….can be translated a piedi al paese. It refreshes me. It makes me smile. It calms and thrills me at the same time.

When John and I were shopping for a house, one of the major criteria it had to meet was that it would be situated so that I would be able to walk to town in a reasonable amount of time. Reasonable to me is under 45 minutes. A quiet pastoral walk would definitely be more pleasing than tons of traffic and urbanization. Our house, in one of Roccaspinalveti’s fraziones, is perfectly situated… about a 35 minute walk uphill – about 2.7 km or 1.6 miles. The uphill gives me a good workout, and after shopping, downhill is relaxing with my backpack filled with groceries.

So what pleases me when I take this walk to town? Why should it make much difference in my day or to you, my readers? It’s all about the essence of living here… the essence of Rocca; the mountains with breathtaking vistas, quirky & quaint fraziones (the neighborhoods), the animals (mostly domestic) that I come upon, gardens and fields and of course the wonderful folks. And there are all the smells that are associated with the visual; earth recently plowed, flowers still giving off their fragrances, tantalizing kitchen smells teasing me through windows, a cow barn’s manaure pungently waiting to fertilize a garden or field, and clean lung-piercing mountain air. I’m hooked and in love.

I want to share this experience with you. Below are some pics taken along the way to town. I hope you can get a sense of this lovely community and just what these walks mean to me. And I hope you can vicariously enjoy them through my postings.

Italians are gardeners, exceptionally talented gardners. I remember my dad having the most amazing rose gardens when we lived in New Jersey. We had to move around a lot for my sister’s schooling, and every new home got a luscious garden thanks to Dad. It’s funny how some things get passed on..love for the scents of flowers, turned earth, the smell of manure and of course, getting hands dirty! And I hadn’t thought back to those rose gardens of dad’s until I found myself planting roses in Virginia as well as here in Italy. The walk to and from town is full of flowers (not just roses), and even as the weather turns cold approaching winter, colors and scents abound.

Along with the lovely gardens are the freshly plowed fields. This time of year, when it’s not raining, the farmers are plowing and sowing winter grain, as well as putting in some winter crops in their vegetable gardens. The families, that heat primarily with wood, are ready for the cold weather. Apples and olives have been picked and peppers long ago dried in the hot sun. Persimmons are weighing down limbs, hopefully being harvested with surplus available for the birds and insects to enjoy.

The fraziones are filled with dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys as well as wildlife such as boar, fox, martins and the like. Normally, I only see domesticated animals on my walk to town, but there are always a few kites (birds of prey in the family Accipitridae) flying overhead, looking for their next meal. Many dogs run free, hanging out in their driveways, guarding their territory or lying in the road sleeping. A bit nerve-wracking. Most drivers are careful but every so often someone will go speeding by.

I’ve gotten to know the dogs on my walk, but I still keep my distance from many of them.  There is one particular dog that ‘leads’ the way when we take our dogs for their evening passeggiata. That little guy is a real character. And of course, there is “King”, a yellow lab similar in looks to our Romeo, who gets extra love and attention from me, as he is Romeo’s playmate and buddy. Lena and her daughter, Giovanna, have embraced Romeo and they make certain the ‘boys’ get playtime together when possible. We’re looking forward to the day we fence our entire backyard. Then the dogs can truly play!

The breathtaking views are never taken for granted here, even with the old timers. Everyone one loves the first snows on the high mountains of the Majella or just the wide vistas to the sea. I enjoy the colors of the fields and forests backdropped by blue sky and clouds. Ever changing, always captivating.

My walk wouldn’t be complete without the interesting and lovely people along the way. They are always ready with a ‘buongiorno’ and ‘ciao’, and would I like to drop in for some coffee. My neighbors are welcoming and just outright kind and endearing. There are so many folks whose pictures I wasn’t able to take for this posting, but just know that they are part of what makes our lives here in Rocca complete.