Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 17-19 October.  Monteferrante, Abruzzo

Friday it was time to leave Naples. Hopped in a taxi to Hertz for the rental car and off we go on our way to Monteferrante. The drive was absolutely beautiful and again very different from other areas of Italy. Never knowing what to expect and always finding the beauty of Italy, is a great experience.

We drove to ‎⁨Francavilla al Mare⁩ near Ortona which was the location of our hotel on the sea. It is another beautiful area and was very quiet since the tourist season is now over. We walked on the beach, took some photos and had a great fish lunch at the hotel.

This was to be our meal of the day but that didn’t work. We got hungry again  so we ventured out in the car and found a restaurant up the road that was open. Turned out to be a wonderful find. We were the only ones in there (after all it was only 7pm and by Italian standards, this is way too early to eat dinner), but for us it turned out to be a lot of fun. The restaurant is family owned, and since we were the only customers, we got all their attention. We decided to share a pasta dish, fish dish, dessert. They brought out the pasta and we met the chef who informed us that he never splits meals like this so we were very special. Turned out this chef was a top chef at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, AZ! So now in addition to meeting an artist, a sculptor and a tenor, we can add a famous chef to our list of celebrities. We feel very special now.

A few shots of the beach/Adriatic Sea area.

Saturday was our day to visit Monteferrante, the home of mom’s family. The drive to Monteferrante was unbelievable. The roads were uphill, extremely curvy with gorgeous views. I had a death grip on the arm of the door because we were close to the edge of the road and there were no guard rails as we climbed higher and higher to the top of the mountain.  We pulled over to capture a few photos before arriving in Monteferrante.

We arrived in Monteferrante, a small village that currently has 70 families living on top of this beautiful mountain where everyone knows each other! When we arrived, it was obvious we were newcomers to the area and they were expecting us. We parked our car, grabbed a bottle of water at the little store and walked around the area because Adolfo, our cousin, was out on his morning walk. The village is so quaint but the streets are all newly brick paved and everything was so clean and beautiful. We took many photos of the village and its gorgeous surrounding areas. We are constantly amazed at the beauty of each place we visit and how everything can be so different and pleasing to the eye. A few shots of the area.

Having walked to the top of the hill and town where the church is located, we started back down to the Centro piazza where there is a fountain with a circular bench that you can sit at and there Adolfo was sitting, waiting for us. We discovered that Adolfo is the son of our grandfather’s sister and to say that he was beyond happy to see us is a huge understatement! He just couldn’t believe that we actually came to Italy and took the effort to go to our mother’s famiglia’s home town to meet our relatives! We were in for an afternoon that we never expected and it was unbelievable. I said in my blog from San Giovanni Gemini (dad’s famiglia roots) that I left a piece of my heart there. Well I have to say that I left a chunk of my heart in Monteferrante as well after meeting the family and all they did for us!

Here is a shot of Adolfo with me and Connie – his looks reminded us so much of our grandfather, stature, personality and looks, it felt so awesome.

Adolfo took us to his house which was just beautiful. We were surprised by the size of it and the size of the rooms as well.

He has a beautiful view of the mountains and valley beyond, a balcony that overlooks the street and like many places in Italy, it’s easy to stand on your balcony and talk to your neighbors or in his case, his sister!

She wanted to meet us so we went on the balcony and chatted and even with our limited Italian, we knew what she was saying and it ended with – we were going to her house after we had lunch! A direct order – yes but said with a smile!

We stayed at Adolfo’s house for a bit because he was showing us all the rooms and all his things. We sat in the dining room, which was a good size and held a table large enough to seat 8, and he showed us pictures of the family. This one in particular caught our eye because it is a photo of the men with our grandfather on one of his visits. We just could not believe it!

We also got to see all the musical instruments: three accordions, one of which he proceeded to play for us, and we have on video, mandolin, guitar, flute, piano, you name it he had it and everyone in the family plays these instruments. When a family member from the States comes to visit, they plan a big feast and there is tons of food, music, dancing in the streets and everyone is invited. It is one huge party. Since they did not have the exact date of our arrival early on, we had no feast per say but to us what we had was a feast in itself!

After a few minutes I lost track of the hugs and kisses and yes it’s kisses to both cheeks! This is much more fun than a handshake! Adolfo’s biggest thing with me – he kept feeling my arm and telling me I needed to spend more time in the cucino and eating to gain some weight! My husband and my sister thought this was extremely funny – you all know how I feel about gaining a ton of weight! 🙂

The restaurant Adolfo took us to for lunch, the only one in town, had wonderful food and we sat there for several hours eating course after course, after course. We were so stuffed we didn’t think we’d be able to move after this fantastic meal. We met more of the locals and they were so excited to think that the family from the US would take time from their trip in Italy to go up to Monteferrante. We gained a lot of brownie points and oh yeah, more hugs and kisses. Even Jim got a lot of kisses from both men and women! He is now a bonafide ‘almost’ Italian!  We were so overwhelmed with the reception we received and the love, it was extremely emotional. Poor Adolfo came to tears a few times, he was so overcome by our visit. Hard for me to keep from balling my eyes out!

Connie and I became members of the Museum of Monteferrante  (yes, they have a museum in the village) – we have the membership cards to prove it. In San Giovanni Gemini, I was Francesca Capodici and Connie was Concetta Capodici. In Monteferrante, I am Francesca Berardinelli and Connie is Concetta Berardinelli. Pretty darn cool if you ask me and Jim even thought that was awesome!

After our meal of the day, we went to visit Adolfo’s sister where cake and drinks were set on the table. By this time, Connie and I just looked at each other and hoped they didn’t hear our groan because we truly didn’t think we’d be able to eat one more thing so to avoid bad feelings, we ate what we could and just had to leave the rest. Adolfo’s sister Maria was really cool, I think older than Adolfo but I really couldn’t tell. He’s 82 and she was somewhere around there as well. She had all her wits about her and gave him such a time and we all laughed. She really liked us and loved that we were giving Adolfo a hard time too. Again, Adolfo kept grabbing my arm and letting everyone know I needed to eat more and put meat on my bones.

There was very little English spoken so Connie and I had to work very hard to get the gist of the conversations but all in all, we did a good job. It was hard to get every word but we were able to understand where the conversation was going and knew they wanted us to stay the night with them and Adolfo did not want to take no for an answer but his sister finally yelled at him with a smile and we all cracked up laughing.

The end of the day was met with a promise to get the whole family to Monteferrante next year where we would have our very own ‘family feast’ with food, music and dancing in the street with the whole village! It is a promise of something so memorable, we will treasure it for years! So now we have to convince the whole family that this is a great idea and they all need to jump on board with us. Yes  brother Jimmy, that means your family as well!  We told them we would do our best to get everyone there for this feast and I think it is the only way we were able to leave the town without being held hostage.

I thank my husband for setting up a trip to our family roots. My sister and I will NEVER forget it! Of course he had just as much fun as we did and they loved him because he ate and drank whatever they gave him – he’s a trooper!

Sunday – a day to relax, pack and eat again! We had lunch at the same restaurant we ate at Friday night and each had a pasta or risotto dish which hopefully will hold us until morning since we ate later in the afternoon.

A few last minute selfies and photos of the three travelers! We really are having fun!

I realize you all must think all we do is eat but we are in Italy and we must do as the Italians do, eat and talk so we are fitting in quite nicely. Italy is all about the food, the laughter, the chatter and of course the hand gestures – and oh yeah the kissing!

Please enjoy our photos with comments – we are off to Bologna in the morning.

Ciao, Ciao, Ciao as they say in Italy!