Our friend Ben's family has a beautiful two-bedroom apartment in Penne, and we have been lucky enough to stay here for a while and experience the "real" Italy. We've learned that means the Italy of relaxing, taking walks, and buying lots of fresh produce and pasta from the local shops. The streets in Penne are perfect for wandering around. In Italy you're often in danger of getting lost on winding alleys and streets, but in such a small town it is easy to find your way back to the main square, and from there, the apartment.
Ben was with us for the first four days of our stay here, but then he had to head back to New York, with a stop in Dublin on the way. The reason Ben's family has a place in Penne is because of their Italian heritage. Ben's great-grandfather was Francesco Federico Falco (Triple F, as we came to call him), and was a well-known guy around Penne. FFF was a renowned doctor and intellectual who participated in the first Cuban revolution against Spain. There is a street named after him in Penne, and this plaque in the courtyard of the city hall building, pretty cool!
The Falco-Tarnoff apartment is located in the city center, a short walk from the main square and all the little shops around town. This big church is right next to the apartment, though these days it is out of use and not open for visitors:
Our first night in Penne was a festival for the town's patron saint, so there were a ton of people outside for a concert and carnival games. It felt like we stumbled into town just in time for Penne's Garlic Festival equivalent; you Gilroy folks know what I'm talking about. Here's the stage where we stopped for a few minutes to listen to a (pretty bad) Italian ballad:
We even took this short video for posterity, enjoy!
The main entrance to the city is this large gate, which they had decorated with lights for the festival:
On our second day in town we walked around with Ben's family friend, Emilia, an Italian (Abruzzo region native), who speaks perfect English and has helped the Falco-Tarnoffs get accustomed to life in Italy. Emilia is so sweet and insisted on taking us around the town to all the shops to pick up some food for the house.
One of the most exciting purchases we made early on were these raviolis! They were filled with ricotta and came from the pasta fresca shop just a few blocks from the apartment:
Emilia gave us some sage from her garden and we made a delicious sauce of butter, sage, garlic and fresh tomatoes:
After eating restaurant food for a week or so, we were happy to cook at home and make something (relatively) healthy! Though overall, restaurants in Italy always have a lot of vegetarian options and vegetables available as side dishes, contorni.
During our walk with Emilia we ran into a funeral procession, which was led by a marching band with a bunch of the locals walking behind the hearse.
I took a really short video just so y'all could hear the music they were playing:
Some tourists (mostly English) make it to Penne, but in a lot of ways the place is still very traditional. As the funeral procession made its way up the narrow street, each business it passed closed their doors (or pulled down the metal grates outside) and turned off their lights as a sign of respect. They also put up posters around town announcing who has passed away. Here's the notice for the procession we saw, apparently he was a well-loved professor who was only 76:
At some point I lost track of the days here, but we took photos around Penne almost every time we walked around. The houses here are right next to each other, and in some cases, large medieval palaces have been divided up to become apartments. People decorate their houses with lots of flowers, and a lot of the time will even line the public streets with plants and flowers. Here's one house I thought was particularly beautiful:
This is a fairly typical street in Penne; this one happens to be up toward the top of one of the hills, so these people have pretty amazing views.
From one lady's front terrace, we took some fabulous photos of the mountain scenery that surrounds Penne. The old lady came out of her house as we were taking these photos, and I thought she might tell us off for being on her property. I was wrong! She was so kind to us, asked if we were traveling through Penne, and encouraged us to take more photos. People here seem really proud of their country and have been so nice to us. I think everyone knows tourism is valuable for the region, but it also seems like people here are just friendly.
Here are a couple more photos we took after talking to the Pennese woman:
I think this photo of Ben is great! He is an author, and we were trying to convince him that he should use this for the photo on his next book jacket. :)
One of the more memorable nights we've had here was dinner at one of Ben's family friends' houses. Luciano and Maria invited us over for dinner, which started out with an aperitif and snacks on their terrace, which has a fabulous view:
Here we are on the terrace, with all the snacks! They served us delicious olives (seasoned and brined at home), salami, sausage (homemade), two types of bruschetta (tomatoes and truffle), and a few types of local Pecorino (which comes from the word for "sheep") cheese! This could have been a whole dinner for me, but I had to pace myself for the courses to come.
