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Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio Libro scelto da:
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Laundry Lines So the laundry has been washed…what about drying it?
Or again…in the tiny town of Onano which straddles the Tuscan-Lazio border we came across this mono-thematic clothesline. The Fiat 500 and Piaggio scooter parked under the house confirm that this homeowner appreciates…. iconic retro Italian design.
Spanish Tuscany Can’t decide whether to take your holidays in Tuscany or Spain? You can have it both ways in this corner of Tuscany that was once a little bit of Spain. Porto San to Stefano, Porto Ercole and Orbetello are three towns on the Monte Argentario peninsula which conserve reminders of their 150 years (1557-1707) as a Spanish enclave or presidios. Epigraphs and funerary monuments in the churches record governors and soldiers who died here far from their homeland, Spanish family names abound and local speech includes dozens of archaic Spanish words. More visible testimonies are the majestic doorway and city walls of Orbetello and fortress-castles constructed by military architects. Surrounding the yacht harbors of Porto Ercole and Cala Galera are Forte Filippo, named for the warrior king, Forte Stella with its star design and la Rocca overlooking the beach where Caravaggio died. The Fortezza of Porto Santo Stefano and the Polveriera Guzman in Orbetello have both recently been adapted from their former military uses to become local history museums. Several 17th century palaces built by the military rulers have been restored and one lone windmill, the last of a long line, still stands forlornly in the lagoon, similar to those of Don Quixote’s la Mancha .
Adapted from Mary Jane Cryan’s soon to be published: Etruria Past and Present -travel, history and itineraries in central Italy.
Traditional Hemp The use of hemp (canapa) goes back thousands of years and in Italy it was a major source for clothing, burlap bags, ropes, sails and those beautiful hand-crafted and embroidered sheets that were an important part of every girl’s dowry.
On view are many examples of this natural textile made by hand on looms and embroidered by generations of local women. For the occasion local families have allowed their precious heirlooms to be presented in public…but just for the day. The pleasure of sleeping on hemp sheets-cool in summer and warm in winter- are known to those lucky few who still have these heirloom sheets in their linen closets. A collection of tools used in hemp cloth production are also on exhibit and include carding combs, spinning wheels and spindles of Sleeping Beauty fame. The quality and virtues of clothing made from hemp (in Italian canapa) is now being rediscovered by Italian and American fashion designers who are racing to design stylish collections of shirts and jeans produced from this amazing, historic organic material . Penny Candy Italian Style Remember red coated peanuts called Boston baked beans, wax lips filled with syrupy liquid, candy buttons on a strip of paper, good & plenty licorice and chocolate flavoured tootsie rolls? The local version of enny candy can be found at fairs and markets all over the country where stalls (bancarelle) sell every conceivable merchandise. Vendors of dried fruit and sweets from Vallerano and Canepina travel so far and wide that tradition says when Colombus arrived in the New World, he found one of these stalls selling dried fruit and candies. The colorful but nameless candies are displayed next to dried figs, chestnuts, peperoncino as well as imported spices and fruits; banana, pineapple, and even cranberries.
Wedding of the Trees
Vetralla
- On May 8th each year since 1432 the town of Vetralla, 68 kms north
of Rome along the Via Cassia, celebrates the Wedding of the Trees, making
it probably the first and most genuine festa ecologica (green or
environmental celebration).
Bologna
Bologna
- Known as La Dotta (the wise) for its historic university
founded in 1088, and La Grassa (the fat) for its incredible
cuisine, Bologna is also famous as the city where umbrellas are not
needed, thanks to an ingenious network of covered sidewalks or porticos.
Beginning
at Porta Saragozza, Bologna's south-western gate, the portico's
666 arches stretch for over two miles. The uphill leg begins at the
impressive Meloncello archway and continues past frescoed chapels
and numerous memorial plaques honoring patrons who helped build or restore
the majestic portico . From the top of the hill there are
lovely views of the city and surrounding landscape below.
Traditional
Christmas Cards A nice traditional way to wish family and friends "Auguri" and "Buon Natale".
Wash
day at Il Lavatoio
Vetralla - Lavatoio simply means "wash
house". Many that were built in the 1850's in the smaller towns are
still fully functional. This neighborhood wash house, for example, is
still used every day by the signore of Piazza del Sole
(Piazza of the Sun) in the beautiful town of Vetralla, about 45
miles north-west of Rome.
The first signora to arrive gets the "upper" tub where
the clean water flows in. After a hearty scrub on the smooth stone, the
clothes are rinsed, then hung to dry in the piazza. During summer's
hottest days the lavatoio does double duty as an improvised pool
for the local kids.
Antipasti
Vetralla - Antipasti are
appetizers, but the variety (and ocasionally quantity) is enormous and
will please any kind of hungry gourmet - vegetarian or meat lover .
