It’s Sunday. This is the final day of the Festa dei Santi Patroni Rocco e Teodoro. There is a mass in the church at 11am. Afterwards, families gather in their homes for a big lunch. We’ve been invited to Maria Giulia’s for pranzo and are joined by Antonella’s family and Elda. She begins with lasagna, my favorite, followed by roast chicken, stuffed cherry tomatoes, chicken liver pâté, grilled eggplant, fruit, and biscotti. Everyone is stuffed and ready for a nap. During the conversation we learned that Antonella had been involved in a head-on collision just days after her father passed away 3 years ago. This left her in bed to recuperate from a spinal injury for 3 months. Maria Giulia said it was a miracle she survived. We had originally thought that she was just stricken with grief, but now know that it was an auto accident. She laid down on the couch after lunch to rest her back a bit before we all parted ways. After our short walk back home I laid down for a nap and didn’t wake up until 5pm.
One of the final events of the festa is a procession led by the statue of San Teodoro with his shin bone relics prominently displayed. This began at 6pm. Townspeople dress in their antique costumes following a team of 8 men who carry the saint from the church, down the road leading out of town, back up the hill, through the Borgo, into the piazzetta, and back to the church. The clergy are followed by the Duke and Duchess, noblemen, peasants, and lines of locals who all make the walk. I sat with Virgilio in the piazza while Cinzia made the walk. Along the route she ran into Rosanna who was visiting her friend Ena. Ena invited her to her home for an apertivo when the procession ended. Ena and her husband, Dante di Felice, are the parents of Giosella di Felice and her husband Gianluca Giusti (women keep their maiden name in Italy). Giosella was in Torre Orsina earlier in the week and is Facebook friends with Cinzia. They live in Padova and we’ll visit them later in our trip. We’ve always admired their house, which is on the right just as you drive up into the piazza. It’s massive (for Italian standards) with multiple terraces overlooking the valley.
Now, a bit of history. There is a small sculpture park in Torre Orsina adorned with works from a local artist named Aurelio de Felice. Dante is his nephew – though I’m not sure why his last name uses “di” rather than “de”. Aurelio was born in 1915 and died in 1996. He is considered one of the most important examples of the movement oppose to the Novecento Italiano. His masterpieces are exhibited all around the world. If you think I know what this means you’re correct in surmising that I copied it from Wikipedia. In any case, we learned that Dante cared for Aurelio in his dying days and inherited quite a bit from the master. The home reflects this. You enter the home from the street into the 2nd floor of the home. The 2nd and 3rd floors can only be accessed from the street, but around the side of the home you can walk down to the 1st floor which opens on to a sweeping terrace. The couple is elderly, and Dante has knee troubles, so they occupy the 1st floor. Below this is the ground floor with an even larger terrace and plenty of parking space. It’s so vast that they can easily fit 100 people there during their annual September party. Dante had to put a gate at the entrance to his driveway because visitors oftentimes would park there during events thinking that it was a public parking lot.
We were joined by Gioacchino and Rosana, along with Ena’s daughter and her family. Their oldest daughter, Beatrice, will depart for University in Milano tomorrow. This is making Ena sad and she has a few bouts of tears once they have gone. She invites us for dinner, but we’re still stuffed from lunch with Maria Giulia, so we decline her generous offer. I know that Cinzia would love to get a tour of the home, so I ask and they are happy to oblige.
The 1st floor that we are on was originally the barn for their animals (we later learned that they had cows which provided the milk for Torre Orsina) but has now been totally refurbished with modern touches, lots of beautiful wood, and matching fittings. There is a small kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and wash room – everything the couple needs on a single floor. We walk out through the terrace and enter the main home from the street level. Wow! The floors are sparkling marble, there are 14 foot ceilings throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors, and the rooms are enormous (except the kitchen). The living room is decorated with expensive antique furniture, beautiful lamps, and several of the artist’s sculptures. It’s just lovely. There are so many bedrooms and offices that we lose count. More terraces open out over the valley and the views are gorgeous. Polished wood railings, more art pieces, and ornate furniture fill the rooms. We noticed a garage from the street, but when we enter this space it’s no garage. It’s a library, actually more of a storage room, filled with the artist’s books, notes, sketches, and a few sculptures. There’s enough here to outfit a museum! We’re both blown away and make a mental note to research Aurelio de Felice. After several “ciao ciao” and “grazie” it’s already 8pm, so we make our way back home.
After a short rest we’re headed back to the piazza by 9:30pm as a huge band is setting up on the stage for the final night. They have an elaborate light show and plenty of speakers. It’s shaping up to be a long night of partying. We find Elda seated with her friend, Rita, whose granddaughter, Sveva, is as cute as can be. She’s about 3 years old and seems to run constantly as she plays with her group of friends in the piazza. After a bit, Graziano arrives with his family. We were hoping to see him and his brother, Emilio, at lunch so that we could give the gifts we had brought from Florida to their daughters. Cinzia grabs the bags and we walk to the bar to have a drink with them. Their 3 year old, Greta, is all smile and very excited to receive her Minnie Mouse T-shirt. Apparently Disney owns the hearts and minds of little girls in Italy too. Her older sister, Sofia, likes her gift of a Disney journal and bag. We gave Graziano the gift for his 3 month old niece, Mia – a small plush Pooh and Tiger.
The bettolaccia is doing a brisk business. I suspect that many others have also skipped dinner after indulging in a big lunch and are filling themselves with snacks. One night last week they raffled off an entire prosciutto, and tonight is another opportunity (or was that last night). Either way, I’m offered 1 ticket for €2 euros or 3 tickets for €5 euros. I give Giacomo €10 euros and Cinzia rips off 6 tickets – 3 from the white booklet and 3 from the green. During the last raffle, tickets are only €1 euro and my 10 tickets didn’t do the trick – though I did have the right number, but from the wrong colored booklet. Maybe I’ll have better luck this evening. After a few more songs, Giacomo and his team have sold all of the tickets, so they fill a tumbler with the stubs and carry it onto the stage with much fanfare. A small girl comes forward to reach in and draw the winning ticket. Alas, it’s not one of mine, so no prosciutto for me tonight.
