The Hilltop Towns of Italy

  Atessa, Italy
Monday, March 26, 2007

We had only seen Lanciano at night, and now that we had recovered from Pompeii, we were ready for another walking tour.  This time we took a guide with us, a person who had been born and raised in this little mountain village: Giovanni, Adriano's dad.

Due to malpraxis during his liver transplant a couple of years ago, his mobility and speech are hindered, but he has the charisma, humor and energy of a healthy 50 year old.  So he got on his little red scooter, which his sons jokingly call the Ferrari and took us to see the town he's known since birth.
 

53 Artichokes

It was a beautiful sunny cloudless day but it was still icy cold.  We passed a few markets displaying healthy looking produce: large mushrooms, pristine fennels, cabbages of all colors, deep green spinach, long thin carrots, funny looking tomatoes, white farm eggs, and the reddest fleshiest strawberries I've ever seen. 
 

06 Old houses

We passed the old Lanciano prison which according to Giovanni, is now used for private parties and events. We walked along the city walls overlooking the green Italian hills I had fallen in love with.  The little houses that overlooked this view were sure lucky, and Giovanni mentioned that they were also very expensive to either rent or buy.  If you looked hard enough you could see the snowy peaks of the far away mountains.  The balconies and windows were decorated with berry bushes and thick

08 Us

flower pots, and at this time of morning lines of white sheets and tablecloths were hung out to dry.   A curious three-legged dog watched us closely as we walked by but wagged his tail when I came close to pet him.
 
The walkways were like narrow alleys with doors and windows facing each other against the old brick walls.  Giovanni said that the people that renovate these old houses usually make it all look old on purpose so that this old historic part of the city doesn't loose its magic.  The

16 Stairs

houses were either brick, yellow or rose colored with deep green doors and shutters, and they were all numbered with a hand painted plate bearing the municipal coat of arms.  Most houses had doorbells but some others had old style knockers, like the typical one with the lion's head. 
 

25 Curious Lanciano citizen

Every corner had something special about it, be it an old curious lady who wasn't used to seeing tourists or an old priest walking past us in a hurry.  The fact that cars could transit through these streets was very annoying since we had to lean flat against a wall in order to let them pass.....and let me tell you, there are more cars in Lanciano than there are people.  That is a fact.
 

35 Cappuccino!

We came upon a small café whose owner was Giovanni's friend so we sat down for an authentic Italian cappuccino.  I ordered tea since I don't drink coffee but when I say the cappuccino's that Ed and Adriano were brought, I had second thoughts.  They were perfectly sprinkled with cocoa or nutmeg on top, and the milk foam was thick and creamy, just as a cappuccino should be.  Starbucks should be put out of business. 
 

41 Kids

After our pit stop we continued unto one of Lanciano's main avenues where we walked in a bakery to buy bread for lunch.  I wasn't going to go inside but Giovanni motioned me to follow him in the shop and I soon understood why: the smell of warm home made bread was almost intoxicating.  None of that plain white squared bread but rather irregularly shaped and thick, bubbly and coarse; what bread should be without the chemicals they put in it to make it soft and white. 
 

42 Gargoyle

What we noticed were that every 5 blocks or so, we spotted an old church.  These churches hadn't been preserved so they looked like there were falling apart but that's what gave them their charm.  One church had Jesus missing his hands and feet and the angels had all been decapitated.  I sometimes prefer small medieval Gothic churches like these rather than large pompous cathedrals.  There's something about the missing body parts that makes it all the more romantic. 
 

56 Lunch time

It was soon lunch time so we headed back to the house.  Giovanni cooked spaghetti al pesto which I hadn't had in years. I sprinkled some chili flakes that Giovanni makes himself by drying and curing the chillies, then grinds them up.  I was going to miss this man.  The thing about him is that he deeply enjoys watching people eat his food, licking their lips and fingers, only stopping from time to time to mumble "Mmm-mmmm". 
 

58 Strange Fishing Machines

After lunch Adriano, his brother Giovanni Jr, Ed and I hopped in the car and drove outside of Lanciano.  This was our last day so we wanted to make the most of it.  Adriano wanted to see the sea so we drove to a nearby town on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. We had heard that there were some ancient fishing structures that were still used today. When I saw them out on the pier, I was extremely surprised as I had not expected this at all.  They looked like something out of Lemony Snicket or Edward Scissorhands. It was a wooden structure with bits and pieces sticking out from everywhere, held up by rusty nails and wires.  It looked so rickety I was afraid the wind would blow it away, but apparently this is how they fished a long, long time ago in these parts. 
 

57 Storm Approaching

The wind was blowing harshly and it was far too cold to be standing by the sea.  I took one last look at my surroundings, my first encounter with the glowing waters of the Adriatic Sea and rushed back to the car.  Next stop was the town of Atessa. 
 

67 View from Atessa

Apparently Atessa was not a very touristy town.  We realized this as we walked through the streets of the old town and people looked at us, making us feel not too welcome.
 
"Yes we are tourists and we do not speak your language" cried Adriano as a group of elderly men stopped dead in their tracks to look at us as we walked by.  People say that the further south you go the ruder and unwelcoming the people of Italy are.  I had already experienced this when we drove to Pompeii past Naples, and I was confirming it again now. 
 

70 Inside the Church

Oh well, tough for them if they didn't want us in their town, we were going to walk the entire length of it, or height rather. This was a town on a proper hill top: the streets were all pointed upwards and walking was quite the challenge.  Nonetheless it was worth the challenge.  This town had Renaissance and Baroque elements to it, unlike Lanciano which reeked of Medieval.  This was particularly visible in the interior of the church which stood on the highest peak of the town. I had never seen crystal chandeliers inside a church and this one had plenty to go around.  Gilded capitals, marble panels, and trompe o'leil in the ceilings were quite a sight when one walked in from the bare, brick exterior. 
 

72 Man in Lonely Street

We kept on spiraling downwards through the town admiring the hazy views, the doorways, the windows and the people peering out of them to spy on us, the cobblestone streets, the church bells chiming, and the lonely shops until we spotted a very modern looking bar unlike any of the traditional Italian bars we had seen before.  This one had a specially air conditioned room for the beer kegs and joy of joys, they served Guinness!
 

76 Atessa at night

We sat in the bar drinking beer and nibbling on pomodoro bruschettas well into dusk until we remembered we had promised Giovanni Sr. we'd all be home for dinner.  So we sped through the night from one hill-top town to the next, until we reached Lanciano for our last professional, masterful, home-cooked Italian meal.  On tonight's menu there was seafood paella!

Mmmmm-mmmm.....