Spagblog

For a number of reasons I have let the blog slide.  However I do still feel the lure of social media so I have set up both a Twitter account and a Facebook page – named @antgramsci29 and www.facebook.com/Antoniogramsci29 respectively.

(Please FOLLOW and LIKE if you will).

Thanks to a quick thinking friend I avoided calling the new accounts viagramsci29…

In due course these will both serve the two rental apartments directly (in conjunction with a designated website and a new-style blog to be sure) however in the meantime I’ll try to keep up to date with things going on here at number 29 and in Sulmona & Abruzzo generally.

This is the pic I’ll be using as an avatar until further notice.

A presto amici miei.

The donkeys approach the campo

Almost all the local villages are celebrating their sagre about now. These are food festivals, each with a different theme, which take over the village for a day or two.

Yesterday we went to Navelli, high up on the way to L’Aquilla, for their Sagra di Zafferano e Ceci (saffron and chickpea festival).

What makes the sagra at Navelli a bit different is that in addition to the food stands and local handicrafts on show, the villagers put on a parody of the palio of Siena but with donkeys.

The locals dress up in Medieval costume, not unlike those worn here in Sulmona during the Giostra season, and lead the liveried donkeys up to the special campo.  Each donkey has a rider and a groom and obviously the donkey that crosses the finish line first is the winner. So? Well donkeys don’t like to race so it’s a bit of a game getting them to even complete one giro of the campo.  In fact it is the groom who does most work dragging the reluctant beast around whilst the jockey just bounces along giving him the odd kick.

Very silly but a good laugh nevertheless.

Then back to the main piazza for a porchetta sandwich, some chickpeas in tomato broth and a saffron flavoured ricotta pudding. Doppio buono

Everyone in Navelli plays their part

Giddyup!

La vista non deluda mai...

Ashby e l'Abruzzo

Today we went to the Polo Museale dell’Annunziata here in Sulmona to see a new photography exibition.  Thomas Ashby (1874-1931) was a well-known British Archeologist and Academic who was also the first student at, and later a director of, the British School in Rome.

He travelled extensively throughout Italy and made many trips to Abruzzo between 1901 and 1923;  notably to L’Aquilla, to Sulmona and to surrounding towns and villages such as Roccacasale, Cuccolo and Pratola Peligna.

His photos show a fascinating insight into the Abruzzi of a long-forgotten era.  We saw remarkable crowd shots of the people (mainly cafoni) in their traditional dress at the market, at their local festivals and simply going about their daily business in the street.  Whilst the people have changed beyond recognition almost, the towns and villages haven’t much.

We especially enjoyed this show as it also heralds the re-opening of the exhibition space in the Annunziata complex in the centre of Sulmona which has been closed since the earthquake of 2009.

Ashby e l’Abruzzo will continue to tour Abruzzo until the end of the year and will then return to a permanent home in L’Aquilla.

A full gallery of pics can be seen here:

http://www.ashbyelabruzzo.com/gallery_UK.html

The emblem of Porta Japasseri

We’ve moved precisely 500m N.N.E. across town but significantly are now in a different borgo.  Once proud residents of Filiamabili we are now getting used to the red, black and white heraldry of Porta Japasseri.  As we no longer have a balcony overlooking the road we no longer have a flag but we are right in the centre of our borgo and a stone’s throw from Piazza Santa Monica which is the social hub of Japasseri.

There are in fact 11 borghi and sestieri here in Sulmona however only 7 participate in the Giostra Cavalleresca each year.  Consequently these borghi make a much bigger show of their heraldry and offer a full calendar of social events which act as fundraisers for their participation in the Giostra.

We’re starting to get excited about this year’s Giostra and the season began this week with the Cordesca.  This is a mini Giostra for the local under 12’s, each representing their own borgo.  The competition itself is similar to the grown-ups’ but the children complete the circuit, gathering rings, on foot instead of on horse back.

The highlight of the two-day event is the Corteo Storico (historical procession) through town. The children dress up in medieval costume sporting the colours of their borgo.  Each has a full team of standard bearers, drummers, flag-twirlers, mini noble men and women and general foot soldiers. Sadly my usual photographer was off duty this week so the rubbish pics are mine I’m afraid.

