First Sunday lunch in Italy

Today was my first Sunday in Italy.  Sundays in Italy means traditional big family gatherings with delicious home made foods.  Everyone dresses for the occassion and family members come from other cities in Italy for this once a week reunion festival. 

On Sundays, the shops close early.  Except for the morning farmers market where everyone is out greeting each other Buongiorno, buying fresh seasonal produce for their big meal of the week, meeting for cappuccini, it is very quiet in Guardia.

I have been fortunate on many occasions to be invited as a guest at Adelina's for Sunday Pranzo. Lina is a traditional Nonna, she cooks everything by hand, from pasta to cheese, breads, salumis, limoncello and her famous cheesecake.  She grows her own tomatoes to make passato by hand or sun dried tomatoes that she collects and dries on a basket mat that her great grandmother used.  There is eggplant for melanzane parmagiana, zucchine flowers to be stuffed with Lina's own ricotta, squash for roasting with her potatoes and peppers also for stuffing.  The olive oil for dipping her stone ground semolina flour bread comes from her olive orchards and her wines come from her vineyards.   I love Sundays at Lina's.

On many occasions I organized group lunches and dinners for some of my guests so we can taste the wines and experience good classic Italian cooking by Lina, who also teaches cooking classes where we learn to make pasta by hand. 

I asked Lina to please put together a nice Sunday lunch for me.  Surely she was cooking for her family who visits from Rome on the weekends.  Even though we could not be together in person, i have been looking forward to her cooking for 6 months.  

When I heard that 3 other Americans also arrived and had to do 14 days of quarantine, I thought about hiring Lina to prepare and deliver lunch for all of us.  Everyone loved Lina's cooking, we used to always have lunch at her home and remembered her spreads during Vinalia, which we will also miss this year, since we are confined at home.  This would be a good opportunity to help each other.  With very few tourists coming this year, budgets will be tight.   

Lina and I worked on a menu, after I got everyone's food preferences and dietary restictions she came up with:  Antipasti of melenzane parmigiana, stuffed peppers, zucchini proscuitto rollups.   Handmade Pasta alla bolognese, roast pork with roasted potatoes, peppers and squash from her garden.  garden fresh tomatoes and cucumber salad and her famous cheesecake for desert.  Accompanied by some of her fresh baked semolina flour bread, a bottle of her own olive oil and a bottle of red wine.   You know, the usual, she said.

 

Everyone was very excited and getting hungry as I kept us up to the moment on Messenger with photos Lina sent from her kitchen.   The meals were delivered by Adelina and her son, Amedeo, in sweet picknic baskets.  She also included and a bag of fresh fruit and veggetables from her garden.  What a feast,  we have enough to eat for days!

When I called Lina to tell her how happy everyone was,  I started to feel my heart expand and tears poured down my face.    Its amazing how the flavors of home, mixed with the distinct smells in the air brought on a flood of memories of my life in Italy and in this medieval village.    With everything changing in the US, and the realization that nothing will ever be the same.  I felt the stress of the past 6 months finally leave my body.  I didn't realize how tense and fearful  I was,  so afraid I would not make it back home to Guardia for at least another year!  I just couldnt believe I was really here until this meal and it brought me back home with the bite of pasta alla bolognese.   

When I thanked her, I started to cry, I was so emotional.  I shared my appreciation for all she does, that living the way she lives is rare and something to be cherished.   Im not sure she sees her way of life as a priveledge, the way I do.  The truth is everyone should be living this way, close to the earth, in harmony with nature.  I am so grateful to say Italy is my heart's home and I followed my heart home.

It's Never A Dull Moment In Guardia Sanframondi

The best thing about living in Guardia Sanframondi is I really tune in and follow my intuition, you never know where it will lead me.  This morning, I woke up with a hunch to take a walk and see what the morning had in store for me.  I really enjoy this time of day when it's still fresh out and the heat of the sun is still a couple hours away.   I'm discovering my rhythm to connect to my soul's desires and feel my body move.  I really enjoy my morning walks.  I feel rested and fulfilled and I see things with fresh eyes this morning.  Also, I finished a tax return last night, so feeling a lot less stressed!

I pause to take a photo of the cobblestone street a little ways down from my home in the historical center.  I can smell the flowers and clean laundry hanging from the balconies. Yesterday was Corpus Domini, there were beautiful chalk drawings left on the ground but the flowers had mostly blown away with the scent of incense from the procession.

 I notice people are sprucing up their homes and gardens are in full bloom.  It's the beginning of summer and the town seems more cared for, more loved.   Everyong is very cheerful this morning, greeting me, as usual, "Buongiorno, come stai?"  asking for directions and me struggling to explain, afraid to lead them on the wrong path.   But there really aren't any wrong paths, just different ways of getting to the same place, or somewhere else all together.

