Festival of the Madonna of the Rosary ~ La festa della Madonna del S. Rosario

Every October the villagers organise a festival and on the first Sunday of that month a statue of the Madonna of the Rosary is paraded around the local area stopping at various places along the way. At the last resting place a priest from the religious community gives an address before the daytime fireworks are set off and the Madonna is taken back to the church.

Sundays is a day when family members get together for lunch and the festa is a further opportunity to meet up with others that have come for this special occasion.  The festivities continue in the evening with stalls selling take away food to enjoy at trestle tables, fairground entertainment, music and more fireworks.

Italy: visit to a local town

There would hardly be any need for us to leave our Italian village to do some shopping since there are trades people and little shops that meet our everyday needs. Vans selling fruit and vegetables, fish and household goods come around on different days of the week. Also our self sufficient relatives generously share their seasonal produce. We have plenty of our own fruit and this time the bruised windfall apples were collected for a relative's pig and the fruit and vegetable peelings went to the sheep.

However, it's always good to take a break and go to town on market day. We were particularly looking for some ripe lemons to make some limoncello and the ones growing in our relatives' gardens had green skins.

In Sora the stalls are set up in the streets on either side of the river and there are other piazzas dedicated to the fruit and vegetable market. Individuals also bring in produce from their smallholdings so everything is seasonal and fresh.

This time we wandered around Borgo San Rocco and walked into town.

Although Sora lies in the shadow of high mountains the town itself is located in a wide plain with the River Liri running through it. There are areas of wetland and a lakeland reserve. Sora is well known for paper making and wood crafting. A popular method of getting around on the quieter country lanes and narrow streets around town is by bike.

In a side street there's a shop selling organic and Fairtrade produce and we went into the deli and talked to the owner since he also sells products from the local Abbey. Our nephew has a similar deli in our village, but it's always good to talk to other traders about organic food. He had some lemons, but they were still green and didn't look suitable for our purpose.

Then we came across a van selling fruit and vegetables and got the ripe, unwaxed and organic lemons we wanted (from Fondi, which is a town near the coast in a lemon-growing region). (I'll show you what we did with them to make limoncello another time).

We had a coffee before walking back through the streets of San Rocco district - a photographer's delight if you're interested in architectural details. Borgo San Rocco has had some restoration work done over the last year or two, but the ancient character of the buildings remains the same. 

          Looking back through an entrance gate that leads into the main part of the riverside town.

At the end of the street is another piazza and the church of San Rocco.

There are two small windows that enables the outsider to look into the church.

The same window from inside the church.

courtesy Church of San Rocco, Sora leaflet

A window and statue depicting San Rocco (St. Roch) with a dog who offered him bread when the man was an outcast due to a skin disease which he contracted after nursing the sick.  You can read more about San Rocco here.  His feast day is on the 16th August when there are festivals and processions in many parts of the world associated with him including Venice where his body is enclosed in a glass tomb in the church dedicated to him there.  The Borgo of San Rocco in Sora has its own festa on that day. A newly painted fresco on one of the outside walls of the church depicts some scenes from the life of San Rocco and the festival procession as the statue of the saint is taken around the streets.  It's interesting to see this aspect of community life portrayed with people from the community taking part, some in traditional regional costumes.

Piazza San Rocco

Italy: September and October - home and garden

At the end of our time in Italy it was a satisfying feeling to be able to enjoy a tidy garden and raise a glass to a productive period there.  It wasn't all work as there were days when we were able to go out or spend time with family, but this post is about those days when we were at home.

After an early breakfast we were in the garden.  A girl went jogging by up the lane at the same time every morning before returning and effortlessly running back up the hill.

Baby snails munched at the young vine leaves.

A colony of adults were crammed into a space between the branches of the oleander and jasmine bushes.

Early morning was a good time to take a walk in the garden especially as most of the time I was working indoors. I was thankful for the sunshine streaming in through the windows. I did get rather obsessive about cleaning and sweeping!

Some of our fruit and nuts - table grapes, apples, end of season figs, hazelnuts and walnuts.

All the hedges and trees needed a drastic pruning and thinning out. The fruit and nut trees are fine, but we're rethinking what to do about the ornamental trees as they've grown too tall and bushy.  I don't like the idea of cutting down healthy trees, but that's probably what we shall do with them next Spring.

Meanwhile we hired the local logger who, with his wife, has a wood yard and logging business across the way to come and cut down the fir tree. When we first planted the fir tree the electric pole was much thinner and not in the same position on our land, but now the branches are a nuisance and the thick trunk is too near the high retaining wall.  It needed an expert to come and fell it and it was fascinating to see him make steps of the branches in order to climb higher before cutting off the top and then slowly working downwards.  Finally he cut up the branches for us, but then my husband had to split the logs.  It had to be done before the wood hardens off and even so it was hard work to cut up the bigger logs and then store them.  Thankfully a brother-in-law came to help.  We shall be glad of the logs especially as the hard wood will burn slowly and last longer in the wood burner.

                         Small branches were stacked outside and the logs stored in the garage.

 It wasn't all work and no play.  Next time I'll write about one of our visits to a local town.