The little medieval town of Maranola, near Formia, has become well known for this popular event, and this Christmas of 2011 was to be the town’s 37^th edition, with presentations being held on several evenings: 26 December; the 1st and the 6^th of January (the Epiphany).

This is a wonderful event where the locals work closely together as a community to put on a re-enactment of the Nativity story. 

As “this is Italy” the event was a little late in getting underway, so as the queue of people waited patiently, some Ciociaria zampogna players (wearing their typical form of footware – le ciocie) began to pipe their traditional folk music and carols.

Finally as we began to make forward progress and at last we entered the old Medieval part of town though an ancient gateway.

It seemed as if we were taking a step back in time. Throughout the labyrinth of narrow winding streets and alleys of Maranola, scenes of  typical village life of years gone by was being portrayed by the townspeople.

In old store-rooms and cellars along the way, costumed locals, both young and old, depicted characters carrying out their various trades, every day chores and typical handicrafts.

There were groups singing and dancing to traditional music.

There were also stalls handing out tasters of local produce to sample enroute.

As we meandered our way onwards and upwards through the old town there seemed to be something of interest around every corner. 

As we neared the highest point of the town we came to the square by the old Caetani tower, which dates back to the 1300′s.  Here there was a charming live tableau depicting the nativity scene, farm animals, a stable with Mary and Jesus and a real little baby lying in the manger.

The trail next lead us into the nearby church, the Chiesa di San Luca Evangelista, who is Maranola’s patron saint. The church  has some ancient frescoes.

Next we entered the beautiful church dedicated to Santa Maria dei Martiri which is ornately decorated.  Here there was a beautiful crib with hand-made terracotta figurines which are said to date back to the 16th century.

Thank you to the people of Maranola and the Associazione Culturale for their hard work in putting on such a wonderful Presepe Vivo.  Well done to each and every one who took part.

For more information about the town of Maranola see my website:  http://maranola.shapcott-family.com

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The tiny town of Campodimele, near Itri, also put on a “Living Nativity” this Christmas. 

Sadly this event was severely marred by some very inclement wet and windy weather, but I did manage to take a couple of pictures. It was such a shame as the villagers had worked so hard to organise this event. 

I love their wooly hats – but it really was freezing cold !!!

I hope the villagers of Campodimele will try to hold this event again next year, if so we will be there for sure !!!

For more information about the town of Campodimele see my website:  http://campodimele.shapcott-family.com

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They have been attending belly-dancing classes for several years, perfecting the necessary muscle control and complex choreographed manoeuvres of this dance form. They belong to a dance troupe who perform locally in South Wales.

I organised for the “Belly-Dancing Extravaganza”  to take place one evening at the Bellavista Restaurant, which is run by our good friends – la famiglia Riccardi.

We had invited several of our Italian friends from Itri, some of whom have known Kay and Elsie for many years now, but in true Italian fashion, up until the last minute we had no firm idea of how many people would be able to attend.

We arrived in good time, so that the girls had time to dress and prepare themselves.

Then, one by one our invited friends started to come through the door and it soon became apparent that there was going to be a good turnout for the evening’s entertainment.  This resulted in augmenting  the girls’ pre-performance nerves, which were already running somewhat high. 

The girls looked absolutely stunning as they elegantly swished their way onto the dance floor.

Their glamorous costumes were richly bejewelled with sequins, glass beads and jingling coins.

Each had taken great care in putting together their exotic, eye-catching ensembles.

Sylvia dressed in rich purple …..

Karen dressed in vivid scarlet …..

and Elsie in opulent black and gold …..

As the rhythmic music began the girls began to gracefully undulate and gyrate, whirling and twirling, with a shimmy or two of the hips.  Their elegant flowing movements were seemingly effortless. 

The audience was totally captivated by their magnificent performance.

Especially Massimo !!!

Later members of the audience were invited onto the dance floor to try their hand at some of the typical moves.  Some individuals turned out to be somewhat more competent than others, which resulted in much hilarity !!!

The evening proved to be a great success, and was enjoyed by all.

A big Thank You to the Belly-Dancing Girls from South Wales !!!

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We threw down the gauntlet saying that the most olives ever gathered to take down to the mill in a single drop was 400 kilos.  The girls were determined to beat this record over the next two days.

We all got into the swing of things, and worked really hard and efficiently as a team.

Yet there was also time for a great deal of joviality, general larking about and of course cups of tea.

