Almanac Travel (and Footy Tips): Sal’s Travel Diary 2024 – Retracing the Roots and Round 19 Tips

 

Greetings All,

 

Dasa – 57 Years On

 

This was a key part of the journey, to make the pilgrimage to my father’s home village Dasa in the hills of Calabria.  The drive was about 280km from Lecce on the heel of the Italian Boot, across the foot to Dasa – lying on the toe.  Have not driven on the right hand side of the road since our time in the US, so a couple of hairy moments.  The trip covered roads of all nature from single lane paths through to the autostradas including all sorts of terrain from coastal areas to high mountain passes where the roads go through tunnels under large mountains and bridges over deep valleys, just spectacular.  Unfortunately no photos or videos from the drive with Susannah holding on for grim death, not just for the spectacle but also the challenge of Italian driving.  They only know two speeds and going around the slow ones can be challenging between cars travelling at close to 200kph.  Speed limits are merely suggestions at best.

 

Part of this trip is to take in the sights and one that Susannah had picked was the town of Alberobello in Puglia with its unique conical roofed houses, Trullis.  Eventually found somewhere to park and have a bite to eat and the last chance to have orrichiette in Puglia.  Coppina Alberobello was in the midst of a large piazza full of eateries, stores and the odd bar.  The Trullis attract people from all over the world and it is a beautiful town.  But we had to hit the road, this was a bit out of the way and the day was getting hot.

 

Four hours later we arrived at Tenuta Di Barone our home for a couple of days in Dasa.  The place was closed when arrived with the staff returning from siesta shortly after.  After getting into our room and our bearings it was off into to town.  A quick drive into the village stopping at what looked like the only open store, Bar Pasticceria Cognetta.  A few older gents smoking cigarettes and drinking beer outside and a couple of lads inside playing games.  Susannah was clearly a standout (always has been to me).  We had a drink before I introduced myself to the proprietor, his young offsider heard the conversation and made a call.  Within minutes a small car rocked up parking in position A1 and the Ciardulli faces recognised each other immediately!

 

Maria Rosa Ciardulli is my second cousin and we regaled information to each other about our families and tried to understand where we were in the town relative to the home Dad grew up in.  Regaled is probably not the right term with Maria Rose speaking Italian, me trying to interpret and respond in my broken Italian and Susannah working in signs and body language.  It was so great to meet family here.  Among the men there obviously had been some conversation as one them introduced himself as we departed.

 

It was a long day so a quick dinner at the lodgings before well earned sleep.  We rose to bright sunshine – again to spend our whole day in Dasa.  This time we walked up the hill into town and coffee at Cognetta before starting our search for the house.  Maria Rosa put us on the right path towards the pharmacy and I recognised the church and steps from all those years ago.  Memory probably through Dad’s 8mm that he took on our trip here in 1967.  We had the street but not the address, Sophie Ciardulli came to the rescue from Melbourne giving us the right address to find the house.  Was pretty non-descript in reality but not surprising, but it was where Dad grew up in one of the poorer parts of Italy.  Walking up a bit further we got a better perspective, it was a building of many houses and quite deep.  Directly behind the house the land fell away to a deep valley where they worked the olive groves, fruit trees and vegetable patches.

 

As we walked further around the town we found more churches – how many are needed in a village of about 1000?  Then came across the war memorial square of the town, where we found the name of my uncle Vincenzo along with names from families of our friends back in Melbourne such as Sette and Filardo.  It made us think of how all these young men worked together to make the journey to Australia and remain great friends for the rest of their lives.  We had only just started the day!

 

With thanks to Harry CA who shared a video of“Experience Dasa”, we booked in for their pasta making class.  We were due at Cognetta at 10:45 and were met by our young guide Maria, India her assistant and Gianni.  Gianni led the first part of the tour while the girls translated, down to the old mill.  He used to work the mill as an 8 year old boy with his 10 year old brother while the rest of the family worked in the fields.  It was completely powered by the water running freely from the hills above providing a constant source of power to drive the mill.  It is not possible these days due to damming up higher and flow limited to only a few hours a day.  It went out of service in 1981 although they are trying to get it back up and running.

 

Gianni went into fine details of how the mill worked and how they controlled the texture of milled product. Fine for breads and pasta to course for animal feed.  They fed any type of grain wheat, corn, oats to produce.  The process could come to a complete stop on occasions where a salami or piece of cheese would clog the flow.  Meats and cheese were kept inside the grain stores to preserve them given the lack of any refrigeration.  Not sure it would meet modern OH&S standards as he described how he nearly lost his arm trying to to fix the mill.

 

We had only just got started – now it was pasta making time with the nonnas, or The Spice Girls as they are called.  The Experience Dasa team have re-enabled a disused restaurant and hold cooking classes there.  We chose pasta, but they also offer bread and cheese.  The ladies showed how make macarona from semolina and water producing long strands of fresh pasta.  That would all go into what they had already been working on to provide a lunch for 11, the two of us, 5 nonnas, Maria, India, Gianni and a very tired 12yo Caterina who turned up under duress.  Caterina sparked up a bit when learning we were from Melbourne, she is a Portaro with has relatives there and is a family we grew up with.