Usually in the fancier restaurants the waiter will bring a plate with
tasty tidbits such as tortino di spinaci (spinach baked in filo
dough), sliced pears and walnut bruschetta ,wild boar sausage, and
bresaola (thinly sliced cured beef) with arugula.
The antipasti buffet like the one above set up in a garden of Vetralla by
chef Antonio (below) is a delight to behold as well as to devour. The
standard loaded plates such as this one taken from an open antipasto
buffet in a local restaurant will often include bruschetta, prosciutto,
fagioli (beans), supplì (deep-fried rice balls), fried zucchini,
frittata, roasted peppers, and parmigiano. Buon appetito!
Days
of Remembrance
Italy - On Tutti i Santi, All Saints Day, Nov.1st, and La Festa dei Morti, Day of the Dead, in Italy Nov.2nd, the dead are remembered by visiting their graves. Over these few days many families make an outing to the large cemeteries on the outskirts of the big cities (the traffic jams are legendary!).
During this long weekend (the 1st is a holiday), an all-Italian tradition
is to decorate family graves and war monuments with yellow, white and
other colored chrysan- themums, the bigger and fluffier the better. So
although these flowers are colorful and lovely, be sure to NEVER bring
them as a gift to someone's home. Your host or hostess will not want them
in the house, and not knowing what to do with them will probably invent
some feeble excuse to place them outside the front door.
Local
Wine - Cheap and Cheerful
Gas prices might keep on rising, but at the pump of a cantina sociale
(communally owned wine press and storage facility), you will really get
your euro's worth of energy: liters of hearty red or white local wine.
A visit to one of the many local cantine sociali will not only
save you money but you will be sure to meet some interesting characters.
Bring your own empty bottles, better if they are 5 liter size. Costs vary
but usually the sfuso, or
unbottled, simple table wine can be purchased for about l euro per liter .
. . cheaper than gas for the car! (Bottled wine is also available, but
more "expensive" . . E.1.50 per bottle!) North of Rome we recommend the cantine sociali at Tarquinia, Montefiascone and Vignanello, where you can buy local wine directly from the producers.
Several towns (Vignanello and Montefiascone are famous) also hold wine
festivals during August. In Pianoscarano, a neighborhood of Viterbo for
example, the 13th century fountain flows with free wine on the second
Sunday of October and the local lads compete in a race pushing wine casks
uphill.
Perfume
of Winter “Spendi in lana cio' che non spendi in legna," goes the old Roman adage. (You spend in wool what you don't spend in wood.) Even newly built homes will have a fireplace or two, but there are chores involved before you can enjoy the perfume of burning wood and the warm, smoky comfort of a crackling fire. Wood needs to be bought, cut, stacked and dried for several months before use and even homes without gardens and woodsheds are set up for wood storage beneath the stairs. Preparing and setting the fire may seem a simple task, but for city dwellers it can be a nightmare, or a science to be learned from those with years of expertise (crumpled paper below, small pieces, large pieces on top). An extra bonus : as the ashes and cinders are scooped up and the fireplace swept clean each day, one intimately understands the childhood story of Cinderella.
Vetralla (VT)
-. January is the month when Italian pigs make the commitment . . . tons
of pork meat gets prepared in country homes, farms, and macellerie
(butcher shops) all over Italy.
On
Ash Wednesday in the tiny town of Gradoli on Lake Bolsena in Northern
Lazio, members of the Confraternita del Purgatorio (roughly the
Purgatory Religious Brotherhood) serve a seated luncheon for more than
2000 people, as they have been doing for the past 700 years.
allowed
in the camp kitchens. The young waiters zip among the tables carrying huge
platters emblazoned with the confraternita's coat-of-arms while
older members toil over gigantic copper cauldrons bubbling over open
fires, ensuring that the closely guarded recipes are prepared according to
tradition. The menu, of strict Lenten fasting, has remained unchanged
through the centuries and includes beans, fish broth with rice, fried
whiting, pike and baccalá (cod) . . . and for desert - an apple. Photos courtesy of Richard Thompson |
These photos show that solar energy is
still the preferred method for drying laundry in most parts of Italy. On
sunny days balconies are festooned with laundry except in some historic
towns like Venice where the practice is forbidden for it would mar the
facades of noble buildings and tourists’ photos as well. Many families in
northern Italy now depend on electric dryers (not as much sun in those
parts either). 
Pay
close attention and you’ll notice that laundry lines also tell us
something about the people. The line-up of aprons shows that the home
owner is probably a cook or runs a shop selling food. 
These
drying jeans hanging from a balcony in Vetralla hide one of the town’s
oldest monuments lodged above the ugly metallic garage door and a half
collapsed balcony. The unmistakable papal logo of a tiara and crossed keys
is a testimony of the visit of Pope Nicholas V Tomasso Parentucelli who
reigned as Pope between 1447 and 1455 and visited Vetralla during the
summer of 1454. 
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