Dont mess with these girls !!! Elsie and Kay

Kay and Sylvia

Elsie and Kay

Kay and Sylvia

Karen, Sylvia and Kay ... Dance of the 7 Veils _???_

Sylvia practising her Belly Dancing routine !!!

Karen ... Just looking cute !!!

That afternoon Moustapha, our 7 ft Senegalese friend from the market, also volunteered to lend a helping hand … he was ideal for reaching the loftier branches with the olive clapper !!!

"Just a bit higher Mousapha !!!"

Moustapha

Moustapha enjoying and English cup of tea

The next morning the girls were up early and worked all day like crazy to fill more cases with olives.

By the end of that day we had gathered 408 kilos of olives, beating the previous record by 8 kilos.

Well done everyone !!!

Karen, Kay, Elsie

Sylvia, Paul, Karen, Elsie, Louise

Elsie, Karen, Paul, Kay, Sylvia

We then loaded up the car with the 21 cases of olives.

Sincere thanks to Kay, Elsie, Karen and Sylvia, and not forgetting kind Moustapha for their hard graft and sterling efforts over the past week.  We couldn‘t have done it without you.  Well done !!!

You may have thought that the “Welsh Girls” would have been exhausted after their laborious day …..

But No !!! They went on to perform a Belly Dancing Extravaganza at the Bellavista Restaurant in Itri that evening !!!

See next post !!!

The Belly Dancing Extravaganza !!!

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We thought that they could benefit from some retail therapy, so with it being a Wednesday, we took them to the colourful Gaeta market.  Here there is an array of stalls selling almost everything under the sun. 

The girls made some new friends.

This included the 7ft tall Moustapha from Senegal who runs an stall selling handbags.

Moustapha and Kay

Moustapha and Elsie

Moustapha and Karen

Mooustapha and Sylvia

Elsie, Kay, Moustapha, Sylvia, Karen

We then proceeded along the coast road to Sant’ Agostino beach, midway between Gaeta and Sperlonga.  and had a snack lunch at one of our favourite little haunts, the Miramare.  Outside tables look directly onto the beach.  It was a beautifully day and we all enjoyed the warm rays of the sun.

Kay, Sylvia, Karen, Elsie, Paul, Louise

Kay and Elsie

Sylvia and Karen

Karen and Kay

We then drove on to Sperlonga, where we showed them delights of this magical little town. 

Sperlonga

Sylvia

Kay and Elsie

Sylvia and Elsie

Elsie, Kay, Sylvia, Karen in Sperlonga

Elsie, Kay, Sylvia, Karen in Sperlonga

All in all … a very beautiful day !!!

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Itri’s undulating hillsides are tinted with the silvery green foliage of olives trees, indeed Itri has been noted for the quality of its olives since Roman times.

The “Itrana” cultivar is exclusive to this specific area, thriving as a consequence of the unique environment, quality of the fertile soil, temperate micro –climate, sea breezes and fresh mountain air.

So for the last month the olive groves around Itri have been a hive of activity, with the cheery banter of workers laughing and jesting whilst preparing for the olive harvest, strimming grass and weeds and trimming and burning suckers.  Little “apes” (pronounced Ah-Pays, which translated literally mean “bees”) – small three wheeler vans noisily buzz and rattle along the local lanes, sometimes with a husband and generously proportioned wife cosily crammed inside the tiny driving cab.

By November many of the olives have grown round and plump and are gradually turning from bright green to dappled pink. Those harvested in November / December produce the much sought after “Early Harvest” Extra Virgin Olive Oil and / or Green Table Olives.

Other farmers prefer to harvested their olives when they are fully ripe, during February / March, to produce the “Mature Harvest Extra Virgin Oil and / or Purple / Black Table Olives.

After the well received comments from our last years November oil, we elected to harvest our olives early in the season, which whilst it produces less in volume, yields a wonderfully green and intense olive oil.

The weather seemed to be in our favour being set fair for most of the week.  The “Welsh Girls” were keen to get stuck in.

We started by carefully spreading out nets around some of the trees on the first terrace to be worked. Paul fired up the compressor to which can be fitted a variety of pneumatic tools, in this case a mechanical rake on a 4 meter telescopic pole, which is used to comb and vibrate the laden branches, causing the olives to cascade onto the nets below.

Sylvia

Elsie and Kay

 Some of the trees had grown very tall, and required pruning back, so Paul climbed up a ladder, and with his trusty chain saw, and lopped off the tops to a more manageable height of 4 meters,  thus allowing the olives to be easily harvested at ground level.