 

The conversation at the table was loud and energetic and full of laughter.  We got a little bit of it as Maria tried to interpret.  It didn’t matter the joy was being in the room.  Then the food!  The pasta was served with a chickpea sauce, perfectly cooked and delicious.  No parmesan added here but ‘nduja was there to be added.  A pizza addition we are used to and iwidely used here, it certainly added to the dish.  This was washed down with home made red wine, a bit different to the stuff Dad made but he certainly tried to keep the tradition alive.  Then the bit we didn’t cook was served, an amazing Melanzana (eggplant) alla Parmegianna.  Incredible flavour right through the dish, somehow need to find the recipe but not sure I could replicate the Spice Girls skills.  The meal finished with fresh watermelon and a range of biscotti.  We could not recommend this experience any higher, so much fun and we learnt so much about the village in the process.

 

Dinner was not really needed after our siesta, but we wanted to see a bit more of the village so we made our way down to Cinque Stelle for a light dinner of antipasta and pizza to share.  Every part of the antipasta was made there, cheeses, salami, prosciutto and vegetables.  We got there at about eight and were first to arrive.  We had to slow the meal down as we wanted to see what time the other patrons rocked in, about an hour later they started to turn up.  Our meal was very good but not quite up to the Spice Girls, although not sure how I will eat Pizza back home now.

 

A walk back to our accomodation where two large birthday parties were taking place.  We sat down away from the parties for final drinks.  Turned out Caterina and Maria were at one of the parties and came and had a chat to us.  We are now part of their family and would not be surprised if Caterina landed on our doorstep in years to come!

 

Our last morning in Dasa and there were a few more boxes to tick.  At the top of the village sit four artillery guns mounted as a monument, Dad apparently visited up here regularly in his younger years and we got a great view overlooking the village.  At the bottom end was the local cemetery where we found the Ciardulli Mausoleum where my grandparents lay, we were able to enter and to learn of other relatives buried there.  Particularly sad to see the stone for Maddalena who never reached 2 months old.

 

The village is not the same it was with many of the young seeking out greater opportunities in Italy and around the worId just as Dad did 72 years ago. There are several houses unoccupied or abandoned, but their is a vibrancy and love for the place in the people, even the young who will explore the world.  But they will have a connection that can’t be broken, just like Dad for all those years.  I never had any great desire to return here, but Harry’s research lit the flame as we planned this adventure.  I am so glad to have made the pilgrimage and look forward to any chance to do it again and catch up with the Spice Girls, Gianni, Maria Rosa Ciardulli, Maddalena Ciardulli and the various villagers that introduced themselves in our couple of days there.

 

Next stop Sicily and the town of Siracusa.

 

 

Siracusa and a Sip of Sicily

 

We left Dasa for the trek down the mountains to Villa San Giovanni for the ferry – crossing the water to Messina on Sicily.  As we left Messina directly in front of us stood the grand girl Mt Etna.  However no time for mucking around we needed to get to Taormina and have our White Lotus moment. With the crowds and incredibly narrow streets we felt as frazzled as some of the characters on the show.  We did get up to a magnificent view but it was siesta time and nothing open.  This place is Portsea and Sorrento on steroids!  It was time to get back on the autostrada and get to Siracusa.  There is a section that is tolled between Messina and Catania, while they do have a version of electronic passes available there are very few that use them so queueing to exit was quite slow – as critical as I am of Citylink, it is smooth at least.

 

We reached Siracusa in the late afternoon to be met by our host at the B&B.  It was not quite up to our expectations – advertising did not quite match the reality.  While technically correct it is the town, but really at the dead end of town.  The alarms bells rang when he suggested we should keep our hire car as it was a 25 minute walk to Ortigia, the heart of the town.   I tested it out to get our bearings, it was only 20 and we have become walking dynamos thanks to the walking Tank (our dog)  for 4kms every morning.  While not impressed we would still make the most of it.

 

We got to Ortigia about 9:00pm and found a restaurant quickly to sit down and watch the European Cup final.  Ortigia, Siracusa, Sicilia an island off the town with magnificent historical architecture plus Roman and Greek ruins, the heartbeat of the city.  We sat at one of the first stops possible as the match had just kicked off, fair to say the ambivalence seen in Lecce from the Italians was replicated here.  They were watching and interested but detached, they did all shout for the Spanish opener then we found out how many Poms were here with the equaliser.  Spain closed out the win with little fanfare and Ortigia moved on.  In the meantime the service we had at Oputyia was ordinary at best, however the food made up for it.

 

The night did not really show us too much so it was exploration time in the morning.  Straight back to Ortigia where we found the markets.  Beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and all sorts of other produce.  Siracusa has a hop-on-hop-off bus service for tourists around the town.  We caught that and wound our way back to Ortigia for a bite to eat overlooking the harbour and a bit of wandering, plus the obligatory shopping.

