District 7450 Group Study Exchange to Italy 2008

June 2

2008-09-16T14:05:00.001-04:00

As planned, everyone was up and downstairs with all the bags by 3:45 a.m. while everyone else at the Denza was fast asleep, but that is when the FUN BEGAN!

Just as the entire month had been an exciting adventure, so too was our "escape" from the Denza. Franco arrived to pick us up but was unable to open the locked gate as planned because someone the night before had broken off a key in the very heavy padlock. We were unable to find a night watchman or a phone number so Jane started knocking on doors of the Polish graduate students we had met, only to find out from one sleepy student that there is no night watchman. In the meantime Jason and Nick roamed the huge, and muddy campus looking for alternate exits and Martina searched for a number to call, but to no avail.

The only recourse was to pull our bags down the long driveway to the 10-foot high 19th century cast iron gate (with spikes on top), hoist our bags over, and then climb over ourselves. So our team of adventurers did just that - with a lot of muscle from Martina, Nick and Jason; and Jane, with a little boost from her team. The bags were now laden with gifts and books we had received, gifts we bought, and lots of dirty clothes so getting them over the fence to Franco proved to be quite a feat! The adrenalin sure was working that morning and it's a good thing. Once we were on the other side, a light went on in the gatehouse, an angry woman came out and proceeded to argue for 10 minutes with Franco about what we were up to - trying to get out, not in. Apparently she saw us but was too afraid to come out in the pitch dark and instead called the prior about us. He told her just to go back to bed!!!

So off we went to the airport and were there in plenty of time for the plane at 7:15 a.m. for Rome. We all just chilled on the plane from Naples to Rome but coming in to Rome was exciting because we flew right over the coliseum and the "Wedding Cake" - the memorial to Victor Emmanuel. Once we found our Philadelphia-bound gate in Rome, Martina decided to go off for some last minute shopping which provided more exciting times when she was not allowed back to our gate without a boarding pass. She solved that by retracing her steps and getting a boarding pass at check-in. So all is well that ends well.

The 8 hour 40 minute flight from Rome to Philadelphia was uneventful (for a change) included movie watching, sleeping, reading, and just plain relaxing as we prepared to greet our families and significant others at the airport!

But wait...one last bit of excitement! Jason's large bag with work clothes and shoes was nowhere to be found. He filed a claim. Let's hope he gets it quickly!

June 1

2008-06-16T20:30:00.007-04:00

So here we are on our very last full day in Italy, and still there is another adventure to enjoy! This time Franco, our GSE coordinator for District 2100 and our planner for the entire trip, volunteered to take us to a nearby inactive volcano because he knew how disappointed we were that we couldn't visit Mount Vesuvius. (Terrible rainy weather prohibited us from flying over it in the 6-seater plane or hiking the volcano as scheduled.) So off Jason, Nick, and Jane went while Martina opted to sleep late (a luxury we had precious little of in the last 30 days.)

Franco picked us up at 8:30 a.m. and off we went, first to the tip of the land mass area called Posillipo on which our residence (Instituto Denza) was located; then we drove north along the sea coast to an ancient and historic area by the sea where Romans and Greeks had settled. Being with Franco was a real treat because he not only is an engineer and architect but also a true Renaissance Man with extensive knowledge of the history of ancient Italy and the Greek and Roman settlements. He gave us a running commentary, including pointing out as we drove the island in the bay where Ulysses was buried, and also the ruins of a huge Roman coliseum, the second largest Roman structure, topped in size only by the coliseum in Rome. The island where Ulysses was buried rose from the sea in 3 days in 1552.

As we arrived at Solfatara, there was a mystical feeling about the place. And for an inactive volcano, there were plenty of jets of steam and sulfur escaping from holes in the ground. It was easy to understand why the Greeks and Romans felt this place was the entrance to the nether world. It was a ceremonial site where they killed sheep and poured sheep's blood into the erupting holes and asked the ghosts of ancestors to give them guidance. We were able to walk (carefully) among the erupting jets without too much difficulty, but it was fascinating to see the heat (312f) erupting from the ground and feel the heat of the soil through the soles of our shoes. The ancients also used this site for health reasons, since the inhalation of sulfur gas has been know since ancient times to have healing power for respiratory ailments.

