I am reflecting on the past few years and what has come about and I am eternally grateful :) I remember sitting at the dining room table with Dad and we were going through the weekend paper, travel section as we always did, it was a part of the Saturday ritual, he would go straight to the Obituaries, Deaths to see if any of his mates had died, he would pull out all the (crap, he called it!) new houses and real estate and fashion in the middle of the paper, then he would start reading the paper from the back. The sport was always on the back and his beloved Eagles were his pride and joy, (when they were winning of course!) then when we had discovered none of his friends had passed, we would get onto the travel section. He loved seeing where the West would take you each week, he said it was the only travelling that he would ever get to do. Not like these youngen's (referring to his niece's, but he was always so very proud of them achieving all the travel experience at such a young age. I think deep down, Dad would really loved to travel, he said if he had been 20 yrs younger even, so e of these train trips and cruises would have been wonderful. That leads me to when we both discovered this amazing River Cruise that started in Budapest and ended in Rome, it travelled all around the Coast of Italy. I was so keen to go even then, got really excited, started planning my trip, what it would cost and when it came down to booking it online, no matter what I did, I couldn't book that particular cruise, it had disappeared off the screen!
It was after several months of disappointment of not making this cruise, that one of my dear friend's Viv (who is an old school friend, we have always been the best of buddies) mentioned to me, about going to Uk, she managed to get this special visa, which allowed you to go work in the UK for five years. Unfortunately Viv was well organised before me, money wise etc, so I wasn't able to go with her when she was ready, soi started saving like mad and then applied for a visa, which I got quite quickly, then it all happened so fast! Suddenly I was leaving work, which I loved, on a plane to the UK to explore new horizons. Little did I know at the time, that in 2 1/2 years I would eventually get to see Italy :)
In another few weeks, it will be a year since I started in the Funeral business over here in Cranmore, Shepton Mallet and a year since I first laid eyes on a special Italian man who came over from our other office, who had the biggest smile and sparkle in his eyes. I didn't even know at that stage if he was married, or single, infact I wasn't even looking, as most of you know, it's been years for me! Who would have guessed that a year later, we would actually be living together :) yes it's official, I moved in during August, just prior to us taking our first holiday to Italy together!
Our holiday was a short stay in Italy, we basically went to meet family (famiglia in Italian) which were based In Caiazzo, which is North of Naples and Caserta. It is where Giacomo is from and we stayed with Rosa (his sister and brother-in-law Raffaele.
Giacomo with his younger sister Rosa :)
Giacomo, his nephew Enzo and his dad Raffaele
Serena and Giovanna :)
Giacomo's cousin Immacolata offering us a Limoncello or is that a Sambucca? It was lovely to meet all his cousins and family, I felt very welcomed, even if Italian was their first language and they struggled with their English as much as I struggled with my Italian, we managed warm hugs and smiles :)
The farmhouse which Enzo is renovating, which I don't have too many pics of, is very spacious and big enough for all the family. I absolutely fell in love with Ciaizzo and all the Italian countryside, it was so beautiful, the only negative and that didn't sway me too much from not wanting to go back, was that it was like Australia. extremely hot! Rosa makes everything, doesn't waste anything (mum if your listening up there, she's your kind of woman!) Rosa and her hubby both very hard workers and both retired, but busy looking after gardens and animals, making cheese, having their own cows, hens, garden, totally living off the land. The wine is natural :) yay I get to have red wine without all the preservatives!
Some of the boarders :)
Part of the local square in Caiazzo
Everyone stops for a chat, who is this handsome man :)
An original Oil press. (Frantoio)
A bit blurred, but so pretty!
Maria-Louisa (Giac's niece's new home, which is next door to her sister Gina's, gorgeous part of the country, fruit trees and olive trees everywhere!
Giacomo and his Niece Maria-Louisa
Lita you would love all these olive trees, all 160 of them! They produce olive oil and sell it.
OMG, I fell in love with these! Red prickly pear :) as you can see below, they require careful handling! Thankyou so much Massimo and Gina for preparing them and also Rosa for the lovely orange variety :) I miss the taste of these already, can't wait to have them again :)
Under the Lemon trees and Kiwi fruit.
Top left hand window was Giacomo's school room.
The local church
Buffalo mozzarella :)
These are just some of meals at Maria-Louisa's, I didn't take pics of Rosa's wonderful meals :( I am sorry now that I didn't have my phone at the ready. I want recipes!
We had such a wonderful week away, we didn't waste much time, Monday we went off to the Amalfi Coast, Tuesday we went to Pompeii, Wed we spent time in Caiazzo with family and Thusday we went to Napoli (Naples) and Friday we went to Caserta to the royal palace.
Due to the large number of photo's, I may have to post a few separate blogs of each place :) this one was mostly of Caiazzo and family.
I hope you get a feel of what it was like to be in Italy, by going us xxxx
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