VIA THE FRANCIGENA

Tuesday April 24, 2012

Today we went for a 4-hour hike along the Francigena. This is something we've been keen to do since learning about the Francigena. What is the Francigena, you ask! It is an ancient pilgrim route that connected Canterbury, England with Rome. Charlemagne took this route to be crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, around 800AD.
The route went from Rome up to Siena, and from there to France. This route was strategically developed, because to the east there were marshes and deadly malaria. To the west was the coast and pirates. So towns like Siena partly owe their success and history to the Francigena.

Follow the signs

Our guide Lorenzo

In later centuries, during the 12-1300's, pilgrims would walk this route to get to holy, mother Rome. There were special inns and hospitals set up for pilgrims enroute. At these Ospedales, they could stay for free and receive medical care. The pilgrims would need to walk 20-25 km to reach the next way-station. Luckily, for us we were only doing a small section, from Monteriggioni to Siena, about 9 km.
I hired a guide from a walking tour company. The wonderful and very knowledgable, Lorenzo, met us at the trail head. We felt that we needed a guide to prevent getting completely lost. Those of you who remember hiking through Provence, will sympathize with our concern that we would not find our way.

Thick red mud - "Burnt Siena

At the beginning of our walk, the skies opened and the downpour was fierce. Suddenly this didn't seem like such a great idea. But Lorenzo kept us so entertained with anecdotes, facts and stories about the history, the politics, the geology, and even the plant life along this route. Bob's colleague's wife, Marianne had joined us and the 4 of us braved onwards.
One of the new things that Lorenzo taught us was soon all over our boots. Thick, sticky, sucking, heavy red mud! This is the very red soil that early painters prized for making the reddish colour, "sienna". It is only found around Monteriggioni, and we walked right through it.

Lorenzo shares his considerable knowledge

The route took us through some lovely countryside, dotted with old castles and farmhouses. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Lorenzo explained that some of the castles and deserted villas we passed were from the changes in land use. With the decline of the ruling Longbards, who controlled the land, a merchant-nobility class rose and bought the land. The nobility didn't want to work the land themselves, so they allowed peasants to live on their land in villas that they built for them. In exchange the peasants had to "share" 50% of their crops with the landowner. These peasants were "sharecroppers" and this system of sharecropping existed in north and central Italy until the 1950s.  At that time, the farmers were allowed to buy their farm villa, although many chose not to and left for the cities. Lorenzo's grandfather was a sharecropper, and his family chose to buy their villa and still own it.

looking for trail markers

Many of us who stay in holiday villas or farm villas may actually be staying in the previous homes of peasant farmers who worked the land as sharecroppers.
Marianne had a keen eye for plants and spotted many wild orchids enroute. Many times we stopped to admire the plants and the views and the wonderful tuscan countryside.

A deserted sharcropper villa

Wild orchids

Four hours and 9 km later we congratulated ourselves for the trek, and thanked Lorenzo for such an memorable and pleasant day.

CAPTIVATING FLORENCE

TUESDAY APRIL 17, 2012

Bob and I never tire of visiting Florence, one of the most beautiful cities of the world. So with friend Jackie visiting, we had another opportunity to go for a visit. Florence is only a short hour drive down a very good highway. We've figured out how to park on the south bank of the Arno river, high above Florence center, and then just walk down and over the bridge into Florence. Anything to avoid driving through the maze that is the center of most towns!

Jackie and Bob above Florence and the Duomo

River Arno and Ponte Vecchio

Today we had a special date. We had booked the wonderful tour guide, Christina, to give us a private tour of the Pitti Palace.  The Palazzo Pitti, built in the 16th century for the wealthy Pitti family, was eventually taken over by the more powerful Medici family. The last Medici, a very smart lady, Anna-Marie, bequeathed all the valuable Medici art treasures to the city of Florence. They were housed in the Pitti Palace, which is now a public art museum. The royal apartments are filled with famous paintings of Reubens, Raphael, Titian, and Caravaggio.
Christina is the kind of art history guide who can walk you through room after room of paintings and make the artist and his work come alive with stories and facts that are amazing.  Our time with Christina  flew by and it was time to head outside.

Art History 101 with Christina

My favourite Raphael

We lucked out with sunshine, since we seem to have endless rains all April. We walked through the lovely Boboli Gardens attached to the Pitti Palace and made fun with the statues. Since there is so little green spaces in the old cities, and such density, it is a nice break to escape into gardens and greenery and space.