On a coffee break at Solfatara, Franco explained how Naples even today still has many noblemen, including princes, barons, and marquis. They are not noble by blood but by appointment by a ruling monarchy at some time in the past. Some of them are part of the committee (and have been for four centuries) that is in charge of the St. Gennaro treasures and museum. (See our earlier trip to the Museo of San Gennaro.)

Sunday afternoon Barbara and Franco graciously invited us to their home to meet their family and extended family (all living in the same building) and friends at a farewell party. It was a lovely affair on the terrace with lots of wonderful Italian food - pies with escarole and peppers, procuitto and melon, special bufala mozzarella, pasta and a delicious desserts, all of course with wine (and water too, for the day was very warm). Barbara is an Englishwoman and has participated in many Rotary exchanges (this is Franco's 9^th GSE year) and was very welcoming. Their two daughters, Elsie and Fanny were there also and later in the afternoon, Fanny, who is very talented on the piano, treated us to a few songs. She's also quite a sportswoman, and she and Nick played with the hackeysack Martina had given her. Barbara and Franco even recommended some summer reading titles for Jane about Naples.

Then off to the Denza to pack and rest before our last dinner in Italy! We walked to a nearby restaurant - not the one where they didn't want to serve us only wine the night before - but this one provided it's own challenges. Everything Jane wanted to order was not in season - it was a seasonal restaurant. But we managed to be fed and then enjoyed a wonderful gelato at the café down the street. To bed early because we must meet Franco at 3:45 a.m.!

May 31

2008-06-16T20:29:00.001-04:00

Today was our second to last day of the trip and boy did we live it like true tourists! We decided we were going to go back to Capri to get some more shopping done and really explore more of the island.

So, we made it to the port, decided to take the fast boat this time and got there in about 40 minutes. On the way, we all decided that the water was calm enough for the Blue Grotto to be open for us and we tried to will it to be open. Well, I’ll be darned if it didn’t work. The Blue Grotto was open and, once we disembarked our superspeed ferry, we bought tickets. We were taken via motorboat to a sort of Blue Grotto holding area – where motorboats were just sitting on the sea, waiting for rowboats to come and usher their passengers into the Blue Grotto. On the boat ride there, we met Glenda, who was from Florida and living in Spain with her husband, Lee, who was stationed at a naval university in Rota, Spain. Somehow, Lee convinced the skipper to let him at the wheel for a bit.

The Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra in Italian) is a sea cave that is difficult to enter due to the low entryway. The rowboat captains had to time the waves just right before bringing us into the Grotto otherwise we would have been crushed by the top of the rocky archway. Once inside, though, it was beautiful. The light shining from outside illuminated the water in the cave with a near-neon blue color, as the light reflected off the limestone floor of the cave.

Once we successfully made our tour of the Blue Grotto, we headed back to the Grand Marina at Capri. From there, we decided to take the funicular up to Capri and start our shopping. This was the first time we really went our separate ways – Martina went solo, Nick and Jason went together and Bruce and Jane were paired.

After several hours of shopping, we all took boats back to the Denza for dinner. We ate a quick dinner and went outside to look for a place to get some drinks. We stopped at the first restaurant down on the main street and headed in. We ordered some drinks and, when the waiter brought them out to us, he asked us what we’d like to eat. We all said that we just wanted drinks. Pasta? No. Fish? No thank you. Bread? Well, no. He left us but soon returned to make sure that we really didn’t want anything to eat. We politely told him that we were fine with just drinks. Within a few minutes, one of his cohorts returned and spoke to us in English. “You know this restaurant isn’t a winery so you’ll have to eat something.”

“We have to eat something?”

“Yes. You have to eat something.”

“So, we can’t just sit here and have our drinks without eating?”

“You have to eat something.”

“Ok. We’ll just finish our drinks and go.”

Then, he walked away. So, needless to say, there was no tip there.

After that, we headed down the street a bit to get some gelato and then headed back to the Denza for a night of rest. Tomorrow, we are visiting Solfatara, a small local volcano, with Franco.

