There is this place between the cold and the warm,  where winter appears to be on the wane and spring is teasing its way into our lives, that gives us hope. You all know that place. The optimist in me would say Spring is almost here, but I’m not holding my breath. That must be the realistic talking back at me. It’s just early February, and as I’m writing this, we had another dusting of snow last night.

January was cold and full of snow. Homes here are expensive to heat as most houses pre-date insulation. I found myself taking afternoon naps with Romeo to make the cold days go by faster, just trying to sleep them away.  John seems impervious to the cold and is out in the front courtyard working on his fence project. I do get out for a few walks, as the mountains are stunning all clad in snow, but the wind usually beats me back home. John and I are seriously considering a few weeks vacation further south for January 2020. 😉

The deep snow has been long gone and buds starting to swell on plants and trees.  John and I are prepping for the spring. Lots of projects to do around the house, with the big one being getting the downstairs apartment ready for holiday rental. (As that project kicks in, I’ll be certain to post renovations.) Outside, we have olive trees to prune, plants to get into the ground and John’s fencing project is almost completed. I hope to have all the ironwork on and around the house painted black as the weather warms. The boars are tearing up the ground under our trees, so fencing in the whole back property is in the near future. It will also protect Romeo from the wolf (probably more than one) that came up into our backyard a few nights ago. And not to be forgotten, February brings us two events to enjoy the local Italian food – St. Valentine’s Day and our wedding anniversary. Both events will be at Roccaspinalveti restaurants, our two favorite haunts.

As many of you know or have heard, bureaucracy and paperwork can be problematic  in Italy. Just last week we hit a mind boggling snafu with some paperwork. We have a piece of land in the mountains of Virginia that is stunning. We had planned to retire there and live pretty much off the grid. But plans and dreams do change, don’t they. 🙂 Retiring to Italy became a reality and we switched gears with no regrets. The land has been for sale in a very slow market for undeveloped properties. Now that we have a buyer, we came to the realization we never gave  Power Of Attorney to our attorney before moving to Italy. I won’t go into all the exasperating details, but just know that that the process, in Italy, is laborious, time consuming and frustrating. We have a wonderful notary with a great staff that are doing their best to expedite the process. We are hoping the process will be completed in the next few days and the property transaction will be completed.

Friend-time and enjoying Italy are so important no matter what the weather or bureaucratic nonsense is going on. This past Saturday, we headed out to Schiavi di Abruzzo to visit our friend, Alex. She and her husband have a sweet townhouse perched high above the surrounding mountains and countryside. The panoramas steal the words out of my brain…truly…I’m stumped to express the majesty. I felt like I was far above the world spread out in front of me.

As we approached the town of Schiavi di Abruzzo , we saw that it sits on the pinnacle of a mountain, inviting the winds and sun… Our friend Alex shared stories and pictures of their snowfall this January. It made our snow look trivial. If you’re going to stay year round in this sweet spot, you better love snow and strong winds. 😉 But I am sure it is a great escape from the summer heat and tourists…. mountain air conditioning at its finest. After a yummy lunch at Alex’s home, we headed around town with our dogs in tow. The streets can be very narrow and winding, just as you would hope for in this characteristic place. The land drops away quickly from the belvederes and the views are breathtaking.

At one end of town, is a wooded park, where we could let the dogs romp. At the entrance is a tribute to the Alpini.

The Alpini (Italian for “alpines”), are a specialised mountain warfare infantry corps of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two operational brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters.

Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world. Their original mission was to protect Italy’s northern mountain border with France and Austria-Hungary… Recruiting Italy’s mountain valleys locals and organising them into a special corps was indeed an innovative idea. They possessed superior knowledge of mountain territory and greatest adaptability to Alpine conditions.

After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army was reorganised in the 1990s. Three out of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded. Currently, the Alpini are deployed in Afghanistan. (excerpts from Wikipedia)

From town to town, we have found the Alpini to have reunions and parades celebrating their history. They are well known by their distinctive hats.

 

 

Stone stairs lead to a knoll with access to more views around the region. We have plans to return soon to climb the nearby mountain and let the dogs truly have a good run. Alex’s husband should be back from his work in about a week and we look forward to meeting up with him as well. After thanking Alex for the lovely lunch and tour, we headed down from town for about 3 km to the Templi Italici.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the valley 200 metres (660 ft) below the town are the ruins of two temples dating from the period of Classical Antiquity, from about 3 BC. Known as the Templi Italici, referring to the Italic people of whom the Samnites, who lived here before the Roman conquest, were a subgroup.

Museo dei Templi Italici di Schiavi D’Abruzzo:

“Guided visits to the Archaeological Museum of Schiavi D’Abruzzo, in the province of Chieti, on the occasion of the European Heritage Days. The Museum is dedicated to one of the most important and best preserved sacred areas of worship used by the Samnites Pentri: the Italic population that built the temples from the 2nd century BC. Housed in the historic center of the town, the Museum is the result of the collaboration between the Superintendent of Archaeological Heritage of Abruzzo, the Municipality of Schiavi D’Abruzzo, the Province of Chieti and the Parsifal Cooperative. The two temples that stand out in the Sacred Area are located at about 1000 meters above sea level and are of great interest for the history of Etruscan-Italic architecture, both as an articulation of the parts and for terracotta anatomical votives emerging from archaeological research.
In the Sacred Area the cult activity would seem to continue without interruption from the Hellenistic age until the 14th century, when the site was buried by a landslide. Also in the sphere of the sacred seems to be the presence, in the immediate vicinity of the Sacred Area, of a necropolis that has so far returned tombs dating from the eleventh century BC. to the IVth century AD.
The Museum enters the visitor in a ring-shaped itinerary that explores two main themes: the Sacred Area, with an analysis of the architectural solutions adopted in the two temples and the rituals connected to them; burials and funerary rites, with the rich kits of early imperial age coming from the burial and incineration tombs found in the nearby necropolis.”

The weather was warm and inviting. We enjoyed this site and could have lingered much longer, but we needed to head back home. I promise myself to do more reading on this site, as many moons ago, archaeology was my study.

If you’re heading this way into the mountains bordering Abruzzo – Molise, put this town on your list. Breathtaking, wild, just lovely….We hope to return very soon to do more in-depth exploring. Should be stunning with the greening of new spring growth..ciao for now.