Scheggia

09-16 August 2019

We have begun to take part in the summer events around Serra Sant’Abbondio, Robert’s Italian home town. And there are lots! Flyers are posted all around Serra, its frazioni, and neighboring towns. All involve food and music. What else? The majority start in the evening and last until the wee hours.

During the August holidays, many Italians return to their family’s home town. Some even come from abroad. All the events around Serra give everyone an excuse to return, to meet old friends, catch up, discuss events of the day, hunt for mushrooms and truffles (they will not say where), and argue about subjects they have debated for 30 years or more, often food—How does the neighboring town’s piadine differ from Serra’s?; Have you used the local flour from the Le Marche? Expensive but very flavorful; How do you make pomodori con riso, with or without onion? WITHOUT!; Do you boil the rice before? ARE YOU CRAZY? You get the picture. With a few drinks these conversations last pleasantly for hours.

The conversations are not just around the table. Walking to the grocery store (300 meters from the house) can take one to two hours because you run into friends you have not seen for a while. Ask our cousin Luciana.

Of course we also find time to take day trips to nearby sites, research Robert’s family history, and visit relatives. Even though the distances can be short, a 12-kilometer trip can take 30 minutes or more because of the narrow winding roads and a few stops to photograph the countryside.

We missed this one. Isola Fossara is where Robert’s grandmother, Gacinta Berardi, grew up. It is just a few miles from Serra.

Olga Nolfi’s side of the family is from Frontone.

We missed this one too. The accordion player would have been fun!

The first night we arrived in Serra, they had a poetry reading.

Many people from Serra read poetry they had written.

When trippa is part of the event, you can count on Robert to be there.

Making pasta . . . Robert’s turn

Robert and Luciana took turns during the week making pasta using Zia Santa’s rolling pin. We tried our best to channel her expertise and love. You will see Luciana’s artful attempt in the next post.

Robert can’t figure out what is taking Luciana so long.

Meteor sightings . . . Make that Eating

Italians celebrate Le Lacrime di San Lorenzo (the tears of Saint Lorenzo) on 10 August. We know it as the Persiad Meteor Shower. The next day, cousin Luciana’s Serra gang of about 20 met at Fonte Avellana for a picnic dinner. Although it was supposed to start at 6:30, we probably didn’t get going until close to 9:00. Great food all around. When it got dark, we formed a car caravan and took the dark road to Isola Fossara, turning off in a high pasture before reaching the town. Unfortunately, the moon was almost full, making sighting a meteor a miracle. Bonnie managed one.

Bonnie’s strategic meteor sighting position on the hood of our car. (The halo is a plastic sheet.)

Hot Hot HOT!

Le Marche had the highest temperature in Italy on 08 August. Robert decided we should go to the Grotte di Frasassi that day. Smart move. It’s very cool inside the caves.

Grotte di Frasassi

This is another karst cave, like the one we visited in Slovenia. This one is close to Serra. It was discovered in 1971 by chance and opened to the public in 1974. One of the caverns is large enough to hold the Duomo of Milan. In a prior visit, they told us it was big enough to hold Saint Peter’s Basilica.

We knew we were going to the cave during the August vacation season, but we were still astonished by the crowd of people there. Bonnie timed the tour groups: 50 to 60 people in each group, entering at five-minute intervals. The parking lot is vast and it surrounds a large cluster of tourist and food stands. The cave tour, unlike the one on our prior visit, was rushed, although it takes almost two hours to shuffle through. The place has become much more impersonal and commercialized, but it is worth a visit . . . in the off season.

Frontone—La Radica

The Frontenesi have their act together. Frontone is about 8 kilometers from Serra. The locals have an active social group, La Radica, that gathers for events throughout the year. This one celebrated the families of Frontone and its frazioni (small hamlets associated with Frontone). They focused on the nicknames of individuals or entire families shown in a large collection of old photographs.

The Passettis of Frontone are on Jan, Mark, and Deborah Nolfi’s side of the family. We saw one of the San Francisco Marche Club members—Gigi Braccini, and his wife Lola, as well as their daughter and son-in-law who live in Frontone. In fact, we overheard San Francisco mentioned in several conversations. Many Frontonese immigrated to San Francisco. On the way to the event we walked through Frontone’s mercato that was large that week as it celebrated the Fiera di Mezz’Agosto

Pizzaiolo

No poster for this one. One of the bars in Serra (there are two!) invited a pizza maker and his oven for a special evening. They served pizza to more than 100 people sitting outdoors, and provided live music. It was a long wait for pizza so some hungry people had gelato first. The evening was another good excuse to gather with friends and family!

Scheggia and Gubbio

We took a day trip to Scheggia to do family research for one of Robert’s cousins and had time to visit Gubbio as well.

lt amazes us that you can go to a city hall here and ask for the birth, marriage, or death documentation of relatives from the late 1800s, and they go to a metal cabinet and pull out a book with the handwritten records.

Example of one of the documents. This one from 1873.

Gubbio

The door on the right is the “Door of the Dead,” used to remove those who had died in the house. One or two of these doors still exist in Serra which once was under the rule of Gubbio.

Walk around this fountain three times and you can get a certificate confirming you are crazy.

The Cathedral

Gubbio has several saints buried in the cathedral that had deep associations with Fonte Avellana as evidenced in this painting of the monastery near the altar.

Isola Fossara

After Gubbio, we made it to Isola to see Berardi relatives. It was a great gathering.

We stopped to see Elia Giovannini who filled us in on Berardi family history. She is 94 years old and remembers everyone. Our great grandfather married a sister of her grandfather.

Bruna Nitzi has this photograph in her vacation house in Isola.
The two women from left to right are
Maria Giovannini Berardi (wife of Sebastiano Berardi and Robert’s great grandmother) and Elizabetta Masci Berardi (Joe Berardi’s mother).
Elizabetta’s four children from left to right are
Guiseppe (Joe) Berardi (Robert’s godfather), Delphina Berardi. Guido Berardi, and Guistina (Rina) Berardi,.
The photo was taken about 1923/24.

Cibo e bibite della casa

In Serra, we often eat at home, which is a nice change from the past three months. It gives Robert and his cousin Luciana an opportunity cook together.