May 30

2008-06-16T13:54:00.002-04:00

This morning was Pompei. We took a chartered bus and were accompanied by Elena, a previous student of the Denza and daughter of the President of Napoli Posillipo Rotary Club, and members of the Breschia Rotary Club (near Milano) to Pompei.

We arrived at the Pompei ruins and were immediately struck by the size of a tourist attraction it really was: shops were all set up in the parking lot, vendors were trying to sell us water and hats right literally on the entrance steps. It was a much different experience than we had at Ercolano (which was very organized but not really tourist-y) and Stabiae.

Pompei had everything you would expect in an ancient Roman ruin: a temple in the main square, a temple to honor Apollo, a house with a garden atrium, roads with cart marks, and Mt. Vesuvius as the backdrop. It also, however, had some other things: a brothel where we learned that the pricier employees were upstairs, pornographic murals/iconography on several walls, a barber shop (Jason and Nick’s hair had them desperately hoping to stumble upon a time machine to patronize this shop but, alas, none were found) and 2-feet tall stones in the road for pedestrians to cross safely without stepping in the waste and sewage that would flow down the road.

Also, and luckily, the sea was closeby that the residents could use for fishing and as escape from Vesuvius’ eruptions.

After Pompei – which could easily take an entire day to get through the whole place, it’s massive – we headed to a Catholic church, which happened to be in the middle of a wedding ceremony. It was immense and ornately decorated.

Next up was lunch with Amadeo (the Club president) and the Napoli Posillipo club. As usual, we had a fine feast and headed back to the bus for the Denza. We got back to our rooms at around 5:00 and chilled out for a bit before we had dinner with another, very friendly Rotary Club. Before we went to dinner, we gave Bruce some gifts and he headed to dinner with Sergio.

May 29

2008-06-16T13:53:00.002-04:00

At around 10:30, Martina, Jason and Nick headed downtown via bus. Jane decided to stay at the Denza to sleep in and fare la ricotta. The downtown threesome got off the bus at a random stop and spent the day walking around. They stopped at a coffee shop along the way and got some croissants, juice and coffee. During this time, Jane was sound asleep.

After realizing they were in a posh-er section of town and couldn’t afford to buy $300 sneakers, the rain started in. They headed into a bookstore, which was like a huge, multilevel Borders or Barnes & Noble. With just three full days remaining on the trip, Jason and Nick made some very key purchases. After stumbling through Italy for three and a half weeks, Jason bought a map of southern Italy and Nick bought an Italian-English dictionary. Just in time.

We explored a little more and found an internet café, with no help from Jason’s map, still folded and tucked securely in his bag. Martina used her USB stick and started to upload the blog. However, there was a probably with our Microsoft Word file and she couldn’t get the text off the drive. So, she uploaded some pics and an apology note to the blog.

It was getting close to “go time” so we started to look for a bus stop. After (unknowingly) walking past our stop and then proceeded for 20 minutes in the wrong direction, we knew we were getting close so we bought some bus tickets. Just to make sure we were close, we asked the ticket man where we could get our bus, number 140. It was at this point that we realized the magnitude of our folly. He pointed us back to where we were 20 minutes ago and our egos were immediately checked. So, we hoofed it back to the stop and caught the bus relatively quickly.

Eugenio (a Rotaractor from Naples) met us at Denza. Jane and Eugenio knew each other because he came to UPenn a few years ago as a visiting scholar doing his PhD in Entrepreneurial Studies. He contacted Jane, as she is the district Rotaract chair, and helped her start a new Rotaract club in Philadelphia. Eugenio will be his club’s president starting in July. We took a taxi down and Eugenio followed us on his scooter, which had a canopy over the seat and was like a convertible.

We headed to the Capodimonte Museum, a national museum in Naples, currently with a Salvator Rosa exhibit on display. Rosa was born in the 1600s and was one of the most famous Baroque artists from Naples. We met up with a few other Rotaractors, including Florentin, a Rotaractor visiting from Benin, and toured the museum.

After a nice walk through the museum, we had some drinks with Eugenio at a restaurant near the Castel dell’Uovo and headed to Hotel Excelsior for a nice Rotary dinner. At the dinner, we viewed a great anti-drug video put together by the local Rotaract club. They spliced together a voiceover, some text and scenes from popular movies to make an interesting piece.

