Caserza

Day four of Italia trip (I think...believe it or not I'm still jet lagged)



So after a horrible flight (gramma thought it was very comfortable but she was able to sleep) in which I watched How to Train Your Dragon, The Last Song, and Alice and Wonderland, tried to eat the food they gave us, and still had time to think about how much room I didn't have, we landed in Munich. There we had to go through airport security AGAIN before we got on the plane to Genoa, despite the fact that the corridor we had to go through did not have any kind of access to stowed away forbidden items and was policed heavily. We then got on a twenty person plane with actual propellers (the kind that spin and make alot of noise and look not at all safe) to go over the Alps. Luckily, I was so exhausted from the first flight that I slept right through that one. We landed in genoa around 9 PM just as the sun was setting. Yes the sun sets at 9 here, which does not help at all with the jetlag. We were met right away by a cousin, Valentina, who let us stay at her apartment in Genoa before driving us to her Zia Mariucha's house in Olim the next morning.

Quick family tree and history for those interested. Peter Marciano, my great great grandfather had 5 children: Michele, Angelo, Gian Battista, Giuseppe, and Maria. The first three moved to America in their twenties and Angelo took his 5 year old son, Peter2 (my grandfather) and his wife with him. Giuseppe stayed in Caserza and had three children: Michele2, Peter3 (Tino), and Mariucha.

So our first real meal was at Maricuha's house in Olim which has about four houses and is reached by a one lane road that looked too small for a bike, let alone a car. There is no such thing as a one way street here (well there is but not this far up in the country) so you need to honk around every corner to alert anyone coming the other way. Of course I noticed some of the men who passed don't think they need to do this but I thought it was very rude of them not to.



There we were reintroduced to the typical Italian meal which begins with antepasti (which is salami, bruchessta, and other lunch meats, bread, and cheese). Then there is a pasta, this time stuffed ravioli, followed by a meat course, in this case sausage in pasta, followed by cheese, fruit, and then a sweet pastry, apple torte, served with coffee. The coffee is an esspresso which I already am addicted to. After about two hours, which was how long it took us to eat, we went to Mariucha's daughter Silvia's house in Caserza where, after dropping off our stuff, we took a quick tour of the locale miracles in the area.

The first was a fountain where in 1534 a young girl with the plague drank and was cured. No one believed her, including the local priest, until he caught the plague too, drank from the fountain, and was likewise cured. You can still drink the water there and people come and fill up bottles to take home with them. I took lots of pictures but then deleted all of them. At least it was only half a day lost.

We then went to visit a small village called Sanerega built in 1003 that had a little museum with it. It was a short visit but it's weird to be someplace so very old. Afterwards we went to her Uncle Tino's (Peter 3's nickname) house in the Caserza and had another 6 course meal. Not knowing any Italian I was pretty quiet the whole day. We slept well after that.

The next day we went to Michele2's house for yet another six course lunch. Michele2 is Valentina's father and they had 3 other sons. They had a couple of cats and a two month old kitten, which I found adorabl,and also a small stable of few cows and two dogs so obviously I was very happy there and could keep myself entertained.



We then went back to Caserza for a nap, woke up, and drove back to Olim to eat again. Instead of the typical six course meal we had six courses of various homemade pizza's cooked in their stone outdoor oven. Started off with typical cheese,then cheese with various olives on it, then cheese with whole tomatoes, then cheese with some fruits, and we ended it with a pizza dolce or a tart but made in the oven and nice and warm. All of the food has been molto buono and yes, I've cleaned my plate each time as picky alex isn't so picky when I have fresh homemade food in front of me. During these meals the cook, usually the mama but in the case of the pizza it was the mama who prepared the pizza and the oldest son who cooked it, goes back and forth from the kitchen and hardly gets to eat.

Yesterday Ceserza had an annual festival in which the church was opened up (they only have mass there twice a year) and everyone gathers at 4:30 PM to hear mass, and then go to the piazza for food, drinks, a bocce tournament, music, and a massive lottery in which they sold 1000 tickets and gave away about 50 various prizes. Of course gramma and I didn't win anything. They had been preparing for the festival all day except I noticed at around 1-3 PM everyone was in their own houses eating lunch.



Afterwards, gramma and I were very tired and just asked for something small so instead of a two hour dinner we just had a one hour dinner where the meat course was broth.
Everyone here is very hospitable and I'm picking up Italian pretty fast although I understand much more an I speak.


Ciao