La tamburina

I sbandieratori di Japasseri

There's even a job for the littlest ones...

Noble women.

Sulmona is the home of confetti here in Italy.  We have the oldest and most prestigious confetti factories and no wedding, baptism, confirmation, graduation or anniversary celebration is complete without the appropriate coloured confetti, beautifully presented.  But we’re not talking tiny shreds of coloured paper to throw – what we call confetti the Italians call coriandoli and this is for throwing at Carnevale not at weddings.  As any Italian will tell you, confetti are sugar-coated, almond confectionary.  These tiny little coloured jewels come in array of flavours and are often tied up into intricate shapes and posies.

As said no proper wedding is complete without confetti so obviously the city of Sulmona has sent a special gift to today’s special couple. I’m not sure this has made the UK press yet (at all) so this piece comes (unedited) from an Italian news site – apologies for the clumsy translating:

The association Azione ricerca e sviluppo of Abruzzo gave to the couple confetti, engraved with the names of the spouses, the date and the place of the wedding. These were realized using a particular technique that allows to create a “personalized” product, unique in the world.

The wedding of future king of the United kingdom, Prince William with Kate Middleton will be celebrated on the 29th of April 2011. Rumors say that the wedding dinner menu will be mainly English, with, perhaps, fruit and vegetables from the organic gardens of Prince Charles, father of the groom, but there will also be an Italian. The association Azione ricerca e sviluppo, Ars, of Sulmona, in fact, gave to the couple confetti of the Abruzzo city, famous for its small and delicious sweets.

On the occasion of the great wedding, the association also created a special bouquet of confetti for the bride, identifiable in all the colours and composition, as one of the unique product of the Sulmona handicraft. A tradition that has ancient roots, that identify the countryside of Abruzzi, as the real motherland of the confetti in all the national territory.

In the Anglo-Saxon weddings the habit of presenting the guest with confetti does not exist, but Franco Lezzi, president of the Association said that with this gift “we would like to honour the couple and congratulate them on their marriage and make the best wishes for their long intensive life journey”. A real particularity for this important date is represented from the fact that every confetto is engraved with the names of the couple, the date and the place of the wedding. This thanks to a particular technique that allows to create a “personalized” product, unique in the world

The initiative was carried on by Ars through the mediation of Italian Embassy in London. In fact, this gesture, besides their wish to present a wedding gift for the exclusive event – donating the best confetti existing – also aims to highlight the goodness of a product that made famous the name of Sulmona and in general to promote the made in Italy.

www.aiol.it

San Panfilo, Bishop of Sulmona

Saint Panfilo was elected Bishop of Sulmona in 682.  He was born into a pagan Abruzzese family who then disowned him after he became a Christian.  There isn’t much to say about him other than he was a generous man who helped to spread the word of Christianity, particularly amongst the Lombards.  He is our patron Saint here in Sulmona and we celebrate his life on April 28th.

Luckily for the Sulmonese, the feast of San Panfilo falls neatly between La Festa della Liberazione (April 25th) and the Festa del Lavoro (May 1st) so there is a nice long stretch of odd days off.  This year it crashes into Easter and we have lost the extra day as April 25th is of course Easter Monday – called Pasquetta here.  Jolly confusing really.

Our beautiful cathedral (built in 1075 on the site of an old temple) commemorates San Panfilo and there is also a statue of him on the elaborate facade of the Annunziata complex at the heart of our city.

La Cattedrale di San Panfilo, Sulmona

On the afternoon of the 28th there is a procession of the bust of San Panfilo through the streets of Sulmona .  This is an important religious festival after all.  The main attractions however are the stalls and stands which line the main Corso Ovidio and along the edge of the Villa Communale.  Not unlike a traditional English fair.