 

After siesta we headed to the marina to enjoy a sunset cruise joined by family from Boston as we sailed out of the harbour to view the various grottos along the coast of Siracusa, the rocks along the formed part of the isthmus that used to connect Ortigia to mainland Sicily.  A few of the family leapt into the water, this was a pre-dinner thing for us so we stayed dry.  After 45 minutes Gianni our skipper pulled back into the marina, we were all pretty disappointed given this was supposed to be a Sunset cruise and the sun was still belting down on us.

 

Attitudes changed when platters of salumi, vegetables and cheese were delivered to the boat and Gianni, the skipper, cracked open a bottle of Prosecco!  We then set off around the other side of Ortigia into the bay.  A couple of landmarks were pointed out including the special pool.  1/2 a swimming pool at one of the lavish houses had crumbled after being hit by a freak wave.  A bit of a view of where the other half live including Bono’s “yacht” resplendent with chopper.  We did all this as the sun set returning under the low bridges that now link Ortigia and Sicily.

 

From the boat it was wine time and hunted down a recommended wine bar Enotica Solaria (Thanks Di O’Sullivan).  We have been devoted to trying the local wines,, this was an interesting white from the Mt Etna region almost golden in colour and slightly opaque, the food selection was limited so off another hunt began.  Our strategy has been to find busy places, and did so with Chiodo which specialised in local produce done a bit of differently.

 

A somewhat eclectic menu including a roasted watermelon dish.  I went for the Caccio e Pepe with melon and mint included, Susannah’s stuffed pasta with smoked eggplant, salted ricotta and sprinkled with basil was the standout.  The peach based salad was a bit different but delicious.  A very popular restaurant with a regular rotation of diners and drinkers.  We needed to get back to the digs as Mt. Etna Volcano, Sicily, Italy awaited the next day.

 

We booked a tour in a van, however there was some doubt about it going ahead due to activity on the mountain.  Eventually got the all clear and Francesco from My Siracusa – Tour & Experience turned up the next day in a small 5 seat Ford hatch that seated 4 comfortably.  Keith and Kat a father and daughter from Falkirk, Scotland were already in the car to join us on the expedition.  Once we left the autostrada the climb began through the narrow streets in the villages as we approached the volcano.  As we left the villages we could see remnants of the 1983 eruption with the lava flow and some of the devastation left in its wake.  Buildings including luxury hotels just left abandoned.

 

We reached base camp from where we would take a cable car up a further 600m to reach an altitude of 2500m, already we were higher than Kosciusko.  Next to us was the previous cable car that was wiped out by an eruption in 2002.  The next phase was to climb aboard a 4WD bus that would take us up to 2900m.  We were on a black moonscape covered in small volcanic rocks, we were guided around the area dotted with old craters from previous eruptions.  Above us Etna was smoking away and let off a bit of a grumble just to remind us who was in charge.  There has been quite a bit of activity up there in the last week, in fact the summit had grown 12m in the week now up to 3369m and possibly more now.  It was an extraordinary experience.

 

The trip back included a stop at Enoteca dell’Etna a winery on the slopes of the mountain.  We sampled wines and tasted some of the local produce.  Their cunning plan worked and we enjoyed another Parmeggiana Di Melanzana plus a Salumi and Cheese platter before adjourning to another tasting area.  This time it honeys and pastes from the area plus the local liquors.  Needless to say there were some purchases including a paste made from pistachio similar to Nutella.  Francesco completed the drive, dropping us back in Siracusa.  He was an excellent host while Keith and Kat were great company. An unforgettable day.

 

On the way to dinner we slinked into a small artisanal brewery, Il Birraio. A young chap runs and makes a couple of his own which I tried.  A Sour IPA sounded strange but was a pretty good drop, the other a more standard lager offering that was perfect for the climate.  We were pleased to find Osteria da Seby Siracusa for dinner and sitting inside with air conditioning.  The Linguini Vongole and Risotto Marinara were superb, with the Orange and Fennel salad a perfect accompaniment.

 

Our last full day in Siracusa kicked off with another walk around the markets before we made off to the ruins of the town. Sicily and in fact most of southern Italy was under the regime of the Greek Empire with an archeological park dedicated to them.  Within the park a number of modern sculptures have been added with adherence to the Greek gods and legends that prevailed during that era.  The Greek Amphitheatre remains but has modern seating around it and used for performances today.  Nearby are the Roman ruins including their amphitheatre which has not been modernised.

 

For our last night in Siracusa we decided to have a drink watching the sunset.  By chance Keith and Kat were walking by with the rest of the family and so joined us for dinner.  As we compared our own home towns and the beautiful one we were in another Australian nearby interjected that she taught at East Doncaster High, another conversation kicked off.  We had a great dinner in great company, a wonderful way to leave Siracusa.

 

From there it is John Candy Day, with a train to Catania Airport, plane to Napoli and automobile to Pompeii to give Caecilius a visit.

 

 

 

Selezione

Bombardieri,  Gigan?i, Sante , Falci, Gatti, Energia, Leoni, Portuali, Blu

Forza Blu, Forza Frati

Ciao Sal

 

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