We moved the party inside for dinner, and they made us a feast! First they brought out bow-tie pastas with a mushroom, sausage, onion and carrot sauce (and a portion for me without sausage, so sweet!). After the pasta course, they brought out a chicken and pepper dish, cheeses (fresh mozzarella, more pecorino), green salad, smoked red pepper salad, and probably other delicious things I can't remember!
I quickly learned not to leave my plate empty, since I was sitting next to the mom, Maria, and she kept telling me to eat (mangia mangia!) She also kept pinching my cheek and telling me I'm too skinny; I really got that Italian Mother experience! She didn't speak any English, so a lot of times her daughter helped translate and I did my best with Spanish to communicate. Maria's husband Luciano was also a character. He was very jovial and excited to see Ben and to meet us. He spoke English and also some Spanish, and we got along great. Luciano is a retired government worker, and was one of the first people Ben's mom contacted years ago about her Penne roots. He was full of great stories, but mostly just seemed really proud of his wife and daughter, and that they were all happy together. They might actually be the most adorable family in the world. So glad we got to meet them!
Luciano is far left in this photo and Maria is the one between Ben and WP. Their daughter is on Ben's other side and the other three in this photo are Andrew, Francesca, and Emilia, Ben's other close friends in Penne. Emilia and her husband Andrew will be moving to the UK soon (Andrew is English), but have been in Penne for many years and have been wonderful neighbors, guides, and friends to the Falco-Tarnoffs and to us.
One of our other big social engagements while Ben was in town was going over to (yet another) family friend's house for an aperitivo. Ben, WP, and I met Emilia and her family before heading the one block over to Ugo's house. As you can see, Emilia is quite petite, and when she first met me and Will she was visibly shocked by how tall we are! We're tall for all of Southern Europe, but maybe particularly so for rural Italy. Sometimes that can cause problems for our heads and doorways...
Ugo and his daughter Alessandra (she's about 16 years old) live in a beautiful old house in Penne, with a fantastic view from their terrace. If you haven't noticed yet, terraces are big in Penne! Here we are on the terrace:
And here's the view looking out towards a nearby monastery and the mountains:
Hugo and Alessandra are a very nice family, and are getting ready for a trip to the U.S. this summer to check out California and Las Vegas. They both speak great English, and it was fun to recommend some places in California for them to check out.
After about 10 days traveling together, it was time to say goodbye to Ben. Being the great friend that he is, he agreed to take home one of our suitcases for us to pick up in the US. Thank you, Ben! I swear, it's not actually that heavy...
After Ben's departure we've still managed to make it out and about in Penne, and the other day we took a trek up to the other hill in Penne. Tiny cars like these are everywhere in Italy (this one is a Fiat 500, one of the most popular Italian cars ever), and I think they are so adorable! They do kind of make me look like a giant though, right?
Speaking of our neighborhood here, Emilia and her family have been so nice to us! Even after Ben left, Emilia has been keeping in touch with us and inviting us to hang out with her and her family. A couple days ago, we all went up to a mountain villa outside of town to take a dip in the pool. The house is a rental property that Emilia and Andrew take care of, and since no one has it booked until July, they are enjoying the pool and doing some projects around the house to keep it in shape. Lately it has been between 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit around here, so getting in the pool is almost necessary to cool down! Here's the pool, seen from the balcony:
John and Mary, an English couple living in Abruzzo, gave us a ride to and from the house, and hung out with us there, which was a lot of fun. As the day cooled down a bit, Francesca and her friend (both 10-year-old girls) got tired of swimming, and we all ate a delicious Italian barbecue dinner (including lots of grilled veggies, cheese, bruschetta, and salad for me) together outside. It was a very relaxing day, and we were so thankful to be included.
The next post will be coming soon about our day tour to some other parts of the Abruzzo region. We saw lots of old towns, including one laid out on a grid that dates back to Roman times, a national park that they call "Little Tibet", and a really awesome castle! Here's a sneak peek:
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