Festa della Solina d’Abruzzo

Saturday we set off in the morning on a driving tour with our friends from Gagliano. We went up to Rocca d’ Messe, then Rocca d’ Cambria and then to Orca. This drive took us up to within sight of L’Aquila and the Gran Sasso mountains. The weather had turned quite chilly with a cold front coming down from the north. It was a little hard to believe how cold it felt. Then we saw the newly snow covered peaks of the Gran Sasso and we realized that we were not just imagining this chill in the air. None the less we had a delicious picnic prepared by Jim and coffee at the Bar Mimmo in Ovendali. Although these are all familiar places now, their names still conjure up a sense of mystery and amazement. Yes, we are in Italy!

Roche d Cambria:  A little like Stowe VT. Nothing like where we live. 

Delicious pic-nic

Mimmo Bar

Today there is a great freshness to the air. If only it could always be this temperature. We started of around nine in search of the Festa della Solina d’Abruzzo. The email said something started at 9 and then something else started at 10:30. We walked and walked. We went where it was last year, we went where it was two years ago. We came back and walked some more. More proof that it is the journey that counts. We took over 10,000 steps before we found it. Turns out the time was actually noon. Clearly everyone else understood this, but us. I have been really wanting to look all around and today was the perfect weather for that. I started out the day in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, but after we found the festa, I went home for capris and a t-shirt. 

Setting up

Sharpening

Discussion

Here they are making the twists of grain that are used to wrap up the big sheaves of wheat.

They're off!

Racing down the lanes!

Gathering harvested wheat.

The judge taking notes.

Finished!

This is the third annual Festa della Solina d’Abruzzo and we have been to all of them. It is so interesting. It is a competition of harvesting Solina wheat by hand. The wheat grown here is planted in September and harvested now. It is pretty short….shorter this year because of the hail…and has much less gluten than American wheat. The last two years a woman has won. She did not complete. I do not actually know, but I wonder if she was barred from competition to make it easier for the guys. Her husband won this year so maybe not. I was so inspired by last years competition that I had Jim sharpen our scythe for me to wack down the dead wild flowers in the spring. It was terrifying and really hard work. These guys wear pieces of bamboo that are cut to fit the fingers on their left hands so that the scythe won’t cut off their fingers on accident. It was all pretty exciting once it got going. 

A typical form of transportation!

After the race we went on over to Antique Sporie for the special Festa della Solina d’Abruzzo lunch. It was delicious. There was the typical pasta from this region made with the solina wheat with a sauce of tomatoes and ricotta. Next was roast chicken and potatoes. We had wine and water and the total was 13E a person. Then we had to come home and take a nap. Now at 4pm it is still beautifully fresh in the shade, although the sun is strong. Next up: coffee and left over cake by Enrica. Such a perfect day!