Boboli Gardens

Bob and Jackie as statues

Fragrant blooming wisteria

Kiss, kiss

A pretty nice way to spend a very nice day!

COOKING CLASS

APRIL 16, 2012

Friend Jackie was visiting. Everyone who knows Jackie, knows that she LOVES to cook. So I signed us up for a cooking class, Sienese style at the Scuola di Cucina with the lovely Lella Cesari Ciampoli.
Jackie and I joined an evening class with 8 young American women students, living in Siena, and 2 Dutch women on holiday. Our cooking adventure was to make a 4 course typical Sienese dinner.

Sauteing the garlic for the soup

Our first dish was Pappa col Pomodoro, or old bread-tomato soup. Sounds much better in Italian. This was a wonderful soup made from only garlic, oil, old bread, basil and tomatoes. So simple, but so delicious. One of the things we notice in Italy is that people practice a "100 mile diet approach" and eat fresh and local. And everything is made from scratch!
Up next was Pici Salsiccia e Funghi, or home-made pasta with mushroom-sausage sauce.
First we had to make a pasta dough and work it until Lella told us it was soft enough. Then we rolled out little, fat spaghetti pieces. At the same time we started the sausage and mushroom sauce.

Jackie and I work our pasta dough

Our finished pasta dish. We made the spaghetti!

Meanwhile, on to course #3, a roast pork and potato dish, "Arista in Porchetta Con Patatine Arrosto". We cut up lots of spices and stuffed them into a pork roast. Lots of garlic and lots of olive oil and into the oven to bake while we toiled on. It's now about 9:30 pm and we've been at it since 6:30pm. But no rest for us, and niente a mangare. Before we eat, we need to make the dessert.

Roast stuffed pork and potatoes

Dessert was a Rice cake, "Budino di Riso". We cooked rice in milk and sugar and made a thick goop, that we added flour and eggs to. Then in went some raisins and we poured it into a big pan to bake.
Finally, it was 10:30pm and we got to sit down at a long table and eat everything we made.

The rice cake with a drizzle of chocolate sauce

Everything was mouth-watering delicious. It wasn't that hard to make, just time-consuming. Maybe this is why a lot of Italian women work in the home so much. You can't just whip this up in 30 minutes. But the idea of "slow eating" and enjoying the fresh foods in your region are very appealing. We have lots to learn from our stay here.
To those of you coming to visit us: I will endeavour to make some of these dishes, in fact, I've already made the tomato-bread soup and loved it. But we have no oven in the villa where we stay so don't get your hopes up too high!

MIA FAMIGLIA RANUIO - THE SHARED DNA

Saturday March 31- Monday April 2, 2012

It's goodbye Sicily, back on the ferry and off to Calabria and visiting with our cousins, La Famiglia RANUIO.  The ferry is a bit daunting, trying to navigate a series of twisty, unmarked ramps and turns to gain access to a sharp 90 degree turn on to the ferry. We're sent up one ramp, and over and across the the other side of the loading ramps, only to find another car coming head on to us, up the ramp. That car had to back up all the way down the ramps. But eventually, as is the Italian way, "tutti va bene" and we're off.

Our ferry awaits, not exactly the Spirit of Vancouver

Now to find the right ramp

Passengers and cars exit on the same narrow ramp

It's only supposed to be a 3 hour drive to the hill towns in Calabria, but even with 3 navigators in the car we still get lost. Just by chance and "buona fortuna", we exit the auto-strada very close to the town we actually hoped to find, San Sosti. Now we are convinced that we need to believe in "the Italian way".

We're in San Sosti to visit our 3rd cousin, Francesca Ranuio La Cavour. Francesca's father Federico Ranuio (1926-2008), and our Dad, Dominic Benedict Raino (1902-1965) were 2cd cousins. Our family name, Raino, was changed from Ranuio, by bureaucrats when our grandfather landed in Canda, to make it "more english".
Francesca, and her daughter, Maria and family are so welcoming. Maria's husband, Nikola Esposito fills us in on the economic problems the south is experiencing during these hard years, since I saw them last with Liam in 2008. Nikola explains that only 1 in 3 young people can find work. Prospects look bleak and there is concern for the future.
But the economy is put aside, as we enjoy exploring our common ancestry, and Francesca, her husband, Ciriaco,  Maria, Nikola and the family treat us to Calabrian hospitality.

