The time has come to depart Crotone for our next destination of Tropea. This region of Calabria is called the “Coast of the Gods” because it is white sand beaches, turquoise waters and volcanic rock. There is a beach in Zambrone called Paradiso del Sub that we spent a delightful day lying in the white sand of the free beach, swimming in the warm turquoise water and snorkeling along the rugged volcanic coastline.
We crossed from the Puglia region at the heal of the boot to Calabria at the “toe”. Our first stop was to visit some friends in Crotone, an unassuming city in the “instep” of the boot. Our impression of all beach towns in Italy is that they are a little rough around the edges. Aside from the beautiful cities of Amalfi and the Cinque Terra, or our beautiful beach cities of Sperlonga and Gaeta, which still look “picture perfect” Italian. From the beaches just south of Rome all the way down to Calabria, the beachside cities are less than ideal looking.
We continue our journey down into southern Italy, we say “goodbye” to the surprisingly beautiful and ancient city of Matera in the region of Basilicata and make our way to Alberobello in Pulgia. I had heard about Alberobello, the small city with the “picture perfect” Trulli houses with conical roofs and wanted to see it for myself.
Ever since our move further south in Italy I have been looking forward to exploring the Southern regions of Italy. I have only been as far south as the Amalfi Coast and now I’m ready to explore further. The perfect opportunity came when a friend invited Jeff to give a talk and to stay with him in Calabria.
It’s mid August and my vegetable garden is rewarding my earlier summer efforts with copious amounts of cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, eggplant, basil and parsley. I asked my neighbor down the hill how her garden was doing and she told me the Cinghiale got her garden! Cinghiale (pronounced: Chen-gall-aye) are wild boars that roam the forests using their snouts to forage for grubs in the soft soil, “The Cinghiale destroyed your garden?!” I gasp while asking increduolously. “The Cinghiale are around here?” “Si”, she responds with eyes wide open “A BIG one with nine babies!” “What?!?” I start thinking about my garden just up the hill from her, I imagine a enormous wild boar with big tusks rummaging through my garden followed by her nine babies. I ask her if the wild boar can be hunted because I also started to imagine a big bowl of steaming pasta in a rich Cinghiale Ragu. “No” she replies, the season for boar is closed but in the fall it will reopen.
So far our summer has been a worldwind of activity, every week we have had new guests arriving even as we say good-bye to others that now depart as lifelong friends.
Our new house in Italy came equipped with an outdoor pizza oven and a grill, but I have to admit I was a little intimidated by it! The idea is novel and romantic but how, pray tell, does someone actually use an outdoor pizza oven? I grew up with my mom making homemade pizza every week, I shouldn’t be so nervous, but Italians have this affect on me, they always make things seem complicated and make me second guess my cooking abilities. Could an outdoor pizza oven really be that complicated? Is Italian pizza dough really that different then my moms pizza in the electric oven? I was afraid to find out.
The weather has cooled down after our little heat wave last week, now it is at a very comfortable 80 degrees with a cool breeze. I am enjoying the gardens surrounding the house. I feel like I live in my very own version of the book “The Secret Garden”. Every chance I get I am drawn to put on my canvas gloves and grab my handy trowel and start digging. It’s like an invisible magnetic force that draws me in.
We had our first guests at our new house this week, they arrived Sunday on the first really hot afternoon of the summer. Previously we had been happily sitting in the sun soaking up whatever sunshine was available. Then summer happened all in one day and our first guests arrived in the mid day heat. I could barely stand to open my front door, the heat was so intense as it beat down on us. We scrambled to find where to put the outside table so we could be in the shade, we found a nice spot behind the house in a little courtyard.
This year I have many friends visiting Europe during a series of International Conventions being held in various countries in Europe. As a side tour many will be making a detour to Italy. Most will be visiting Rome and I know they will love a visit to this ancient city. Among the basic itinerary of the Trevi fountain, gelato and pizza they will be visiting the Roman Forum and the Coliseum. In this blog I have compiled a few of my favorite things to see and points that helped me put these iconic ruins into perspective.
