In August 2017, driving via Norcia, we visited this little town on a high plain in the mountains east of Perugia. We were five: Brad (up from Rome to visit while I was studying Italian in Perugia), me, and three of my classmates (Alesandr from Moscow, Anna from the Basque country in Spain, and Vera from Brussels).
The road from Norcia to Castelluccio had reopened only a couple of weeks before, following the big earthquakes in October 2016, although the road was opened temporarily during the spring planting season to allow the farmers in to sow the lentils for which the area is famous. Norcia Ruined but Still Running! We had visited Norcia, a famous location for dried meats, in 2014 with friends (in Italian, the term "norcineria" means a store that sells salamis).
The earthquake damage was shocking ....
... especially to the cathedral. Only the front wall remained and it is completely braced at this point. Amazingly, the earthquake happened just before morning Mass and no one was killed....
But Castelluccio Is Uninhabitable! We drove from Norcia up the windy road to the Gran Piano (great plain) and Castelluccio.
It is now impossible to go up to the town ...
... and we saw a ruined trekking lodge (rifugio) just outside town ...
But there was a makeshift restaurant where we had sausage and lentil soup and some stands where we bought some of this year's lentil harvest ...
It was very moving to see people trying to pick up with their lives. And it is a beautiful, mystic landscape (these Sibillini mountains are named for the last of the ancient Sibyls, who was believed to live in a cave here.) We hope to visit again before too long!
We spent the weekend before Halloween in Le Marche, a region north and east of Rome. We went on advice of two of our nieces, Katie and Mollie Shannon, who had visited a little town there (Corinaldo) for Halloween a few years ago. Here are a few things we liked best about our trip:
#1 Going to a New Place
Le Marche (sometimes called simply “Marche” in English) means “the borders” in Italian (but I’m not exactly sure why). It sits on the east (Adriatic) coast, between the Apennine Mountains and the sea.
Not as well-known as neighboring Tuscany and Umbria, it has similar hill towns and great food and wine. Like many areas in Italy, it has a complicated history: taken over by Gauls early on, then defeated by the Romans, conquered by Goths after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and then part of the Papal States on and off before joining a united Italy in 1860. It also has a long history of resistance (against the Romans, for example, and, later, the papacy) and of leftist politics (it has long supported communist candidates, and they say it was one of the few regions never to support Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition).
#2 Halloween
Voted one of the prettiest towns in Italy (I realize that is a long list), Corinaldo has hosted a Halloween festival for several years.
Started by town boosters as a way to attract tourists in the off-season, it seemed to us that most of the people there were Italians with their kids.
The town goes all out with light shows on the medieval walls, and decorations everywhere. Halloween is only starting to take hold in Italy generally, but, in Corinaldo, the shops were stocked with costumes and the kids wore all the traditional witches, goblins, and super heroes. There was a very effective group of zombies roaming the streets. One of them, in Nazi officer’s uniform, scared a little kid so much, the kid’s mother yelled “Stronzo!” after him.
There were disapproving reactions from my Italian teachers when I mentioned our trip, since Halloween isn’t traditional. (Italians are strict about a lot of things like what foods can be eaten together, the hour after which one cannot have coffee with milk, etc.) But what’s not to like about Halloween? And its directly related to theItalian tradition of Ognissanti (All Saints Day), the November 1 national holiday. We had a lot fun and a great meal at Nova Taberna.
#3 Hills and Fields
View from Casa Menco
Misty sunset view through front gate of Casa Menco
The place we stayed ended up being outside Corinaldo up a long hill, so our host, Lorenzo Spadoni, drove us around the area. The region of Umbria (just north of Rome, where we have spent more time) is famous like neighboring Tuscany for its hills covered with fields, orchards, and vineyards. The effect is even more striking in Le Marche where the hills are steeper and quickly become mountains to the west.
Lorenzo was able to point out the various crops, including olives (then being harvested) and grape vines (the yellow vines of the local variety called Verdicchio and the red vines of Lacrima). He also noted the increasing use by farmers of solar panels tied into the grid.
While some worry the installations might detract from tourism, they are part of a clean energy ethos in the region. One of the fields we passed got Lorenzo’s goat because it was too much like Tuscany—with a row of skinny cypress planted along the ridges and large swaths planted only in vines (whereas the traditional Le Marche approach is to alternate fields of different types).
#4 Local Wine: Lacrima and Verdicchio
I mentioned these two wines earlier. It was fun to taste them at meals (the food was good too) and to visit one of the local vineries that makes Lacrima.
Tomatoes from the garden at home
Artichoke and guanciale pasta: Trattoria Antoinietta, Jesi
Lorenzo and Samata live on land that belonged to Lorenzo’s grandfather, Domenico. Menco was his nickname, and thus Casa Menco is the name of their place.
Lorenzo has an orchard of olive trees and has been harvesting and making his own oil recently.
One our planned outings focused on making oil. Before we started the day, Lorenzo gave us a tasting lesson in his basement using a batch of his own oil made just two weeks before ….
