Thursday, September 12–
We departed Chicago O’Hare at 3:50 PM on United Airlines 970. It was a full plane. Food was served. It was mediocre but OK. For dinner we had pasta or chicken. I chose pasta; Dad chose chicken— salad, and a brownie. Snack was the typical pretzel mix bag.
Friday, September 13–
For breakfast on the 13th we had cheese and egg bagel. It had a tomato or something in it. It was kind Of strange- tasting to us. Dad didn’t even finish his because it was so rotten. I finished it because I was starved, plus I eat everything in sight. The flight was smooth. The landing was hesitant, meaning that we were ready to touch down, way down low, close to the ground. Then at the last minute there was a sudden lift and go-around. Don’t know what happened there, if it was wind or I don’t know what it was, but it took us a while to actually land. Ultimately, of course we did so safely, which is what matters. The plane was full because Rome has Civitavecchia nearby, besides being a tourist attraction in itself. Civitavecchia is a cruise port that’s right there by Rome so there were groups of people who were going to go on different cruises from Rome. Anyway, we landed at 7:40/A.M on Sept. 13 (Rome is seven hours ahead if home). Baggage claim and customs took a while, but we ultimately got through easily through without a hitch. From there, we were picked up by the dealer in Rome who drove us to the dealership where we quickly signed the paperwork. John had done much of it beforehand. We leased a Peugeot 408, a sassy little brand new four-cylinder gray car, not a very exciting color but a really dashing interior that lights up all over the place in greens, orange, red….We tried to purchase the car pass for tolls while we drove Italian highways, but we were told we needed to have an account to an Italian bank and we were not really planning to do that. Lots of tolls that we are finding on the Italian highways: we pick up a ticket when we begin the route, deposit the ticket, and pay the toll that it says to pay at the toll booth. We drove to Bologna. That was meant to be just a quick stop- over to get some rest. We will go back to Bologna and that region to explore it more in depth, but for one night we found a beautiful hotel. The scenery going from Rome to Bologna was gorgeous- hilltop fortified old -towns along the way just peppered the views. The trip from Rome to Bologna took about 5 to 6 hours. By this time, you could imagine we were getting very sleepy, extremely sleepy. We checked into our hotel in Bologna. It’s a charming big hotel, actually a big farmhouse, built next to a cave. It seems like in a huge boulder, and not a rock! We were actually in what’s called Sasso Marconi. Sasso means rock and Marconi is a big name there because you know he invented radio, etc. We were in Ca di Gali Hotel. We slept two hours and then we went to dinner in the restaurant at the hotel. I had potato gnocchi and white very fresh Parmesan sauce. It was awesome. The sauce it wasn’t salty at all . Parmesan usually is, but this was very fresh. As you know, they make Parmesan in Parma, not far from where we were staying. I had roast potatoes and fried porcellini. John had tortellini, also local, in heavy cream sauce. Delicious. We did try the local wines that were recommended, the San Gervasio and the Pignoletto. Both were very good, but for us, we’re not big wine drinkers, so two glasses of wine was more than enough.
Saturday, September 14–
We woke up for 8 o’clock breakfast. It was complementary in the hotel restaurant. I had two different croissants, one filled with Nutella, which, of course, because, you know, Ferraro is not far away, bite of omelette, some fresh cheeses, and what I consider to be a teensy cup of coffee, plus peach juice. Dad had a chocolate croissant, bacon omelette, some peach juice, and some coffee. Very good! We checked out after I got the story on Ca di Gali. This means Casa di Gali (House of Roosters). It was built in the 1800s, a big farmhouse on the hillside of the Appenine mountains. it’s yellow, sort of like some B&Bs that we see in the States, has several stories, beautiful landscaping, several verandas, huge deck, flowers, olive trees,…. We had our own outdoor deck with its own hot tub. We learned that Gali was the last name of the property owner and right down the slope of the mountain next to this big house is a smaller multi-room several-story concrete house This was for the coloni. Coloni means tenant farmers who worked the land in the 1800s and who split the profits of whatever they produced with the owners. For that, they got to live in that house. Several families could live in that one house at the same time. What was particularly moving for me? Through my genealogy research, I found that my paternal ancestors were coloni in the Emilia Romagna region. Bologna is in the Emilia-Romagna region. My paternal ancestors who were coloni probably lived in an arrangement similar to this. Then, on the slope of this hillside opposite the coloni house, pink-purple cyclamen were in bloom!. It’s a beautiful little flower. Here, they grow wild, I think. That’s how I know that my grandfather is visiting this land with us because he often sang “Aveva un bavero color ciclamino” to me when I was a small child still living in Italy. The fuchsia cyclamen that grew on our property was one of my favorite flowers!
We drove about three hours to Rio Reno, Alto Adige, Italy. Adige is a big river that flows and feeds this area. This region was originally Austrian land, and street signs and and decorations, and even the languages spoken in stores are often in German. Most people speak Italian as well and quite a few speak English. Our farmhouse is called the Apperger House Farm. This is where we’re staying for three days. It is owned by an Austrian family. We are in the snow-tipped green-turned-rocky big-boy Dolomites right now. Those are Alps. The air is crisp, but we are comfy with a sweater. The accommodation is literally an apartment or condo of sorts, has a kitchenette, and the whole bit. The farm has animals: one dog, two goats, cows with two brand new calves, at least one big and one very young pony, two slow-growing pigs, chickens, roosters, and rabbits. These animals don’t really produce much of anything that’s useful to these people who own the property and they’re not intended to, but they’re very happy—these animals are, and so are the owners. They’re very happy because the animals are safe and are not threatened . They are where they are there as a refuge and will never be harmed. The River Reno flows right by here with beautiful alpine marine- blue icy hues. Truly, this is God country. Eye candy everywhere one looks! Shopping for some groceries and toiletries. I.e. coffee and gummy worms and licorice, was an adventure, but we will soon be pros at it! We had dinner at Ansitz StraBhof, in Rio di Pusteria, just down the mountain, round and round a few little hairpin turns and switchbacks, till we stopped in front of a house. The restaurant was a Very nice experience overall. I had gnocchi and cheese, cream and roasted walnuts. These gnocchi were big, and they were RED from beets! They were very good, but they’re not my favorite gnocchi so far. Dessert for me was something like Candelari al nougat. Thet’re like little warm bread pudding, like dumpling balls, filled with Nutella, of course, and drizzled with vanilla sauce. Dad had pappardelle with Ragu and jam-filled donuts—but they’re not really donuts like we know them. They’re more like crispy light handpies, filled with fresh-tasting fruit jam. Delicious! So, for now we’re back to our little condo for the night to relax and catch up with some writing and planning. First thing tomorrow is Mass, and the rest to be decided.
Our Travels 