L'avventura di Maria DeGrazia (Noi siamo Lucani!): Day 3: Maria fa una passeggiata e va alla Massa

I'm quite proud of having a shiner... its even worse this morning

January 3, 2010

My bedroom

I just realized I started my avventura on January 1 because otherwise I'd have a hard time remembering what day I'm counting down. The days are beginning to blend together and time is already passing too quickly. Most other students come and stay for a month… Lucky to be them, but I feel so incredibly fortunate to be having this experience. I may not have any family to visit in Italy, but I can pretend to be part of this busy, fun loving, and nurturing clan. Io so che mio marito non me crede, ma, oggi io faccio una passeggiata di solo. (I know that my husband won't believe me, but, today I took a walk, by myself and it was my own idea.) Viterbo is at a higher altitude than Rome and north of Rome by about an hour and a half. It is quite a bit cooler here… crisp… or as they say "Fa fresca"… no really, its more than crisp, its darn cold out tonight. I wanted to see the neighborhood. So after lunch, of delicious stewed limone pollo (lemon chicken), and some fantastic fresh pasta. I took a walk sort of, kind of, around the block. Should have taken the GPS. Because the blocks aren't blocks, they wind around and have many dead ends, maybe because we're near a fume (river). Everywhere there are 4-5 story apartment buildings or small businesses, not many trees or gardens and no organized landscaping, so it appears a bit chaotic. The house here, though has several fruit trees (Nonna has some awesome apricot jam made from the tree outside). Once I got outside, I was shocked at the size of this house. I knew it was large from the inside, but it is HUGE… I didn't realize it had been divided and there are 6 apartments/condos in this one villa. It is very beautiful and I will post some pictures of it. Then Nonna asked me (only in Italian), Mary, I am going to la mesa, would you like to go to centro with me? I couldn't figure out what la messa was and looked troppo confuso. She said I could take a walk around the old town and see a very beautiful old chiesa. Ah, now I knew what la mesa was… but they spell it La Massa ("maassa" not "mesa"). Quindi, lei dice "`E Cattolica?".. Then she asks, Are you Catholic? I laughed and said "cosi cosi… Certo, sono Cattolica, sono Italiana e Irelandese!" So we went to evening Mass in a lovely ancient church and it was of course all in Italian. I think I understood Latin mass better or at least knew the responses! So, the roof didn't fall down when this excommunicated Catholic walked in. Nice to know there is hope for me yet.

The beams on the ceiling of my suite are the size of trees, original to the house.,

She drove through horrendous traffic in the centro area (within the walls of the citta`).. The historic city is really lovely, reminds me of Florence. There is a huge market going on until January 6, Epiphany aka La Festa la Befana (a good witch who brings gifts in the stockings) and the streets are thronging with people until then. Not sure if it is really the market that's drawing them to town…but tomorrow maybe I can find out. I'm anxious to see the Bernini Fontana. Nonna is amazing woman.. always cooking or cleaning and talking to me a mile a minute. She thinks I know what she's saying. Now she borrowed my Luccio Ferri book about Calvello and wants to read it this week. My teacher is also trying to read the English book by Herman Tak about Calvello's festivals, but it's a dry, tough book even when you can read fluent English. I think I've got them hooked on my story.

Above: a huge "silent butler" to hang coats, etc... Notice the many cowboy hats

Thaes (named after a Portugese saint)

Front door

Little Thaes still has a fever and today her nonna (my teacher) called the hospital. And a doctor was here, at the house, in 15 minutes. She only has a cold, but everyone feels better knowing that's all it is. Taese's mom, Marianna, is sick too. Marianna and her husband Erick train horses and teach riding for a living… and both families own several horses and show them in competitions. Alessandra (my teacher) said the family has always loved horses and that Lillo (that's her husband's name.. short for Angelo)… and their son in law are very close because of the horses. The guys spent the day just going to see the horses in the bitter cold. Anyway, it was quiet all day without the menfolk, and though they are very nice, it's a little too many voices for me to follow and keep track of. Last night at dinner, everyone tried very hard to speak slowly or to try to speak in English a little. Not tonight… the men came home in high spirits and joking and teasing a mile a minute. Everyone was laughing and I had no clue what was going on; (Sometimes Alessandra attempted to interpret but her interpretations were so slow compared to the long, elaborately told stories and teases… complete with hand gestures… I'm sure I missed much of it). But you couldn't help but enjoy the Italian exuberance. The whole day revolves around the kitchen where Nonna is always cooking or dishes are always getting washed or put away. I haven't seen anyone sit on a sofa yet… all day around the kitchen table… sempre chiacchierando. (Always chatting).

So tomorrow is my first lesson and Alessandra tells me that there will be no more English. Actually, its she that speaks the English to me, I try not to. Oh, and this is a bonus: We spent some time talking about the Risorgimento (revolution of 1860) and the problems in the South afterwards… exactly what I am trying to learn about… and Alessandra is a bit of a history buff on that time period. So she is going to customize the lessons with that focus. She is actually excited that I am interested in the same part of history. I had explained about the two DeGrazia 'patriots/carbonari" from Calvello. And so Nonna is interested because her greatgrandfather (bis nonno) was also imprisoned by the Bourbons for being a patriot. Nonna wrote her masters thesis about him. There were something like 15,000 political prisoners in the Kingdom of the Two Sicelies… all in dungeons, with chains on their arms and legs, chained to another man, all of the time. She said when he was released he weighed nothing and was very ill and though he recovered, he had permanent marks on his wrists and ankles as well as other health issues. He was from the North, from the Veneto. I imagine it was the Austrians there who were the cruel government being protested.

After lesson tomorrow, we are going into town to site see. And later, Marianna's friend is coming over to do our hair. She comes here once a week to cut or color everybody. I decide I need a chic haircut. Man do these Italians have a good system. House calls from doctors and from beauticians. And only 15 EU for a fashionable Italian haircut… should go well with this black eye and bruised chin.

I forgot to speak about New Years Eve in Italy. I wasn't here, of course, but the next day I watched some Italian TV. It seemed to be raining in every city, and they all had massive outdoor free concerts. In Venice it was Alta Mare (high sea) so Piazza San Marco was flooded to people's knees. Must have been darn cold too, with the rain and the flood. People have boots made of plastic bags tied up their legs and they are trying to dance in high water. Pazzo! Crazy! The fireworks over the church of Saint Marks were glorious. I love that impossibly beautiful mix of architecture and the fireworks really looked fantastic above the church. In the south of Italy, things weren't so great. It is obvious that they have a problem with respect for law and order. I'm sure its not everybody and as a Lucanian, I shouldn't pass judgment and stereotype. Naples was its usual dirty street mess and many many illegal fireworks were used. In Bari, and in Palermo, and I think they also showed Reggio Calabria… many people being taken to the hospital, hundreds of children receiving amputations. Very sad.