Friday, June 18th 2010

Today, an early start again, to meet Cinzino at 6 for a walk to the river. This was a downhill walk so it was most enjoyable. Must be remembered…what goes down, must come up! Anyway, our guide took us to the site of the mill that his grandfather built in the late 19th century. It was naturally placed on the river, with access by donkey. It was hard to imagine this all taking place without benefit of electricity or any modern convenience! Cinzino was a storehouse of information, and even more amazing was his ability to impart it all to all of us!!

I must admit I was getting a little antsy about the length of our walk, because today we were leaving for Quaglietta. Knowing this, Cinzino began teasing me that I had Avellino (the province of Quaglietta) stamped across my butt!!
We had our breakfast, packed up and then onto the little shop for a few goodies. Now it was time to say goodbye to Pino. He sent us packing with wine and cheese (scormozza) for the road and Don Paolo (the local priest) sent bags of various biscotti– JUST IN CASE!!!!!
Lenny took the packed van up the hill (without passengers) and left it in the lot, while we walked to Cinzino’s house for a last goodbye to Maria. This goodbye was tearful. Nancy started to cry and that kind of set us off. With promises of returning, we hugged and kissed and parted ways. Now it was my time to have a nervous gut. I tried to prepare my fellow pilgrims not to expect too much from Quaglietta so I was anxious about our visit.
Surprisingly, as we approached, I didn’t recognize anything. Then all at once, a castle sprung up from nowhere, clearly to me, at least, this was Quaglietta! Lenny said no, because the roads were not right or really, as we remembered them to be. As we proceeded from the exit, it took all of 10 minutes to get to town, and yes!!! – That castle was indeed the feudal castle of Quaglietta!! - -in all its restorative splendor!!

So, in 21 years, they finally finished the roads, and restoration from the earthquake of 1980!!!
We proceeded to the hotel, and were greeted by Natalie, Saffio. Introductions made, Carmelina showed up a little later with Sasha and Rocky in tow. It was like 21 years had never elapsed!! We tried to catch up but she of course was busy in the kitchen and wouldn’t let any of us help. Mario arrived home and we sat down to an eating fest. Giant bowls of homemade pasta were put in front of each of us, followed by chicken cutlets, green beans, eggplant parmaggiano and a NICE salad!!! Plenty of bread and wine to accompany topped off with a little espresso, and homemade goodies!!! I can’t believe Carmelina made it all. She actually follows Martha Stewart!!! After dinner, Rocky played his concertina and got us all going clapping and laughing. Tears threatened once again.
It seems that the rebuilding is just about complete and things appear better than I was expecting. The church of Our Lady of Mt Carmel looks great and the main road is tree lined and quite nice. We drove to the piazza so we could go up to the castle.

The castle is an 11th century Norman edifice that was in rubble back in 1966 when I first saw it. It was even further destroyed in the earthquake. We were able to get in because the workers were just finishing their day. The restoration is being financed by the government, and it was the plan to have the castle surrounded by the “feudal” hamlet. The new construction was to provide apartments and condos, but this did not fly.
Walking back to the piazza, we stopped at the butcher. Antonio DiLeone is the padrone and I remembered him from ’66. He was the kid that threw rotten tomatoes at me!! Carmelina introduced us and I told him!! He laughed and said he didn’t remember!! Yeah, right!!!! We all had a good laugh at over that. Then onto Olivetti Citra, where we would be staying. The hotel rooms were ready, so we parted ways to have a little rest before meeting later. Lenny and I went to Carmelina’s and got comfortable. Her place is great and we stayed in the attic loft that she and Mario recently finished. Her patio and grounds were abundant with flowers and grapes. Very homey.
We met the others, had drinks at the hotel (Albergo Collina)and went to dinner. Mario arrived with Saffie and Sasha. Rocky is the character of the family. What a personality!! We had a great time and many different conversations were going at once. It was fabulous!!

By midnight, we called it a day. Lenny and I went home with them, with a stop at the piazza. We walked up to the grotto of Mary of the Castle, where Mary appeared to children in the 80’s. We stopped for a gelato and went home to sleep like a rock!