the highest point of their villages! 

St. John the Baptist is a very nice church although quite plain on the outside. We’ve been told that the population up here barely exceeded 200 at the best of times – it’s down to 60 year-round residents now. How so few could build and maintain such a nice church is just amazing to us.

If you have not seen blogs from our earlier trips, you might be interested to know that many of the residents of my hometown, Cranford, NJ, have roots here in Monteferrante. In fact, the last major renovation of the church here was funded by those residents. Many also come back each summer and have houses here.

Speaking of houses and the 60 residents I mentioned, some of these houses are in very good condition while others not so much. Notice the roofs of some are relatively new and quite functional while others seem to have been repaired using the old, standard tiles.

Back at the Ambrosini house, the women continued preparations for lunch. Gabriella had skipped church as she planned on making a ragu which requires earlier preparation so it can cook longer. The kitchen smelled wonderful when we walked in.

Gabriella’s sister, and our cousin, Cinzia, arrived a little before noon. We had been feeling pretty good about our ability to keep up with Antonino and Gabriella while speaking Italian but when the speed demon arrived, she had to be three paragraphs ahead of us before we figured out the first sentence!

There were only the five of us for lunch. We prepared some pasta with the ragu and some sausage, pancetta and pork for the secondo. Fruit was for dessert.

We then visited the cemetery where relatives of the family are buried. As is typical, we spent a little time cleaning up the flowers and sweeping away the dust and dirt that had accumulated. The cemetery is way down the hill and away from the residences. 

Later that day, after Cinzia had gone home, Gabriella made a couple of pizzas, one with mozzarella and another with fresh tomatoes as the pizza sauce. Both were yummy. 

Now it was time for bed. However, the time was short lived for Antonino and Gabriella came down to tell us the power was out at their house in Ortona and they had to leave and go check it out and see what was going on. So they left and we went to bed and that was the end of their visit here on Sunday.

We are at the house in Monteferrante and the weather leaves a little bit to be desired. It’s chilly, around 55 degrees, so we are bundled up with coats that Gabriella leaves at the house. But, with clean mountain water, clean mountain air and sufficient blankets, we sleep exceedingly well! Buona notte.