In the piazza, there is a truck selling flowers and one selling fruit.  I stop to inhale the sweet fragrance of peaches and garlic, normally not at the same time, but...when in Guardia....   I decide to buy some flowers for my balcony and join the beautification of the town.  I choose pink geraniums.  I want 2 plants.   The vendor wants to sell me the whole lot for 14 euros, a savings of 1 euro.  "But I don' t want all of them, just 2 please."   He offered to take them to my home for me.  "But what will I do with them all?"   I pick out 2 nice ones and pay him the 5€ and start to walk home.

Another neighbor stops me.  She has a home to sell and hopes I might know some Americans who would be interested.  It's so well located next to everything but she prefers to live in her house down in the historical center because her daughter has the place upstairs and she likes to be near her.  But her daughter lives in Lake Cuomo and she only comes to Guardia for about a month every summer.  "So why not live there when your daughter is here and during the rest of the year live here where you are close to shops?" I ask.  "Because then I have to pay taxes on 2 places." she explains.   "But you have to pay taxes anyway!"   I tell her I will come back later and take some more photos to post on the blog.

I continue home and come upon another woman I know sitting at the bus station, she's just sitting there, as usual, she's not waiting for the bus.  She sees my flowers and gestures toward the dead plant in a terra cotta planter that someone left at the side of the road, offering me to take it home and nurse it back to life.   Then I hear  "NOOOOO, Alecia" from the guy who usually sits at the next bench.  "Che dici?!" I ask , what are you saying?!   "My friend is taking that plant, you can't take it."  "Ok Ok, Don't worry, I won't take it."  I don't adopt dying plants anyway. 

 I return home to place my flowers in their box and pick up some documents I need to take to the post office.  But first, a cappuccino and a pause to write.... 

Italy's Witches And Medicine Women and My Birthday

How did I get here?  Why Guardia?  A question I turned over and over in my mind after I took possession of my first property. 

I reseached the "herstory" of the Janare, the witches who were really medicine women using ancient traditions to heal.  Unfortunately many were deemed devil workers and burned at the stake.  Attrocities against women and healing our divine feminine nature have been huge themes in my life and I was drawn to Her energy in the hills, valleys and rivers.   This started me looking for clues to try to understand my big question... Why Guardia?  That's when I discovered Karyn Crisis....   http://www.karyncrisisheals.com/

I felt there was a bigger purpose for me behind being led to this magical land.  Seeking answers, I found Karyn's website.  She was a medium, artist, musician and translated Italian books about the stories of the Italian medicine women and their cures.  I was intrigued and immediately contacted her, maybe a reading would shed some light on my greater purpose.    We connected right away and she could sense a deeper spiritual meaning for me.  She suggested I meditate and write, continuing to ask God and my spirit guides for signs and clues. 

A few months later, Karyn contacted me.  She was coming to Italy to write a book on the ancient traditions of Italian women healers and asked if she could stay in my spare room and if I could help her organize a driver and meetings with local healers.    Little did we know, this is how my little tour business would begin.

I was fortunate to tag along with her to Benevento, Guardia and San Lupo searching for clues of the old traditions and connecting with women who were using local herbs, olive oil and prayer to cure and heal.   It was a magical experience for me.  Karyn went on and wrote and published her book Italy's Witches and Medicine Women and we stayed in touch meeting in San Francisco from time to time.   Then she went on to create  The Golden Bough School  offering online classes on mediumship and healing remedies she learned in Italy.   And I went on to create My Casa in Guardia Sanframondi, an apartment rental on Airbnb and My Sweet Life in Italy, a boutique tour company  for travelers who want to experience authentic life in rural Guardia.

We collaborated again on my birthday last Friday when Karyn brought her first group of young women students to Italy and she asked me to organize a full day in Guardia.  We did it! and it was magical.  12 young women descended on Guardia, we met at Dolce Pasticceria Dolci Delizie for a typical Italian breakfast,  cappuccini e cornetti.

After breakfast we took a walk down to Piazza Castello where we began our guided tour of the historical center.  Rossella was our guide and her daughter, Vera, translated for us as we navigated the charming historical center and told stories of the Janara and Streghe that Rossella remembered from her childhood.   We visited the Castello, Ave Gratia Plena and the Butterfly museum, a beautiful metaphor for our theme of transformation and change as the butterfly emerges from the chysalis.

After our stroll through the historical center, we visited Cantine Foschini where Adelina prepared a feast of typical homemade dishes for lunch and we celebrated my birthday with a beautiful homemade cake.

After lunch we had a moment with the sweet nonna Filomena who invited us into her lovely home to witness the olive oil remedy to heal malocchio.

The rest of the day we visited another healer and took a trip up to the mountain to surround ourselves in the beautiful nature around Guardia.

If you are planning to visit Italy, do plan to spend a couple days off the beaten path to visit authentic Italy.  I can plan guided day trips or longer excursions for you in and around Guardia Sanframondi which is about an hour and half from Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast....and more!    I have a 10 day cooking and culinary trip comming up soon.  Stay tuned for stories about our exceptional experiences.