Penne: The Town, Not The Pasta

Since arriving here on June 13th, we've been getting to know a little town called Penne, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Penne is a VERY old town. According to Wikipedia, the Vestini people, a pre-Roman Italic tribe, were living in Penne from around 300 BC until they were defeated by the Romans in 89 BC (see the photo below). Penne today is a scenic town of about 10,000 people nestled in a range of beautiful hills under an hour drive to the Adriatic Sea.

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? 

There are two big hills in town that used to be separate villages, but have long since joined to become Penne. There is still some surviving rivalry between the two hills, and in August they hold a competition for the "most beautiful woman." Each hill presents their contestant, and somehow one of the ladies is chosen as Penne's "most beautiful"! I actually wish we could be here to see this festival in person, since it sounds hilarious, and dates back to medieval times. These photos are from the "other" hill. The buildings on the other side of the trees in the background of the photo on the right are near the Falco-Tarnoff apartment. 

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:

The house itself is also very nice. I think they said it sleeps up to eight people, and has two second story balconies.

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:

Naples - Pizza, Pompeii & Prosecco

From the train station in Naples, we hopped in a cab to our hotel, and it was immediately apparent that we were about to experience a totally different side of Italy. We'd heard rumors (from mafia movies, etc.) about the crime in Naples, but we'd also heard a lot of good things about the food and the sights. To start our visit off on an appropriate note, our taxi driver wasn't exactly sure where our B&B was, so ended up speeding backwards through a one-way street, honking to get pedestrians out of our path, so Italian! The streets of central Naples are pretty much the opposite of those in Rome: dingy, narrow, and covered in graffiti. Don't get me wrong though, Naples has its charms, and by the end of our three days there we were all starting to fall in love with the place. 

Our B&B only had a few rooms, and the staff set up the terrace for breakfast (tea and croissant for me!) each morning. Here's the terrace with lots of plants: 

On our first afternoon in Naples, we started walking around to see some of the churches and other interesting buildings nearby. We were happy to discover that there were very few other tourists around, a welcome break from our experience in Rome. We heard that most visitors stay in Rome, and do a day trip from Rome to Pompeii, passing through the main train station in Naples, but don't bother with seeing the city itself. Here's WP and Ben in one of the very long and narrow thoroughfares in central Naples:  

One of the coolest churches we saw was San Paolo (photo below), with three big domes that make it look almost futuristic (Coruscant from "Star Wars," anyone?). We could tell that Naples doesn't pump a lot of money into tourism though, based on the condition of their major sites. This church was one of many we saw that was covered in graffiti, most of which was professions of love (maria+paolo per sempre!), but it was still a little sad to see it defaced. The inside of this church was completely empty except for one person praying, and we felt lucky to get to see such a beautiful place, with a central dome comparable in style and size to the Pantheon in Rome, in total peace and quiet.

From the main square we walked down towards the water, and got to see some pretty awesome castles built by some of Naples' many foreign rulers (Greek, Byzantine, Lombard, Spanish, Austrian, French, you name it). Here are the boys with the Tyrrhenian Sea (a branch of the Mediterranean) behind them: 

And me with a castle:

Dinner the first night in Naples we ordered three pizzas, the first of about twelve that we ate in total during the three days we were there. I rarely like to eat the same thing for so many meals in a row, but the pizza in Naples was the best pizza I've ever had. When something is that good you have to take advantage of it before it's gone! One of my favorite orders was the Pizza Margherita DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata, or Controlled Denomination of Origin, a regional food quality assurance label used throughout Europe.) The DOC is a basic pizza that is made up of the finest local mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, local basil and of course, the best local olive oil. This pizza is a showcase for all the region's greatest food treats (even the crust is perfectly cooked), and luckily, a version of this was available at most pizzerias we visited. 

On our second day in Naples, we visited a few museums, including the National Archaeological Museum, which had some amazing Roman statues, busts, and frescoes. They even had a "14-years and older" room with some of the more scandalous Roman statues and paintings. I gotta tell you, I'm not sure 14-year old kids are ready for some of what the Romans were into (in one of the funnier moments of the trip, one American teenage boy with his mom was looking through the collection and yelling "WHY??? WHY???"). But overall, the museum was pretty interesting. Afterwards we sat down for some afternoon coffee in this lovely arcade: 

On our second day, one of the best churches we visited was Sansevero Chapel. The chapel houses a famous statue, the "Veiled Christ". The veil over the figure looks so delicate and sheer, but is carved of stone, in a true masterpiece of sculpture. Downstairs in this same church, there are two figures built several hundred years ago, called "Anatomical Machines" whose skeletons have been encased with hardened veins and arteries to show how the body works. The veins and arteries are colored red and blue, and originally it was thought that a metallic substance was injected into the living subjects, but now they think that the veins could have been reconstructed using wire and beeswax. One of the figures is a man and the other a pregnant woman, though her baby who was also encased was stolen a long time ago. It is one of the creepier things I've ever seen, but definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Naples. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the chapel, but if you're interested in checking out the Veiled Christ, go here, or see the Anatomical Machines here.

