Dear Family,
Here is our second letter/journal installment.
As I mentioned in my last letter, Giuliano and Rosalba have totally
spoiled us, taking care of just about everything for us. But Tuesday,
we were on our own for lunch (in San Pietro), and the whole day.
I went to the post office by myself. The first challenge was to find
it. Then communication with the postal worker was another.
As I said, when in Italy, I did not want to
hurt anyone’s feeling and wanted to try the local cuisine, so would
give up being vegetarian for the three weeks here. But we made a
disaster of choosing our lunch. First, everything closes between 1:00
and 3:00. So we went out walking about town and nothing was open. We
ended up in a restaurant just outside of town. The waiter spoke no
English and we were nervous about our first time on our own. He rattled
off this & this, and we said OK. We ended up with an antipasto of
ham, cheese and sausage, then 2 kinds of pasta and then veal and
sausage. Way too much meat for me! (And a lunch that cost 38
Euros - about $50). That night, Giuliano had a treat for us - meat
cooked over the fire. If anything will keep me a vegetarian, it is all
this meat I’m not enjoying. The people here eat about four times as
much as Mark and I. [Rosalba introduced us to a locally made cheese
called caciocavallo. Very Good!]
[On Wednesday, we all drove to a town named
Pescocostanzo.
I drove our rental car and Giuliano drove his 500. Two
other friends of Giuliano joined us, Sabatino ("Kojak") diSanza and his
wife, Colomba Musilli.
Pescocostanzo is high up in the mountains (on the slopes of Mont
Calvario), north of Castel di Sangro (which is just north of SPA). The
town originally was a cattle and sheep raising center but changed over
time to arts and crafts such as stone carving, wrought iron working and
weaving (lace). We walked around town and had gelato (ice cream). Since
we were there in the afternoon, everything, including the church was
closed.]
Sabatino diSanza, Columba Musilli, Giuliano, Rosalba, and Mark in Pescocostanzo
We invited Giuliano and Rosalba out to dinner
on Wednesday night as a small “thank you”. They invited a few friends
(“dutch” for everyone else) and there ended up being 18 at dinner. We
especially went to have “pasta e fagioli”, which actually ended up
being “gnocchi e fagioli.” It was the best I had ever tasted! [The
dinner was at a restaurant owned by Nello, a cousin of Giuliano.]
Giuliano was true to his word and through the
Mayor, he procured some organ music from another city [Actually it was
piano music which Sally adapted for the organ.]. I had an afternoon
[Wednesday] and a morning [Thursday] to practice, and he set me up to
do a concert for his friends, the Mayor and his wife, and the Priest.
They have a nice small pipe organ that had been restored four years
ago, but no one in town who could play. So I worked up five songs, the
first 4 from the classics and the last one, a folk song, written by
Giuliano’s father about San Pietro. About 25 attended. I was nervous,
but it was fun too, to give a little something back.
Sally practicing for her concert with the help of Mauro and Giuliano.
[Here are the pieces that Sally played:
1. Celebre Largo - Handel
2. Ave Maria - Schubert
3. Danza Ugherese #5, J. Brahms
4. Studio Opus 10 N. 3 - F. Chopin
5. Valle sanpietrese - words by E. Colaianni, music
by C. Silvestri]
The audience at Sally's concert. The woman in the middle is Giuliano's mother Licia diTella, daughter of Teridano diTella.
Group shot of the concert attendance. Includes the mayor and the parish
priest.
Back Row: Pino D'Antonio, Nicola (Nico) Ruta
, Giovanni Lotta, Anna Craboledda, my cousin Giuliano Colajanni
Middle Row: Roberto Craboledda , priest Don Felice, Maria Ruta, Flora
Rusciano Lotta, Mauro Colajanni, Antonio DiLudovico
Center Row: Rita Carella D'Antonio (wife of Pino), Rosalba Colajanni,
Sally DiVecchio
Front Row: Virginio Palumbo, Luigi (of senior center), three children
of the town, Licia diTella, Anna Gatti
Stroller: grandchild of Virginio Palumbo
We leave tomorrow for Sant’Eufemia. Mark’s
cousin, Maria and her husband, Domenico, are waiting for us there.
(They said “don’t eat before you get here.”) (We are both going on
diets when we get home.)
Thursday night was a presentation of the local
folk music in the Piazza. Mark’s cousin, Donatella, and her daughter
were part of the choral group. [They sang many of the songs written by
Giuliano’s father including Valle sanpietrese which Sally played during
her organ recital. During the concert, we had the privilege of being
called to go up on the stage and be introduced to the whole town. We
had a song dedicated to us, the “Passport Song” which implores people
who are thinking about leaving SPA, instead to stay. This song was
written in the 1950's by Giuliano’s father.]
The folk singing group in San Pietro - the concert started at 10:00 P.M.
Sally and Mark with cousins - Dontatella on left and her daughter,
Claudia, on
the right.
[This same evening we met a man from Chicago
who spends several months a year in San Pietro. I didn't get his first
name but the family name was diCianno. He was here with his son, Nick.
We also met two young men visiting relatives who, like us, spoke only
English.]
Love to you all! (More later!)
Sal & Mark
[The next morning, we left San Pietro. Here are photos taken that
morning in front of Giuliano and Rosalba's house]
Fabrizio, Rosalba and Giuliano Colajanni
(Youngest son, Adriano, was vacationing at the seashore, but
we had met him in Roma.)
Antonia Magnione and Mauro Colaianni
Flora Rusciano and Giovanni Lotta
Donatella Colaianni and Corrado diCroce
The whole crew
Sally and Mark getting ready to go to Sant'Eufemia
[One person that I did not get a good
photo of was Giuseppe "Pino" D'Antonio. He is a painter and he gave
Sally a painting that he did of San Pietro. Pino works for a large
company and speaks very good English. He was born in South America so
he also speaks Spanish. His given name is "Jose". His family is not
from San Pietro but is from a town in the same area as my father's hometown.]