It’s almost midnight, so we decide to see if anything is left at the bettolaccia. They did well and only a couple bomboloni, one pizza, and one crepe remain. I ask if there are any more skewers of pecora and am rewarded with the final seven. Apparently my luck hasn’t run out! We share the skewers as we talk with Michele and watch the older teenagers gather into groups to make plans for later tonight (or this morning). Paolo is among them. It’s a wonderful night to be young. We drag our old bodies up the hill and back to our beds. We need our rest. I’m sure that there’s more food to eat tomorrow.
Now, a bit of history. There is a small sculpture park in Torre Orsina adorned with works from a local artist named Aurelio de Felice. Dante is his nephew – though I’m not sure why his last name uses “di” rather than “de”. Aurelio was born in 1915 and died in 1996. He is considered one of the most important examples of the movement oppose to the Novecento Italiano. His masterpieces are exhibited all around the world. If you think I know what this means you’re correct in surmising that I copied it from Wikipedia. In any case, we learned that Dante cared for Aurelio in his dying days and inherited quite a bit from the master. The home reflects this. You enter the home from the street into the 2nd floor of the home. The 2nd and 3rd floors can only be accessed from the street, but around the side of the home you can walk down to the 1st floor which opens on to a sweeping terrace. The couple is elderly, and Dante has knee troubles, so they occupy the 1st floor. Below this is the ground floor with an even larger terrace and plenty of parking space. It’s so vast that they can easily fit 100 people there during their annual September party. Dante had to put a gate at the entrance to his driveway because visitors oftentimes would park there during events thinking that it was a public parking lot.
We were joined by Gioacchino and Rosana, along with Ena’s daughter and her family. Their oldest daughter, Beatrice, will depart for University in Milano tomorrow. This is making Ena sad and she has a few bouts of tears once they have gone. She invites us for dinner, but we’re still stuffed from lunch with Maria Giulia, so we decline her generous offer. I know that Cinzia would love to get a tour of the home, so I ask and they are happy to oblige.
The 1st floor that we are on was originally the barn for their animals (we later learned that they had cows which provided the milk for Torre Orsina) but has now been totally refurbished with modern touches, lots of beautiful wood, and matching fittings. There is a small kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and wash room – everything the couple needs on a single floor. We walk out through the terrace and enter the main home from the street level. Wow! The floors are sparkling marble, there are 14 foot ceilings throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors, and the rooms are enormous (except the kitchen). The living room is decorated with expensive antique furniture, beautiful lamps, and several of the artist’s sculptures. It’s just lovely. There are so many bedrooms and offices that we lose count. More terraces open out over the valley and the views are gorgeous. Polished wood railings, more art pieces, and ornate furniture fill the rooms. We noticed a garage from the street, but when we enter this space it’s no garage. It’s a library, actually more of a storage room, filled with the artist’s books, notes, sketches, and a few sculptures. There’s enough here to outfit a museum! We’re both blown away and make a mental note to research Aurelio de Felice. After several “ciao ciao” and “grazie” it’s already 8pm, so we make our way back home.
After a short rest we’re headed back to the piazza by 9:30pm as a huge band is setting up on the stage for the final night. They have an elaborate light show and plenty of speakers. It’s shaping up to be a long night of partying. We find Elda seated with her friend, Rita, whose granddaughter, Sveva, is as cute as can be. She’s about 3 years old and seems to run constantly as she plays with her group of friends in the piazza. After a bit, Graziano arrives with his family. We were hoping to see him and his brother, Emilio, at lunch so that we could give the gifts we had brought from Florida to their daughters. Cinzia grabs the bags and we walk to the bar to have a drink with them. Their 3 year old, Greta, is all smile and very excited to receive her Minnie Mouse T-shirt. Apparently Disney owns the hearts and minds of little girls in Italy too. Her older sister, Sofia, likes her gift of a Disney journal and bag. We gave Graziano the gift for his 3 month old niece, Mia – a small plush Pooh and Tiger.
The bettolaccia is doing a brisk business. I suspect that many others have also skipped dinner after indulging in a big lunch and are filling themselves with snacks. One night last week they raffled off an entire prosciutto, and tonight is another opportunity (or was that last night). Either way, I’m offered 1 ticket for €2 euros or 3 tickets for €5 euros. I give Giacomo €10 euros and Cinzia rips off 6 tickets – 3 from the white booklet and 3 from the green. During the last raffle, tickets are only €1 euro and my 10 tickets didn’t do the trick – though I did have the right number, but from the wrong colored booklet. Maybe I’ll have better luck this evening. After a few more songs, Giacomo and his team have sold all of the tickets, so they fill a tumbler with the stubs and carry it onto the stage with much fanfare. A small girl comes forward to reach in and draw the winning ticket. Alas, it’s not one of mine, so no prosciutto for me tonight.
It’s almost midnight, so we decide to see if anything is left at the bettolaccia. They did well and only a couple bomboloni, one pizza, and one crepe remain. I ask if there are any more skewers of pecora and am rewarded with the final seven. Apparently my luck hasn’t run out! We share the skewers as we talk with Michele and watch the older teenagers gather into groups to make plans for later tonight (or this morning). Paolo is among them. It’s a wonderful night to be young. We drag our old bodies up the hill and back to our beds. We need our rest. I’m sure that there’s more food to eat tomorrow.