May 28, 2008

2008-06-08T20:51:00.001-04:00

Domenico and his daughter, Gea, picked us up promptly at 9:00 am. Domenico is a member of the Napoli Est club. We headed downtown but first stopped at Domenico’s yacht club, Circolo Nautico Posillipo, on the way for a quick drink. On our way from the bar to the dock, we passed a female aerobic class and thought that it would make a great infomercial for a home workout tape. After catching a nice glimpse of the Bay of Naples, we headed down to the Tribunale (Courthouse) for a morning of justice.

This tribunale was huge and was designed, along with many other buildings in the immediate area, by a Japanese firm. The courthouse was different from ours in several ways: it had almost 30 floors, there were banks and shops inside and smoking was permitted. Once we arrived at the facility, Domenico dropped us off and another Rotarian, Ermanno, took over but Gea remained with us. Ermanno is a civil lawyer and took us around the civil law section of the building. We were able to go in a courtroom and observe a few cases. In this courtroom, there were four tables of lawyers and four judges. After the civil side, a criminal lawyer joined our group and took us to the criminal side of the building, where we were also able to observe a case. The one we spent the most time at was the arraignment of several different people who were accused of dealing drugs. When we left the courthouse, we parted ways with Ermanno but Alberto, another lawyer, accompanied us, along with Gea.

We headed up to a castle which overlooked the city but it was closed so we decided to take in the view and then hit a cameo shop nearby. This shop had pictures of and a letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton and Martina and Jane bought some gifts from the owner, who claims to be the only cameo maker left in Naples.

Next was lunch at Trattoria Vanvitelli. The highlight of the lunch was the introduction of melloncello to our lives. It’s similar to limoncello but it’s made from melons…obviously. But, the best part was that it was served in a bottle that was shaped like a, you guessed it, cello.
We said goodbye to Gea and Alberto and took the subway to the National Archaeological Museum. There, we met Bruce Megill (our Canadian youth exchange pal from Cornwall, we met at Paestum and this was our reunion) and Sergio (another Rotarian) and headed inside the museum. If you’re coming to Naples, you must visit this museum. Inside are amazing frescoes and Roman statues (thanks to the Borbone king Carlo III), a large room with an astronomy clock, an Egyptian section with hieroglyphics and mummies, and the largest collection of artifacts from Pompei, Ercolano and Stabiae in the world. In a PG-13 section of the museum, there is a room where many pieces of erotic art from ancient Rome are on display, with explanations of the reasons why certain pieces were created.

After the museum, Bruce and Sergio took us to dinner. We all enjoyed our food and Sergio told us that this was going to be our best Rotarian dinner of our time in Naples because there was no speech afterward! Another golden nugget that Sergio shared with us is that there is a saying in Italy that means that people aren’t doing anything worthwhile: fare la ricotta – it literally means to make ricotta cheese.

We went back to Denza after dinner, worked on the blog and got some sleep. Tomorrow’s a free morning so we’re all pretty excited for that.

May 27, 2008

2008-06-08T20:50:00.005-04:00

At 10:05, Giacomo from Naples Flegreo Rotary Club picked us up and we took a cab down to the historic district of Naples, where we met Alessandro, our English-speaking guide. We met at the Jesuit Square, which contains an obelisk which depicts the life of the Virgin Mary. Fittingly, there is a Jesuit church in this square and this was our first stop. It used to be a palace.

Inside the church, there is a room dedicated to Giuseppe Moscati, a Neapolitan doctor who cured many sick people in the city and was later sanctified. In this room, the walls are lined with silver ornaments indicating the parts of the body that San Giuseppe healed for each person. It’s breathtaking to see all of them on the wall. We went to see another section of the church with wooden busts of saints on each wall. It was then that “the incident” happened. In a brave attempt to capture these busts on film, Nick innocently took a picture of the area. However, his flash went off and alerted the church guard of his wrongdoing. The guard not told him not to take pictures in the church but she now became aware of Jane's and Martina’s exposed shoulders. You are not allowed to have exposed shoulders in a Catholic church. Jane luckily had a sweater to put on, but Martina thought her capped sleeves would have been sufficient. The woman in the church did not agree so we were all asked to leave.