After our museum and church visits down in the city, we continued our walk toward one of the hills in Naples, and took a funicular (cable car) up to the top. Just to give you an idea of what Naples looks like, here are a few pictures I snapped as we approached the funicular station. The photo on the right is a side-street from which you can expect to see zooming motorcycles and  lots of laundry hanging out to dry. There were a ton of streets like this little one, some ending in dead-ends and some connecting to other little alleys. Whenever we passed streets like these me and Will were reminded of being in crowded Morocco, with countless motorcycles and people everywhere living in close quarters. Part of the reason for the different feel to the historic center is that it was laid out originally by the ancient Greeks, on a tight grid system (very rare in Europe until the 19th/20th centuries otherwise). The Greeks called this colony Neapolis, or "new city," which is the source of its name today, although now it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Europe.

       

From the top of the hill there was a spectacular view of the city and of Mount Vesuvius!

We visited a combination monastery and maritime museum on top of the hill (don't ask me why they decided to bring boats all the way up a giant hill); inside the museum there were some terraces with awesome views of the water, Mount Vesuvius, and the nearby island of Capri. 

The interior of the monastery is no longer lived in by monks, but has been preserved as an art gallery with all of the original religious paraphernalia intact in between exhibits.  Here's WP in the courtyard, making a new friend:

On our last day in Southern Italy, we made the trek out to Pompeii. The 45-minute train ride from Naples was very crowded with tourists, and I managed to strike up a conversation with some Spanish girls from Valencia. It was nice to be able to speak Spanish again, and they even took me for a Latin American because of my "weird" (i.e. not Spain Spanish) accent, haha. In a way, I'm happy to know that when we get back to California (or are traveling in Mexico), I won't sound weird to Spanish-speakers at home! 

Pompeii was really cool to see. We had a good time wandering the streets and were impressed by all the detailed tile work and mosaics that survived the volcano eruption. 

Some of the more interesting buildings we saw were the bathhouses, with lots of open tub areas and intricate carvings in the walls.

I can't remember whether or not this little fresco was in a bathhouse, but it is just beautiful! I can't believe so much detail and color has survived the last 2000 years. 

In many of the normal houses around Pompeii, the ovens have survived. Here's WP making the pizza, mamma mía!

This photo really has nothing to do with the ruins, but who can resist a little pile of puppies?! There were six altogether; they were so adorable:

These columns are the remains of a temple: 

This photo is a good example of a lot of the courtyards we saw throughout the town. The groundskeepers have them landscaped and it really makes it easier to imagine what this might have looked like when it was being used by the Romans:

The amphitheater was really impressive, though this photo will never do it justice. The walls are intact all the way around and grass and red poppies have started growing where there used to be seats.  

Later on in the day we saw the theater, which doesn't go all the way around like the amphitheater (as Will pointed out when we were there, amphi means two, or on both sides in this case, don't know why I never put that together), but is half open and faces a stage. 

After some more walking around to see the houses and courtyards, we learned a little more about the devastation that occurred all those years ago. Apparently within a matter of minutes, a thick cloud of ash descended on the city, and combined with some toxic and extremely hot gases, it killed a lot of people immediately. 

We even got to see some bodies of people who were encased by the ash. It was so weird to see the expressions on their faces (and mine)!

That evening, after washing off the Pompeii dust, we put on our fancy clothes (and attitudes) for a night at the symphony. Ben's parents, Mathea and Peter, surprised us with tickets to see Berlioz's Simfonie Fantastique at Naples' most renowned venue, the Teatro San Carlo! Before heading to the theater, we went to a famous cafe and bar across the street called Gambrinus. 

The bar is right next to that awesome church we saw on the first day, so Ben took some pictures of me and WP toasting our prosecco in front of the piazza: 

The inside of Teatro San Carlo was incredible! Private boxes lined the circumference of the room, and each one was outfitted with dark red velvet curtains and cushioned seats.

The boxes had nothing on our seats though! We were right up front next to the violins, with an incredible view of the conductor and musicians. At times during the show we could even hear the conductor exhaling sharply and see his extremely expressive face as he led the group in a fabulous performance. 

Here's the painted ceiling and some of the seats. So incredible!

This photo shows the curtain and ceiling above the stage. Everything was very beautiful in gold and red velvet. That small screen hanging in the middle was used during the second act, which was not the Berlioz piece, but a different performance that included the orchestra, a choir, and spoken word. The screen was used during the choir's songs (which were in French), to translate the words to Italian. The whole group together was pretty amazing, though parts of the spoken word went over my head, since the actor was speaking Italian.

The performance was very exciting and we were so impressed with the quality of the musicians and the theater. Mathea and Peter, thank you again for making our last night in Naples so memorable! 

After the show we headed through the city one last time and made our way back to the hotel. The next day we got on the train back to Rome and from there to Penne. Coming soon, another post about Penne, the lovely little hill town in the Abruzzo region where I've had plenty of time to blog! Here's a little taste of how beautiful things are around here. Ciao!