This is done by hand either by using small rakes or by gently running one’s fingers over the fronds, popping of the colourful fruits, a task I find enormously satisfying.

Elsie

Sylvia

Inevitably the odd stray olive manages to bounce off the net so we scrambled about under the trees collecting these up.

The nets were then carefully gathered up and the olives rolled to one edge, where stray twigs and leaves are pulled out before pouring the olives into the waiting plastic crates. The huge nets were then lugged to the next batch of trees to be harvested.

Elsie, Kay and Karen

Kay, Elsie, Sylvia and Karen

  Ideally the olives need to be processed within 48 hours of being harvested, to preserve the very best of their natural characteristics.

The minimum batch size to take to the olive mill is 200 kilos, or 2 quintale, to ensure that your olives are processed in a single lot, and that you retrieve your own oil at the end of the process, and that it is not a mixed with someone else’s olives.  We think this is very important because by choice we do not use pesticides and herbicides whereas some other producers are not so ecologically minded.

Therefore, in general we tend to work two days on and one day off.  Our team of volunteers worked well and following the first 2 day harvest we were able to take 209 kilos of olives to the mill.

The following day the “Welsh Girls” deserved a well earned day off. 

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Not yet able to afford a fully built-in pool we decided to install a quality, steel sided, above ground pool of ample dimensions, ie. 6.1 metres by 3.75 metres.

A substantial base was going to be required to support the weight of the some 21 m³  of water incorporated in the pool.

So Stefano and gang set about excavating material from high points of the terrain, and then redistributing it at lower points until a level base area of about 50 m² was achieved.

Then they mixed and carefully laid a reinforced concrete base.

The next day Stefano set about tiling the base, by the end of a hot and sticky sunny day poor Stefano was exhausted by the heat and his poor old knees were suffering badly.  That said, he did a really splendid level job and the following day the tiles were then able to be grouted.

Having checked off all the parts against the swimming pool parts list,  the instructions were pretty easy to follow step by step.

Before long the pool began to take shape.

And …..

Hey Presto !!!

TRE CANCELLE’S NEW SWIMMING POOL

Sincere thanks to Stefano, Pasquale and Cipriano for all their hard work

and making it all happen !!!

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We really felt that, regarding security and privacy, a gate would give us added peace of mind, especially for the Woof-Gang,  having sadly lost our dear old Deefer to a car accident earlier this year.

Thus, we enlisted the help of our friendly builder Stefano, who has worked on many of our building projects here at “Tre Cancelle”.

Stefano had in mind to create some stone gateposts, with a steel beam at their core to support whatever gates we later selected.  He and his loyal team, arrived early on the Tuesday morning to commence work and wasted no time in getting stuck in. 

To provide added strength the two pillars were to be connected by a steel reinforced trench.   

Whilst for the time being, it was intended to be a simple gate Stefano, as always, thought ahead making sure to install cable conduit for the provision of possible additional features such as motors for electronic gates, lights and intercom system.

Our land is liberally scattered with limestone outcrops, and beautiful pieces of rock appear when you are working the land.  Over the years we have been carefully conserving these, knowing that eventually the time would come when they would be put to good use.

The builders spent much time on selecting and shaping individual rocks by hand for the construction.

Little by little the stone pillars took shape. 

After much hacking back of shrubs and undergrowth Stefano proceeded to construct a curved wall into which he incorporated both the electric and water meters.

Along the top, at appropriate distances he cemented in some water-filled plastic bottles, which once everything was set, could be removed to provide mounting holes for fence posts to be installed.  We had seen this nifty trick in construction many times before, but for years did not realise why it was done.

Finally a wire mesh fence was fitted along the top of the wall.

We now await the steel gate frames to be made and delivered by the blacksmith.

Stefano, Pasquale and Cipriano

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However, in my moment of enthusiasm (or was it madness ?) I had forgotten to take into consideration, the tortuous ascending route, with numerous vertiginous hairpin bends, that leads up to the abbey of Montecassino. 

This could be considered challenging even for some confident drivers, especially when you find a bus coming at you on the wrong side of the road !!!)  I was somewhat relieved as we neared to top and the Abbey finally came into vision.  After a huge sigh of relief I slowly managed to prize my white knuckled hands away from the steering wheel.

I was wearing a sundress, so I donned a cardigan, as to be allowed into the Abbey you must be respectful in wearing appropriate clothing, ie shoulders must be covered, and mini-skirts and “mini” shorts are definitely frowned upon.