We went to the church of Santa Chiara, which was totally destroyed by bombs in WWII and was rebuilt in its original gothic style. Attached to the church was a beautiful cloistered garden with frescoes on the walls and a huge atrium garden adorned with elegant majolica tile pillars, benches and walls. This area was originally designed for the nuns because they lived there and could only go outside if it was in the cloister.

We continued to visit some more beautiful churches and cloisters (Sant’Angelo a Nilo, Monasterio di San Gregorio Armeno, Piomonte della Misercordia). After a very spiritual morning, we ate lunch at a very famous pizzeria, Anticha Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Matteo. Why is it famous? Because Bill Clinton ate pizza here when he was president! We ate a large plate of fried appetizers before the pizza came out. While we were waiting for our food, a local accordionist came in and tried to serenade us into giving him some money. With some help from Giacomo and Alessandro, we successfully shooed him away.

Next, we headed to San Paolo Maggiore church, which had two ancient Greek columns in its structure. There were originally 8 but an earthquake destroyed 6 of them. Giacomo invited us to his house and we all fell in love with his house and his view of the sea. He told us that he had designed his whole house and that his father was a very famous chief of police. Giacomo was a great host. We had some drinks and came back to Denza.

Once “home,” we took a small walk around the area and bought some snacks and drinks. Then, we took a cab to Caffé Gambrinus for dinner with Rotary Club Naples Flegreo. This coffee house was the main meeting place for Neapolitan artists, musicians and writers in the 19th century and is quite likely the place where many of the most popular songs of Naples were composed. After dinner, we headed back to Denza for a relatively early night.

Thank you and good night.

May 26, 2008

2008-06-08T20:49:00.003-04:00

We met for breakfast at 8 am in the dining hall. We ate quickly and had some time to kill before our ride arrived so we decided to head back to our rooms. On the way back up to our rooms after breakfast, Jason and Nick met a Polish student going for his master’s degree in Civil Engineering. They also learned that his roommate is Kurdish.

Paolo and AnnaLisa met us in the Denza lobby and we took 2 taxis to downtown Naples. Taxis + Naples = Adventure. On the way, we learned a few things: people from Naples speak a combination of Italian and Neapolitan; the last eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was in 1944 – as such, many people have forgotten the true threat of the volcano…so much so that 3 villages have sprung up on the craters from the 79 AD eruption and Paolo called their inhabitance there “crazy;” the Borbone had occupied Naples for over three centuries; the legend is that Naples will be destroyed if the alleged egg housed in Castel dell’Ovo is ever destroyed.

Also, in the city’s attempt to decrease the inane traffic, it has begun to build a new underground Metro system. However, digging revealed an ancient Greek port so the project was put on hold. After much discussion, the current plan is to put a museum in the metro station. Naples was originally called Neapolis by the Greeks, which means New City. To further protect the shores of their kingdom, they claimed Naples and used it as a port. Naples was appealing to the Greeks because it had a naturally protected coast and high vantage points to spot incoming ships. Naples proved to be so valuable a port that, within 5 meters below the street surface, evidence of 5 different civilizations can be found: Greeks, Romans, Borbone (Spanish), French and the Dutch (we think!).

Our first stop was the botanical garden, which was first built by the Borbone in an attempt to preserve all the plants in the world – even Eucalyptus trees! We then headed to a cathedral which shares space with the chapel of San Gennaro, the saint who protects Naples from Vesuvius. Underneath the church were ancient Greek and Roman ruins, which included a sophisticated water distribution system, fifth century mosaic floors, and Roman markets. Next, we visited the San Gennaro Museum, of which Paolo is the director. The museum houses treasures that, until it opened in 2001, were unseen by the public for four centuries. Some of the most amazing silver and bronze sculptures reside in this museum along with ornate gifts from every monarch that ever visited the city during San Gennaro’s tenure.

Every year, in May and September, hundreds of thousands of people visit Naples to witness the Miracle of San Gennaro. On one day in each of those months, his blood, which is in a solid state for the rest of the year, liquefies and is presented to the public for their viewing and prayer. We all hope our blood lasts that long.

