When you’re no longer a tourist, and you’re setting up a new home, you can get caught up in the minutia of that process. John and I are both from art backgrounds as well as both having OCD. We can spend way too much time playing off each other, arranging furniture and art pieces. Also, because this old farmhouse hasn’t been lived in for a number of years, we’re discovering appliances, etc. that do not work very well or function at all. Our heating thermostat malfunctioned today, so until we locate another, we’re heating with wood. The wood will heat the water for the radiators as well as hot water for washing. The oven kept tripping the main breaker for the house. John pulled it apart and it looks like a new oven is needed. Just life stuff like that. Small stuff, really. And we don’t sweat the small stuff with views like these! Time to get outside…
Our view as we drove west to Castelli
So off we go on a day trip. One of the main reasons we moved to Italy was to experience the culture, arts, food and more of this amazing land. Today we are heading to a village up in the Gran Sasso Mountains, well known for its ceramics (maiolica); the town of Castelli. The drive itself to Castelli was truly a work of art. If we never saw one piece of pottery, we would have still felt that our day was full… full of the beauty of God’s artistic hand. If we draw a straight line from our house to the mountains, most likely the drive would be about 45 minutes. But since roads heading that way aren’t straight (and there aren’t many straight ones in Italy apart from the Autostrada), it took us about 1-1/2 hrs to reach Castelli. That’s factoring in photo stops along the way. But the whole time there and back, as I took an alternate route home, we just marveled at the sights. And sometimes you just need to NOT listen to Google maps. Navigate on instinct.
We toured the lovely village of Castelli, visited some shops, spent some money and met some talented artists. This time of year, international tourists aren’t many. The village is very quiet and one artist took some time out of his workday to show us part of his process. We got a great recommendation for lunch, ate some great regional food, and then headed back home.
Along the way home, apart from more photo stops, we met up with the same freewheeling horse we saw on our earlier trip up the mountain. Not sure if he was on a ‘prison break’, but no one seemed to be around during the day to say otherwise. Perhaps a normal occurrence. One of my friends in Richmond, VA suggested it may be a gypsy cob. I’ll have to ask around and do some research. He was wearing a bell on his collar.
Taken through windshield of our car
It was great day out and about, with us heading home to some more fun stuff. John has always talked about building himself a wood oven, envisioning delectable pizzas and breads emerging. So when we first arrived at our house in early October, he was ecstatic to find we had a wood oven, old as it may be! This weekend, John finally got around to firing it up to determine its quirks and how best to get the most out of it for baking bread and pizza. We’re both very excited. I’m sure he will have it rolling in no time. I can smell bread baking already … well almost. Actually, he roasted up some sausage that he had on hand and made some crostini. Hungry yet? 😉
There’s always lots to share..life here is just one amazing day after the next. But hey, we’ve only been here a month. This will be an fun ride. Thanks for enjoying it with us.
Will catch up with you in a few weeks..ciao for now.
But first a bit of a summary of the trip over, then I’ll share the good stuff about our first week here. Checking the dogs in for the flight was my biggest concern, and it was for naught. Nate with Capital Pet Movers met us at United Cargo about 3 hours prior to takeoff. The boys loaded well into their crates and just settled in for their part of the trip. When we landed, Annamaria from Bliss Pet Services took over and had the boys through their vet checks and customs. They were loaded, crates and all, into their van and met us at the house about 4 hours after our arrival. They were smiling and feeling fine. So all four of us are smiling now.
The need to be able to converse! Yes, you all have heard, just like us, the importance of learning the language of your new country. But it doesn’t hit you until you meet someone like Hugo, who cannot speak a lick of English, what you’ll be missing out on. Thankfully, my lessons with my teacher/friend, Stef, and my conversation friend, Giuliana, have given me basic conversational skills. Hugo and I can communicate. Unfortunately, John is at a loss right now and it has really hit home with him that he needs to get up to speed on a basic level. John had been swamped finishing up our house to sell over the past year and that took up the lion’s share of his time and energy along with working a part-time job. But now, John is ready to learn and I think it will happen faster than he expected. 😉
Looming to our right (the west) were mountains of the Gran Sasso and to our left the Adriatic Sea. We were goners from the get-go. The house could have been a chicken coop (well not quite, but you get my drift) and we would make do with a bit of fixing up.
Navigating Life in Abruzzo 