Leognano e Montepegano

Every morning when I woke up I would go outside and look at the view from Ida's porch. There is a large farm on the side of the mountain in the distance with olive trees and a vineyard cascading down the slope - so enchanting. No matter the time of day, there was always a little breeze carrying with it the essence of wildflowers that grow everywhere here.

Directly across the street is a smaller hill atop which sits this centuries-old church. The back wall rises up about 100 feet and literally towers over the house. On the front side, one of the bells toppled off during an after-shock crushing the car parked below. You can't go in the church now as it has been declared unsafe. The front part of the church faces further up the hill into the old part of the town and there are a few buildings in that section which have had their walls braced from the outside until the structures can be repaired and rendered habitable again.

Sunday evening, the day I arrived, Ida and a group of people from the town went to their church in Montorio. They have Sunday services in the early evening as their pastor drives in from his church in Rome to lead this tiny but very committed congregation in their weekly worship. I was very kindly invited to join them but declined as I was wiped out from traveling and opted to spend the time sitting outside on the porch just absorbing Leognano. At one point, the garden bench I was sitting on seemed to be floating. It was a very unusual sensation, leading me to believe that I was experiencing a very gentle after-shock or my total contentment in this environment had allowed me to levitate just slightly!

One of the things I love about Italy is the way they have managed to incorporate modern life with old traditions and/or necessities. Below is a picture of the town laundry. Ida told me that some people use it on a regular basis because they don't have room for a washer. In fact, she still uses it on occasion for items that are too large to fit in hers.

Monday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast of yogurt, fruit, croissant and naturally, espresso. You can actually drink the tap water here! I haven't tasted water this good since I was a kid. It's mountain spring water that is sweet and totally devoid of any chemical after-taste.

JoAnn, Ida's daughter and her two girls came by with a packed picnic lunch, beach umbrellas and chairs. We all piled into the car and headed to their favourite beach on the Adriatic. It only took us about 20 minutes to get there. The sun was hot, the sand warm and the company delightful. We sat and talked for a while, the girls went swimming and we were visited by the inevitable beach vendors. The fellow who stopped by our little spot of heaven was from Senegal. He's been in Italy about 5 years and makes his living trolling the beaches with his carrying case of pseudo-designer sun glasses, wallets etc. We weren't interested in buying anything but that was OK. He was quite content to sit a spell and just chat.

After Samba left (swear to God, that's his name), I rolled up my pant legs, abandoned my sandals and strolled the water's edge. It was glorious!

After a few hours, we trotted all the stuff back to the car and drove 5 minutes up another mountain to a town called Montepegano. The family has a townhouse there. It's small but very comfortable and welcoming. We had our lunch of ricotta/spinach pockets, deep fried potato cakes, lasagna and a nice cold rice salad washed down with a delightful fruit punch. Since my hostesses shooed me out of the kitchen, I walked the few steps to the town square and took a couple of pictures from the piazza.

After we returned to Leognano, neighbours started arriving at Ida's. They come for advice, a shoulder to cry on or in one case, help with his English homework. It's heartwarming and this sense of community is something that we, in North America, have lost. And that is a crying shame. These people are warm and welcoming. I became a new friend and neighbour to everyone I met. How absolutely wonderful is that!

On Tuesday, we drove into Teramo, a nearby town that boasts a shopping mall. It was very empty. It was explained to me that malls are cropping up all over the place but that they don't do well as people still prefer to shop in their neighbourhoods where shopping is a social enterprise. I like that. Perhaps we would be better off as a society if we could recapture our sense of community.

In Leognano, being so small, the vendors come to the town. The bread truck comes twice a week, also the butcher and the fruits and veggie guy. The ice-cream truck rolls through town every evening. Anything else you might need, you will find at the market on Wednesdays. But that's tomorrow's installment.

Ciao for now!