For lunch, we went to Pizzeria e Friggitoria di Presidente and had our first official Neapolitan pizza. We talked with Paolo and AnnaLisa about politics and our beliefs were confirmed: all Italians want Obama to win.

After some touring in the city, we headed to AnnaLisa’s bookbinding shop, where they specialize in binding custom books…by hand. Amazing. We were lucky enough to see some bookbinding action. They use fish glue, flower glue, needle and thread. Sometimes, a hacksaw is necessary.

We left AnnaLisa and Paolo accompanied us on a taxi ride to meet up with members of the Naples South West Club: Bruno, Ellio and Manuela (not a Rotarian, but the daughter of the club’s president). Manuela came along for her excellent translation skills (she speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish fluently), unique insight on Naples and comic relief. We headed to a yacht club to get a nice view of the sea and get to know each other. Although the café was closed at the club, Ellio and Bruno worked their magic to get us some cold drinks. We were soon refreshed and decided to walk to Castel dell’Ovo. At the top of the castle, there is a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the sea. We took in the view for a while and headed down to the American Bar for some more refreshments while Ellio and Bruno headed back to the yacht club to get the cars.
Today was extremely hot and we were all pretty spent after the castle so we headed back to Istituto Denza, our home away from home. While Jane and Martina rested, Nick and Jason washed their unmentionables in the sink. Jason made some makeshift clotheslines for the window and, well, you know the rest.

Next, Franco picked us up to go to a dinner with the Naples South West Rotary Club. Our afternoon crew – Bruno, Ellio and Manuela – joined us and around 30 other people at one of the longest dinner tables we’ve this author’s ever been at. There was a presentation about a video made about the Commorra (the Naples mafia equivalent) and the House of Abraham, a proposed place of worship for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

After dinner, Franco brought us back to Denza and graciously took Nick’s and Jason’s clothes back home to wash for them. They are eternally grateful for that. Sleep soon followed.

Thank you and good night.

May 25, 2008

2008-06-08T20:41:00.002-04:00

Jane went to the farewell breakfast while the other three packed their bags. Jason and Nick brought their bags to Jane and Martina’s room since check out was early but we were allowed to keep one room until 3pm. Jason and Jane then headed off into the shopping area we had located while Nick and Martina located some breakfast and worked on the blog. Jane did some shopping and then sat down at a café. Jason ordered an iced coffee, but was surprised to learn that, instead of ice, it contained ice cream. Martina and Nick saw Gianluca and Giuseppe while they were sitting by the pool. They stopped by to say goodbye at 2pm before they left Ischia. Martina jumped in the pool to cool off and realized the pool contained salt water. Jason and Nick remarked about the fact that everyone was wearing swimming caps or shower caps.

At 3pm, we put our luggage together to get ready to leave. We stopped for a quick bite at a café next to the hotel and then hailed a microtaxi; actually it was the size of, well, check out the picture. Somehow the driver was able to fit all of our bags plus the four of us in there, although bungee cords were involved. Martina and Jane watched out the back in case of dropped luggage on the way to the port. It turns out our driver has relatives in New Jersey and Canada. Nick and Jason went to get our tickets but got sidetracked when they saw food. Jane stayed in the shade waiting for the guys but became concerned when they did not come back quickly, figuring they had a problem with the tickets. Jason emerged first, eating his rucola and prosciutto sandwich, and Nick wasn’t far behind with his half-eaten pizza.

We boarded the boat and placed our luggage on the first floor. Jane, Martina and Jason stayed in the air conditioned indoors while Nick went to the upper deck to rest in the sun. Jane, Martina and Jason rested well while Nick was restless due to the hot sun. We thought the boat wasn’t supposed to arrive until 7:15 pm, however, we docked at 6:30 pm. Franco met us at the port and fit all of our luggage into his car and then hailed a taxi for us so we could head to Istituto Denza. Our taxi driver was very good at making his own lane and was able to get us to the institute very quickly. The Istituto Denza is a private school for students from primary school to post-graduate. We ate dinner in the cafeteria before heading up to our rooms. Jane has a beautiful view of the port. Tomorrow morning we will meet for breakfast at 8am.