As you enter the Abbey you first walk through a peaceful cloister and standing in the centre of the garden is a bronze statue depicting the death of St Benedict.

From the balcony on the lower section there is a stunning panoramic view of the Liri Valley and to the right, on a hillside, the Polish Cemetery.

A wide stone staircase steps lead up to a higher cloistered area and the facade of the grand Basilica.

The inside of the Basilica is incredibly ornate and lavishly decorated with beautiful examples of intricate inlaid marble, gilded plasterwork and frescoes.

A vaulted stairway leading down to the crypt is adorned with tiny blue and gold mosaic tiles, and the chapels are also opulently embellished with beautiful mosaics.

There is a museum which houses many of the abbey’s ancient treasures (please note that this is only open on Sundays during the winter months).

There are also two shops where you can purchase souvenirs and herbal remedies and preparations made by the monks.

Nowadays, it hard to believe that this beautiful tranquil  location was once the site of a fierce battle that raged during 1944, resulting in the abbey being virtually destroyed. 

Click here for more details of Montecassino and the Gustav Line.

For more information and photos of the Abbey and Montecassino please take a look at our  website:  http://cassino.shapcott-family.com

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Meanwhile I began to run around like a mad thing in order to get the upstairs apartment ready for our next visitor, Diana, an old pen-friend and fellow Shapcott family researcher from Australia, who we expected to arrive around lunchtime.  She was travelling down from Rome by train, and we were to meet her at the station on her arrival.

Feeling slightly better, Paul tried his best to help me but was finding it very hard to put any weight on his ankle. By lunchtime we finally managed to get everything ship shape for our guest’s arrival, and decided to nip down to Itri to buy some provisions for lunch.

However somehow in the chaos we realised that one of our mobile phones had been left downstairs in the old cisterna, and when we went down to retrieve it we discovered, to our dismay, there was a  messages and a missed calls from Diana, indicating that she was due to arrive at 11.09 at Itri Station. In great haste we sped off to the station, which is situated a couple of kilometres out of Itri itself. A series of further messages arrived, saying that she had arrived at the station, and that she was still waiting at the station.  We immediately tried to phone her only to find that her phone was switched off. Almost immediately one of our phones ran out of battery.  On arriving at the station, it soon became clear that there was no sign of Diana, and we were left deliberating  as to what we should do next. 

Then, mercifully, we received a phone call from a friend in Itri, saying that there was an unfortunate foreign lady with a suitcase, waiting in the square in Itri, desperately hoping to find us. It seems that after waiting at the station for a couple of hours, feeling totally abandoned, poor Diana, who doesn’t speak any Italian,  had managed to accost an obliging elderly local to hitch a lift into the centre of Itri. We headed back into Itri and there in the square was a destitute Diana, patiently waiting for us . The look of relief on her face was immediately evident.  I don’t think Diana will forget the experience readily !!!  Sorry Diana !!!

After profuse apologies on our part, we bundled into the car and returned to Tre Cancelle, where over a soothing cup of tea Diana recounted her misadventure.  We then drove down to Sant’Agostino beach for a spot of lunch in an establishment overlooking the sea. Although we had only corresponded with Diana via the internet, we soon felt like true old friends, finding that we have so many things in common.

Meanwhile, having got Diana comfortably installed at “Tre Cancelle”, we thought it best to seek some medical advice from our local friendly pharmacist, who in turn strongly recommended that we went to the A & E in Formia’s hospital for an X-ray.  Thankfully, despite a 3 hour wait, the X-ray showed that nothing was broken, however the doctor recommended a return visit  the  following morning to an orthopaedic clinic to allow the experts to asses any muscle or tendon damage.  So early next morning Paul drove back to the hospital, and to his surprise soon found the damaged ankle held immovable by a plaster cast from knee to toe.  This of course meant that Paul that Paul could not drive.

Paul on Mum’s old zimmer frame !!!

Up until this point I had not felt confident enough to drive much in Italy, however with Paul incapacitated,  through necessity this was to be my baptism of fire !!!  That evening we had arranged to meet up with friends in Gaeta for a pizza, so we decided to leave early and take Diana for a quick tour of the old town.  To my dismay we found that the traffic was busier than I had expected, with cars and scooters weaving frantically around each other and double parked at the side of the road. However all went pretty well, I managed to park and we enjoyed supper. There was, however, one hairy moment when we were pulled over by the Carabinieri in Itri to be informed that one of our headlights was not working.  Thankfully they soon waved us on and I managed to get us all back home safely, where I soon treated myself to a stiff drink.

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