Alba Fucens and Working Hard July 21

Wednesday, I finished the early morning picture and after that I felt desperate to figure out some way I would not have to spend the rest of the day painting.  So we called up the Irish Dude and Italian Babe and invited ourselves to go on a road trip. We went to Alba Fucens. We have been there once before and tried to go again last summer and could not find it. I have felt so dumb about that, because I was the one with the map. Well I am now vindicated or again proved to be a dummy. We had GPS and still missed the turn the first two times. Number one there is no street sign to tell you the name that the woman keeps repeating in Italian!! Number two there is absolutely no sign that tells you this is the way to Alba Fucens which is a big deal: giant Roman ruins, incredible church, but really, if you need a sign maybe you don’t deserve to go. Once you are on la strada justa there is no clue that you are on the way to anywhere. With GPS we managed to go the 10 km before the first sign that said anything about Alba Fucens and even then we almost missed another turn. 

Alba Fucens is a huge place and the scene of amazing reconstitution. It was a Roman fortress and garrison that overlooked the plain of Avazzano. At that time most of Avazzano was a huge lake. The fortress has a commanding view of the valley. There is a huge amphitheater. Do amphitheaters come in a standard size like a hockey rink? I do not know but it is about that size. There were photos taken of when the site was discovered in 1955. Everything was a pile of stones. It must have been even harder to put it all back together than it was the first time. A school was established and students worked on the site. It is hard to believe it was built the first time and then hard to believe it was built again. 

Arch way to Amphitheater 

Church above the ruins

There is an incredible church overlooking the ruins. We did not go in it on our first visit, but this time we went up to find the door locked. Italian Babe called the number on the door and a woman walked up from the town to let us in. 

Really creepy stuff around the top of this tower

The church was originally a temple to Apollo and is built on the exact configuration, with additions. The temple dates from 200CE. The church was consecrated in 1200. Extensive renovations were done in the 14 or 15 hundreds. The church is mostly made of recycled items from Alba Fucens. There are Roman columns and other things that were salvaged (did you ever notice how close salvaged is to savaged?) from there. This church was reduced to rubble in the 1915 earthquake and rebuilt by the same guys that excavated Alba Fucens. 

Note Roman columns 

Unidentified cool thing carved out of walnut

We had 50 of these chairs in our house! Who knew they were Roman and I gave 20 away!!

It really gave me hope that the church of San Giovanni in Castelvecchio can be restored. The engineers have been working on the plans these last years since the 2009 earthquake and hopefully the buildings will be much safer than before. 

We had lunch in a little place in the village of Alba Fucens. It was more like, in the best possible way, being in someone’s living room than in a restaurant. It was delicious, but I only took a picture of all the empty glasses and containers. 

No I did not take this picture, but it is better than I could do. Corno Grande!

After that we took the mountain way home which involves lots of hairpin turns and sheer drop offs. Surprisingly, it was beautiful. The day was so clear that Corno Grande looked very close and humongous. There was still snow on some of the mountain tops so there was more than a dusting on Saturday. We could hardly stay awake on the way home and immediately went to bed when we got home. It is now 7p.m. and we are thinking of going back outside. The temperature has rebounded since Saturday and must be in the high 80s. We are thinking of another visit to the piazza this evening. Last night we saw so many friends, the bar keeper insisted, as only an Italian can, on giving us drinks on the house and we got to spend more time with him and his wife than our usual morning coffee allows. So fun. What a place!

Typical morning and work in progress July 2016

This is a typical morning in Castelveccho when there is no market. This is the large piazza where the market and concerts are held and sometimes parking. The middle school is straight ahead on the left and the commune offices are in the building with the clock. Kids are bused somewhere else for high school. The flags are still up from the European Soccer Cup.

This is my 6:30 a.m. painting spot with painting in progress and accidentally picking up goat poop when I dropped my pastel. At least I didn't try to use it. I have on two long shirts and a t-shirt because the weather has been amazing.