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the day that Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed the first king of a new united Italy.  Not everyone here supports the concept of a unified Italy but apparently it’s the first time that Italy has EVER celebrated Unification.  There are many in the north who simply feel that their own prosperous regions are being held back by the more ‘relaxed’ attitudes towards commerce of the southerners.  Despite this it does seem strange that it hasn’t been considered a day to mark in any way before now.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why any real sense of excitement has been slow in coming.  It took a while to decide to recognise the National Holiday – should shops and schools close?  Then to decide how to celebrate.  Here in Sulmona there was a corteo of servicemen who made their way from Piazza Garibaldi (obviously re-named post 1861!), down to the war-memorial, delivering wreaths along the way. So more of a tribute to the fallen than a party really.

Slowly, slowly this week Italian flags started appearing on balconies, and then a few shops created themed window displays, and then some red, green & white bunting was hung over the main Corso. So we are celebrating then?  Finally yesterday morning I spotted this in our neighbourhood.

Now that's what I call a flag!

Shrove Tuesday here is of course Martedì Grasso or Fat Tuesday. Same concept but the Italians don’t do pancakes.  Instead they do special fritelle which are basically deep-fried batter covered in sugar – not necessarily in a round or spherical shape. Of course every holiday here has its particular food, and there are many regional variations, but what is especially nice is that these foods appear and disappear with the holiday.  All made fresh and for a limited period they are an annual treat.  Not like mince pies piled high from October or hot cross buns in June.

This year we had some time free in the afternoon to enjoy the parade. The floats are mostly presented by the local schools and neighbourhood groups and of course the majority of participants are little children.  In Sulmona the sfilata starts from the Villa Comunale and continues up the  Corso Ovidio to the main Piazza Garibaldi.

Thankfully it was a sunny but fresh day (last year it rained…) so the spectators were out in force all the way along the route.

Here are some pics of our favourite floats:

The Ferrari Float

'Kingdom under the sea' presented by Lola di Stefano (Elementary School).

A whole symphony of musical notes...

Well it was cold....

San Cosimo & San Damiano (picture credit carpediemoria.it)

The first inkling I had of this was when a student mentioned to me that he would not be coming to class tonight as it’s ‘San Cosimo’.  Oh! Says I.  NO idea what that means or entails but OK – thanks for letting me know.

A while ago I had learnt the expression marinare a scuola which means to play truant (or to bunk off if you are into phrasal verbs). Well… today all the Liceo (High School) students in Sulmona bunk off school to honour San Cosimo.  It’s always the first Friday in March so this year it dovetails nicely into the 3 days off school for Carnevale next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tradition has it that on this day the students make their way up to the 16th Century Church of San Cosimo and San Damiano which is situated up on a hill overlooking the Valle Peligna.  Here they play and picnic all day and generally take it easy.  Local legend suggests that in the early days the students really did bunk off and the various school principals, faced with empty classrooms every year, simply bowed to pressure and recognised it as an official day off.  This tradition seems to have now spread beyond the Valle Peligna into Val Pescara but it is a distinctly Sulmonesi tradition that I quite admire.

Roccaraso (photo credit: The Guardian*)

The Independent 20/11/10

The expression “best-kept secret” is often used to promote lesser-known destinations, although might equally suggest “unsuccessful marketing” – rather like “could do better” on a school report. Every now and then, though, the “best-kept secret” turns out to be exactly that, and the ski areas of Abruzzo fit that category.

The region of Abruzzo lies in central Italy, occupying 130km of the Adriatic coast. Inland, the Appenine mountains soar to an altitude of 3,000m and bring heavy snowfall and a ski season from December until April. And it all lies within two hours of the airports of Naples, Rome and Pescara.

Roccaraso is by far the biggest of Abruzzo’s ski areas, with over 120km of piste, and is around 90 minutes by road from Naples. It’s also Abruzzo’s most established resort, celebrating its centenary this year. (Ski trivia buffs may be interested to know that it was the second resort in Italy, after Cortina d’Ampezzo, to install chairlifts.)

The village of Roccaraso stands at 1,250m, about 5km from the slopes; guests who choose to stay there access the pistes using the frequent ski buses. However, you can also stay at hotels at the base of three of the ski lifts – Pizzalto, Aremogna or Monte Pratello – and enjoy the benefits of skiing to the door.

For me, a breakfast of meltingly fresh pastries and coffee in the Hotel Pizzalto was bettered only by the sight outside of a clear blue sky sitting above brilliant white snow, unruffled by so much as a breath of wind. I’d looked forward to this moment for some time, curious about skiing so far south in Italy.