Then, we drove to Jesi, another town close by, to see an old Frantoio (olive oil mill) with grinding wheels and presses from 1688 and (a newer model) 1857.
First, olives were shoveled into the street-level room where they fell in small batches through a hole in the center of the floor. (See the channel along the length of the room? This was to catch any oil that squeezed out in the process, collected at one end outside the building.)
As the olives fell, they were grinded by a large stone wheel pulled around by a donkey.
Then the pulp was slathered onto mats made of basket material, which were then stacked under a press. The oil flowed from the pressed pulp. After it was collected and allowed to settle, water from the top of the mixture was skimmed off.
The whole process is now mechanized as we saw at the modern Frantoia where Lorenzo has his oil made. During the day in harvest time, they process other peoples’ olives and, all night, they process their own, sold under their own brand.
The olives people bring are put into big plastic crates that have notes showing the owners' names.
(I just loved the olives!) Each person’s lot is run separately through the system, first to remove any remaining leaves and stems, then to wash the olives, then to grind them and extract the oil from the pulp, then to separate the water from the oil … the separator looked more like an electron accelerator than an olive oil machine … all made by local engineering company, Pieralisi.
It was fun to hang out and see the process. Lorenzo ended up jawboning with a local who brings his olives from 40 km away; the two of them were discussing the possibility of setting up a “home mill” at Lorenzo’s place next year.
We ended up buying a big can of oil for home …
#6 Porchetta at a Sausage Factory in Jesi
During the stop in Jesi to see the old Frantoio, Lorenzo remembered a contact there who is claimed to make the best porchetta in the region. Typically, it is necessary to order it a day ahead but Lorenzo took the chance of calling him. Stefano arrived a short time later. A real character. He insisted that Brad and I ride with him in his truck.
That's an electric olive fork over my head, used in the harvest to gently shake ripe olives from the trees.
He drove us to a modern factory.
Before we went in, he uncovered a bin with bottles of grappa on the floor. Lorenzo bought one. Then, on a large table inside the factory door, there was a 2.5 foot long porchetta still hot from the oven.
Turns out that Stefano makes them for the factory owners and workers. We not only got a taste of the meat but a tour with Stefano of the plant.
I felt like the workers in their white coats were a little shocked to see us traipsing through, and I’m glad the health inspector didn’t show up, but it was great fun. Jesi is also an interesting town with a very old church...
"We've been open 2000 years, especially on Sunday."
#7 Opera in the Parlor
On our second day, Lorenzo and Samanta invited us, along with several friends, to the main part of the house (up "la scala") for Italian arias song by a group of amateurs from nearby Senigallia.
Great fun again, this time with tea and biscuits and opera. Afterwards, I admired their rendition of Va’ Pensiero from Verdi’s Nabucco and the singer gave me her sheet music.
#8 Samanta and Lorenzo
Samanta and Lorenzo Spadini were wonderful hosts with interesting personalities and personal histories. She was born and raised Bari in Puglia (think heel of Italy's boot).
But her father’s people are from what was once the Italian part of Croatia. After WWII,her father (as a boy) with his parents and brother were refugees in northern Italy near Trieste. They ultimately settled down south in Puglia. The family didn’t speak much of their experiences, but Samanta and Lorenzo continue to learn and research more about her history.
She and Lorenzo met while they were both working in Spain. She was there studying for a PhD at a university in Barcelona during an earlier Catalon independence movement, which lead to the university’s decision to teach only in Catalon, thus ending Samanta’s plans for study. Lorenzo was born and raised in Corinaldo where his mother and brother still live (we met her at the opera event). He has degrees in physics and worked for many years in Spain for a Chinese company that makes solar panels. Through a series of events, he was able to move back home and update his grandfather’s property as a guesthouse (with modern heating systems, induction range in the kitchen, etc.). He is a great supporter of the Le Marche region and a wonderful tour guide.
In keeping with the political traditions of the area, they have very liberal beliefs and we had long talks about capitalism, workers rights, the current rise of right wing nationalism, conservative (and liberal) catholicism, environmentalism, and more.
#9 Frassasi Caves
One of the other main tours that Lorenzo planned for us was a visit to Frassasi Caves. They dropped us at the shuttle bus stop.
At the cave entry, we had to ask for the audioguide in English as we were the only non-Italian speakers in the group. The cave system rivals others in the world. It was only discovered in the 1970s when a local hiker noticed wind blowing some bushes and trees on an otherwise still day. He went back to investigate a few days later with friends and they rappelled into the main cavern. (It is more correct to say the cave were "re-discovered" because they contain evidence of much more ancient inhabitants.)
The caves have one of the largest bat colonies in Europe. The operations (walkways and lighting) was impressively done.
The area around the caves was spectacular, including a 10th century church and lovely river with Roman bridge.
#10 Seeing the Adriatic Again
This past summer, we had a great visit to Rimini on the Adriatic coast with Brad's sister, Laurie, and our brother-in-law, Matt. It was great to see the beach there again in the town of Senigallia, where we met Lorenzo at the train station to start our adventure in Le March ....