Here I am later in the day after a long walk to get to this spot. It was warmer, but not hot so I am wearing my cooler (in only one way) hat.  I have the ties on top of my head because I keep thinking they are flies when they touch my neck. Garage sale find: 50c

This is everything I have in progress right now. Four pastels. I just could not go back to my noisy spot in the construction zone today. Maybe tomorrow.

Started and finished today. Sirentes from the edge of a field.

We have added the fan to the deck to keep the flies away. 

There were more on the terrace than in the field today!

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! 

Last night our neighbors and their daughter came to dinner. She has just received a secondary degree so we were celebrating. You know dinner will be a success when our neighbor brings a cake. Cakes here are all yellow and not very thick or sweet. They can have anything in them. This time it was apples and chocolate. Jim’s and my favorites. Jim made an amazing dinner of grilled everything, potato salad, which people had never had and loved, green salad and this and that. Enrica wants to know what he has put in everything and she is appropriately amazed by his cleverness. He put rosemary, typical, and limoncello, not typical on the chicken he grilled. It was delicious and why not? He enjoyed having someone pay so much attention to what he made. As usual dinner started at 8:30 and went on till 10:30 with fun and laughter the whole time.

This morning it was even more beautiful than usual. It had rained in the night which is very rare. 

Maybe because we cleaned up for guests last night our kitchen looked better than usual.

After second breakfast and market, I decided to go painting in a nearby field. The threat of rain was real and forecast, but I had no problems. I took my umbrella and that made all the difference. The street where I am painting is a sneaky back way for people. It is totally off my unusual path. I saw people I have never met. One woman walked by from the earthquake housing. She was not young. She told me that her house in the Historical Center had been destroyed by the earthquake. I realized that she may never get to live there again. Even if it is restored it may be too late for her. 

Liberties were taken

Jim went off on another adventure with Irish Dude that included coffee and small towns. We both made it home and were having lunch when the rain came. We have had our windows open all day. 

Shoes for sale...much flatter heels!

I have been wanting to comment on how far down fashion has slipped here. You may have noticed that there are not pictures of high heels and only a few of amusing t-shirts. I am laying the blame for this reduction in fashion directly at the feet of the Danes and American. Women are wearing much more sensible shoes. People do not go so far as to wear Keens, but mere walking does not seem like such a balancing act. Women are wearing capris and casual shirts. Sometimes, until I look at their feet, I am sure they are not Italian. And possibly the worst is that men are wearing white socks with sandals. This used to be a sure way to spot a Dane, but no more. 

The Danes who live here NEVER wear white socks in public. This picture, taken from a hidden camera in the market, has been changed to black and white to further protect the identity of this white sock wearer. 

Evidently I am taking a day off. I did finish two pastels yesterday. 

Downtown

From Dane's Terrace

Finally I did a watercolor of one of the many statues in the Church of San Elizabeta.
 It was so hot I could have used the sweat for water.

Today we went with Irish Dude up to a new town: Fonteccio. It is home to a fountain from 300a.c.e. The fountain has a new medieval sculpture on top and is in a beautiful piazza which includes a fresco. Fonteccio c is also home to the oldest clock in Italy and the Parco Sirente wild deer center. I am sorry to say that when you see park Sirente signs it probably means nothing is open. The earthquake shattered more than stone and wood. It set back the hopes for a infusion of new life into this area. Things have been going downhill since the end of the dominance of sheep. The town was very beautiful and there was a coffee bar. 

Walking down to the fountain.

Edge of walled city

Fountain

Oldest clock in Italy

Fountain with crane

Fountain and painting

Next we went to Torri D’Abruzzo. We drove around a bit up some very steep and narrow roads. Irish Dude did a great job turning us around at each dead end. This town also has a crane. We continued bar hopping in Goriano Valle where we went to the coffee bar. GV is another small hill town famous for saffron. We completed the loop by coming down to Castelvecchio by way of Secinara. It was a beautiful drive and the wind made by the car was great. It was looking like it was going to be a scorcher of a day, but high clouds have come in in anticipation of a storm tonight. I bought a book of birds of the Sirentes because we have seen some cute birds that we did not know the name of and I also thought that I could make some little Italian clay birds. 

I am so sleepy it must be time for second nap!