31 August – 03 September 2022

On Wednesday we drove to Serra Sant’Abbondio for the Palio della Rocca to be held this weekend. It is the annual race of the geese up the main street of the comune. In Rome, Bonnie and Luciana were prompt and ready to go at 11 am—seated in the car with luggage. The drive was easy. Mostly autostrada with one toll booth (4.8 euros). Luciana said this route is now fast because over the past decade the autostrada has undergone numerous improvements—road widening, new bridges, and new tunnels— that keep the route fairly flat. This avoids the mountainous, albeit more picturesque route, that takes much more time. Flashing lights in the rear view mirror remind Robert that just because he had made sure no one was in the fast lane when he entered it, cars can miraculously appear just behind him.

Once you leave Rome, you are surrounded by agriculture and woods. Halfway, Todi stands tall on a hill to your left. Then you slip between Perugia and Assisi and take an off-ramp to Sassoferrato. We stopped there for lunch at Appeninno. Massimo, the owner, immediately reacted when we mentioned Adriana and Gino Secondo because they always stop there when they drive to Serra. After lunch, we made the 15-minute drive to Serra. We weren’t able to stop at the supermarket because unlike in the big city, this one closes between 1 and 4 every day.

Siamo Arrivati!

The weather was hot as we drove into Serra. The ladies, Nena and Marcella, along with a few friends, were sitting outside and chatting as usual next door to the Sabbatini house. Once they remembered us from our trip in 2019, they became very animated, especially when Robert gave them a few goose buttons he made for this trip—the first ones he gave out in Serra. Since then, he has given out quite a more. Some people walk up to ask for one, including the local police officer, Virgilio.

We skipped dinner and had drinks and snacks. They might look familiar. Beginning about 9:45 pm, we heard a handful of young drummers practicing for the processions this weekend. They parade up the narrow main street, walled in by three-story stone houses, so the sound is impressive. They practice until at least 11 pm just outside our bedroom window.

Lunch with Old Friends

O1 September marked the beginning of Luciana’s retirement from 40 years of teaching. She taught elementary-school English and later specialized in teaching middle-school kids with disabilities in a very tough neighborhood of Rome She has been looking forward to retirement for years. To celebrate, her close friend Adriana Mollaroli and husband Giuliano Giampaoli drove from Fano to have lunch with us at Mado, a new restaurant just outside of Serra in a building that has housed many restaurants over the years. They specialize in food from Le Marche and it was quite good.

Fonte Avellana

At Adriana’s suggestion we drove to the Fonte Avellana monastery above Serra on the slopes of Mount Catria. New interpretative signage is very helpful. The name Fonte Avellana comes from the nearby springs (Fonte) and the hazelnut trees (Corylus avellana). The monastery, established in 980 AD, became a social and religious landmark in the 1100s. Dante Alighieri mentioned the monastery in the 21st song of Paradiso. Its restoration and maintenance over the decades is a blend of great restraint that shows off the simplicity and strength of the structure along with the a few striking modernist elements. As Bonnie says, It is unlike most churches in Italy that drown under the accretion of art over the centuries.

Emilio Nolfi

Emilio Nolfi was the grandfather of Mark, Jan, and Debbie Nolfi of the Bay Area. (I grew up with them because their father Adrian was first cousin to my dad Abramo; Adrian’s mother Adele (Sabbatini) Nolfi was my father’s aunt.) Mark asked us to do some research on Emilio because we know little about him.

We have fun tracking down relatives, and it is surprisingly easy. You give the anagrafa, the census clerk at the city hall, a name and a birth year. She pulls a tall, fraying ledger off the shelf and opens it. There, in elegant script, is a narrative record of the major events in the life of the person: birth, marriage, death. Our search started at the Comune in Serra, where by now they know Robert very well. The records show that Emilio was born in Pergola.

So next we headed to the Comune in Pergola, which is a large, beautiful building on the main street. We rushed there, with some wrong turns on one-way streets and overlong detours, to arrive just twenty minutes before the midday closing on Friday. But the search was so quick that we had time to spare. At first the clerk said she could not give out birth certificates to just anyone without a written request. But Luciana turned on her charm and convinced the clerk otherwise.

Outside the door, under the broad loggia, the three of us huddled over the photocopies to read them together. The birth certificate shows Emilio’s birthplace as Montaiate, a frazione of the Comune di Pergola. Emilio was born 04 May 1880 to Luca Nolfi, 49 years old, a contadino (farmer), and Loreta Ricci (Nolfi), at their home a 50 Via Fornacce, Montaiate.

Emilio’s wedding certificate shows him residing with his mother, now a widow, in Serra. His bride Adele Sabbatini was born in Serra 05 January 1886 to Giuliano Sabbatini (Robert’s great grandfather), 35 years old, a possidente, a person who owned land. Her mother was Lucia Danieli (Sabbatini). When Emilio and Adele married on 07 December 1904, Emilio was 24 years old, and Adele was 18.

We are wondering about the Ricci family of Serra who no longer seem to exist. Perhaps we will find traces of them at the cemetery.

So reveling in our successful research, we found a lovely restaurant for lunch just a few steps away. The weather was perfect for eating outside. 

Next we put Waze to work to search for the tiny mysterious Montaiate, a frazione of Pergola, between Pergola and Frontone. The road wound higher and higher. The pavement narrowed to one lane and then dissolved into loose gravel. It is quite a climb, but the view is incredible. So beautiful and green. You can see the sea in one direction and Mount Catria in the other. Frontone Alta, a local landmark, must be substantially lower. 

We expected a few abandoned buildings, but the half dozen structures—houses, church, and school—nestled together, are beautifully restored, mostly by foreigners. We spoke to two older Italian men vacationing from Milan and a younger Italian man, a school music teacher with a family. All very congenial and interested in our search, but without much knowledge of local history. We searched for the exact address of Emilio’s birthplace but couldn’t find that street name. We leave that to Mark and Janine on their next trip. 

Lunch in Pergola

Next — Palio della Rocca!