At the base of the Pizzalto quad chair, I met Giovanni, who seemed straight out of Italian Ski School central casting: tall, slim, with a bronzed face and looking as cool as the snow beneath his feet in white wraparound sunglasses. Giovanni’s mission was to show me as much as possible in the time I had in Roccaraso. So we stepped on to the ski lift and soon set about our task, one made all the more pleasant by the perfectly groomed snow beneath our skis and the sight of just enough fellow skiers to dispel the thought that our endeavours would be too lonely.

Having said that, the slopes certainly weren’t busy. Giovanni and I skied from piste to piste and from lift to lift without so much as a hint of a queue, which gave us plenty of time for a mid-morning espresso.

But there was still plenty of skiing to do. There are 65 named pistes in Roccaraso, including 11 black runs, with the rest split evenly between red and blue; there are 27 modern ski lifts, too.

From the top station of Toppe del Tesoro (2,142m) the views down the high plain towards the distant and dominant Gran Sasso massif are images that will linger for a long time, as will the experience of skiing among beech trees (in contrast to the pines of the Alps), their bronze, brittle leaves stubbornly hanging on throughout the winter.

The road journey north-west from Roccaraso to Ovindoli is characterised by a series of medieval villages clinging to hilltops. One such is Rovere, close to the ski resorts of Ovindoli and Campo Felice, which is the location of the imaginative Hotel Robor Marsorum, the next stop on my itinerary. Here the owners have bought up a scattering of medieval houses down in the lower village and converted them into cosy and characterful hotel accommodation, while thankfully retaining the original integrity of the buildings.

Ovindoli, Campo Felice and the more distant Campo Imperatore can all be skied on the same ski pass. Between them they offer more than 80km of skiing, though the majority of this is in Ovindoli and Campo Felice, which are separated by a 15-minute ski-bus ride.

In Ovindoli, I was met by Desi, who is the daughter of Giancarlo Bartolotti. Signor Bartolotti is the man of vision who bought the mountain and developed it into a ski resort, building two hotels in the process. One is in the resort and a smaller one lies at the arrival station of the Le Fosse gondola, which links to the upper mountain chairlifts.

The aptly named Amphitheatre chairlift to the top of the mountain disgorges skiers into a bowl above the treeline, well suited for learners as well as experienced skiers. It’s home to Europe’s longest covered “magic carpet” beginners’ lift, a gentle ride of 235m. On the lower mountain below Le Fosse, red and black pistes rake down through a valley, flanked on both sides by the now familiar beech trees.

After a busy morning following Desi in my bid to tick off all of Ovindoli’s marked runs, the focus of the afternoon was at neighbouring Campo Felice, where another 13 ski lifts open up 30km of pistes, most of which are off a long ridge overlooking a wide, glaciated valley. On both mountains, the snow conditions were perfect (though nature is backed up with the insurance of comprehensive snowmaking), the slopes were uncrowded, the ski lifts modern. Given the proximity to Rome and Pescara – both are about an hour away – the area has got what it takes for a superb short break.

Every visit to Italy requires the traveller to worship at the altar of food. This was where Gabrielle stepped in, waving down Desi’s car as we made our way though Ovindoli. From his dress of white coat and blue pinstripe apron, I assumed he was the local butcher, but Gabrielle is a self-styled “Master of Taste”. His old-fashioned, low-lit emporium in the centre of Ovindoli is crammed with salamis hanging from the ceiling, while the counter is piled high with Abruzzo cheeses and delicacies of every sort.

Gabrielle created exquisite spuntini (approximating to tapas) for us to sample, with combinations of cheese, salami, local bread and home-made gels flavoured with white wine, chilli and rose hip. We sipped Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine, and weren’t allowed to leave without sampling his home distilled Genzian spirit.

I passed on the opportunity to buy a jar of Viagra d’Abruzzo – a fiery, chilli based delicacy said to do more than stimulate the palate. It sounded like a secret that would be best kept that way.

* Don’t know why, but the pics that went with this article from The Independent were not the best…