San Sosti nestled in the Calabrian hills

Maria, Nikola, Gabriel and Francesca

We go on a "passagiata" through the old part of San Sosti, and Maria and Francesca point out to us the collection of very old homes where our grandfather, and Francesca's grandfather and father all lived.  They describe a peasant, farming life of our grandparents, who would have worked the family farm, 2-3 km out of town, walking there and back, twice a day. These old homes would have been very simple, and life would have been hard.
Years ago, our father told a similar story to Angela, in which he described his mother telling him that their old home in San Sosti had dirt floors, and the chickens lived under the house. We find our grandfather's home, and there under it, is the hole for the chickens to get in and out. It's sobering to realize that our grandfather set out on his own to make a new life in Canada.

The Ranuio grandfathers' homes

The chicken hole

Our passagiata ends at Ciriaco La Cava's taverna, an old cellar, where he makes the wine for the family, and visits with his friends of an evening. The family wine is tasted, and then Francesca's and Maria's delicious pork salame.
Buon Apetito!

Ciriaco La Cava (r) with old friend

Francesca's father Federico Ranuio, Dad's 2cd cousin

A big treat for us is when Maria and Nikola take us out of town to the Ranuio farm. This is the land our grandfathers would have worked. It was passed down to Francesca's father, and is now worked by Francesca's husband, Ciriaco, with their son Michael and Nikola's help. Here the grapes for wine, fruit and nut trees, pigs, vegetables, and olive trees are tended, to feed and support the family.
After this, it's back to the house for Il Pranzo, the large noon-day meal that Maria and Francesca have made. Course after course of delicious dishes keep appearing. Grazie per tutti!

Ranuio farm

Grazie Francesca!

We are stuffed, as we pack in the car and head to the next town, Ste Agathe, to visit our other Ranuio cousins. This is the other arm of the small, Ranuio clan. There are not many Ranuios in Calabria, and as our cousins here say "Quanti anni fa", a long time ago, they were all related.

Cousin Vittorio runs Bar Esaro, where we stop to have "un abbraccio caloroso", and meet up with Vittorio's brother Bruno. The Ste Agathe Ranuios are a big group, and we make the rounds to say hello to as many as we can. Ciao Paola, Sergio, Teresa, Antonio, Nina!
Our visit has come to an end. We have to make the long drive back to Reggio, then fly to Rome. We're happy to see everyone again. Until "la prossima volta".

Nono Antonio & Nona Nina's door

I fratelli, Bruno e Vittorio

Vittorio's spinning top trick

The Shared DNA 

SICILY CON MIA SORELLA

Tuesday March 27, 2012

We're off to Sicily to explore this ancient island, that appears as though it is being kicked into the Tyrrhenian Sea by the toe of Italy. Our guide book tells us Sicily is rich in history from ancient Greece to Arab and Norman invasions, and latterly to the Mafia.
After a short one hour flight south from Rome, we pick up our rental car in Reggio di Calabria. With Angela at the wheel, we head to the ports and a ferry to Messina. There are 2 ferry companies at the port, and as luck would have it, we pick the older one. We sit on the ferry for an extra hour waiting for a free berth on the other side, but then we're under way for the short 30 minute crossing.
We're off to Taormina, perched high on cliffs above the sea. The road up looks like something from a water-slide park, with half-pipes canter-levered out over the cliffs. Angela turns into "Maria Andretti" and manoeuvers the standard-gear car straight up. I don't know how cars in this town have any side mirrors left.

Wisps of smoke from Mt Etna looming over Taormina

Relaxing on our hotel balcony

We settle into beautiful Taormina with it's beaches, azure sea, and Greek ruins. We hike up to the peaks and down to the beach. Looming over the town is Mt Etna, Europe's largest and still ACTIVE volcano. It reminds us of Mt Fuji. We hope it stays calm while we are here.
Everyday ends with a fabulous fresh, seafood dinner that leaves us smiling all the way back to the hotel.

Up and up to the Saracen castle perched above

Very hot and sweaty but definitely worth the view

Not to neglect our history, we clamour over the ruins of the Greek amphitheatre, which is from the 6th century BC, and is still used for outdoor, summer concerts. Those clever Greeks! Angela, with her damaged ankle, does amazingly well, especially after she buys some nice, Sicilian leather boots.
Bob and I decide we'd like to come back again in May with Lynda for another "Sicily con Sorella" adventure.

Le due sorelle

Great boots, sis