April 11, 2017. Off the beaten track in Abruzzo

LOCATION:  House-sitting at a villa outside of Casoli, in the Abruzzo region of Italy

WEATHER:  Mostly sunny. Highs about 70

 

We had an Italian kiwi for breakfast.  Italy is the world's 2nd largest kiwi grower, after New Zealand.  They are super cheap --- $1 for a kilo, which would be about 50 cents a pound.  

 

One of the cats is very shy, so I have to search for her every morning and night to feed her.  I found her today, under the homeowners' car, so I was able to leave her some food nearby.  We watered the garden, as it hasn't rained for several days.    With chores completed, we took off for a drive.  

 

George mapped a big circle up into the mountains for our route.  Our first stop was an ancient village called Pie de Mont --- foot of the mountain.  This is it from a distance...

We had to climb tiny mountain roads.  At one point, our car almost wouldn't ascend, even in first gear.  This is the town's main plaza.  

 This is the view of the valley below from the plaza.   Our villa is across the valley.

We walked around the town, looking at the views below us.  Everything is very steep.  The people must have to carry everything in.  I can't imagine how it was built in the 1400s.  

 The church seems to have the most activity...there was a poster listing the many Easter events coming up. 

 These stray cats, one missing its tail, lounged in the sunshine....

 Many of the houes have ancient doors.

We went back to the plaza where there was a cafe.  We ordered a beer.  I asked if they had anything to eat (no menus) and the clerk said she could serve us an "apertivo" which I said would be fine.  We sat outside enjoying the view.  Gino, our dog, rested nearby with a bowl of water.  We were served some chips and a plate of bread drizzled with olive oil, some hard cheese, and proscuitto.  

From there, we continued our circle route.  The next stop was the town where the huge De Cecco pasta factory is located.  It is here because there are wheat fields all around, and a river runs through the factory, supplying it with its water.  

We stopped again at our neighbor's house, the one with a winery.  Again, the winery owner wasn't there, and the same old lady came out to talk with me.  She is just hilarious.  I think she asked me, "Why did you come back today when I told you to come back a different day"?  After lots of attempts at communicating, I think she said that the owner (her daughter or granddaughter) is at a wine fair in Verona, and would be returning on Sunday for Easter.  I should try again Saturday evening.  So, we will give it another try.  Meanwhile, out of wine, we drove into our town to the supermarket.  It is fun to look at all the different foods.  The fruit and vegetables seem very inexpensive.  I saw a bottle of wine for 79 cents! 

Back home, Ms. Foxy got very bold and approached our house at dinner time.  She let me get close to feed her....

DINNER:  Roasted potatoes with a pasta sauce on top.