May 24, 2008

2008-06-08T20:30:00.003-04:00

Martina received an email from Jason at noon asking if she was awake. None of the GSE team was awake before 11am. We went to brunch with the conference guests and were able to see the project posters showing the activities of the different Rotaract clubs. They are a very active group in their communities and worldwide. Jason, Nick, and Martina went for a walk and by a roll of the dice we managed to find a shopping area and a great view of the castle. Jane went to the Rotaract Conference meetings so she could take some information back to her Rotaract members in District 7450.

We then got ready for the Gala. The scheduled time for the gala to begin was at 8:30, Jason and Nick arrived at 9:15 with the intention of being fashionably late, however they were among the first to arrive. There was a cocktail reception on the lawn outside of the dining room. The doors opened promptly at 10 pm. We sat with Tim and a band began to play jazz music. Dinner consisted of a shrimp cocktail, pasta, pasta, and then fish. Martina and Nick danced to two songs and got everyone on the dance floor. Once they sat down, the speeches for closing the conference began. Around 12:30 am Jane decided to head to bed not realizing that the main course, pork, would be served at 1:15 am. Dessert and Champagne was served at 2:15 am. At 2:30 am, Tim showed us how to juggle wine corks and gifts were handed out. Jason had difficulty explaining that we needed an extra gift for Jane and needed an interpreter. Jason’s inability to speak Italian resulted in two extra gifts. At 2:45 am, Jason, Nick and Martina headed out, even though most of the conference attendees were still there.

May 23, 2008

2008-05-29T07:33:00.002-04:00

We checked out of the hotel and were picked up by members of the Ottaviano Club. They drove us to the International Instituto Vesuvius for Archeological Science. They are restoring two villas in Ancient Stabiae. The goal of the foundation is to open up an archeological park similar to Pompei and Ercolano. The Ancient ruins in Stabiae were discovered around 1749, but weren’t excavated until the 1950s because the King of Italy wanted it preserved. In the 1950s, a principal of the high school in Castellammare, pioneered the excavation with the help of some janitors and teachers of the school. The institute is partnered with the University of Maryland, and the RAS (Restoring Ancient Stabiae) Foundation was created in 2001.

We toured two well preserved villas, but learned that there are eight total, six of which have yet to be unearthed. The villas were not believed to be inhabited during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD; they were being rebuilt after the earthquake so the owners were probably in Rome.
The people who did the initial excavation in the 1750s were called the Borbone and they utilized a digging technique which involved digging a pit and then digging concentric caves to find treasures. The Borbone took many of the treasures away and are now stored in museums in Naples. Interestingly, the Borbone also destroyed or defaced many of the frescoes that remained so that the value of the ones that they took would be higher.

Alberto took us to the first villa which is named Arianna. The kitchen had an enclosed pool to keep fish so they would always have fresh fish. Jason had an epiphany of this being where the word piscina or pesce came from. Many of the rooms faced the bay and only had three walls allowing for fresh air indicating this was a summer residence. Our second guide, Maria, spoke English beautifully. The second villa was much better preserved and is named San Marco. Maria explained that Stabiae was an important town with a port. Wealthy people built their summer homes here facing the Bay of Naples. San Marco had a large atrium with cubicula, which were small rooms adjacent to the atrium. There was a large entryway big enough to accommodate a chariot and donkey for visitors from Rome. There was a large pool in the middle of the atrium to collect and distribute water to the rest of the house, but once they added indoor plumbing, these were closed off and the pool was only decorative. The atrium was used as a place of business and housed a large safe which held the family treasures to show clients that they could have confidence in their dealings with the owner of the villa.

Throughout the villa, etched graffiti decorates the barren walls. Archaeologists have to really study the etchings to date them because some were from the slaves of the Borbone and others are more recent. There were birds carved into the wall which they have dated to these slaves because they think the slaves wanted to be free and fly away. There was mosaic tile all over the floors except in the kitchen because the slaves were in there. Mosaic tiles were attached to the floor by fish glue or cement.

There was a single skeleton found near these villas and near the skeleton was a bag of treasures. They like to say this thief was caught red-handed by Vesuvius. They had a vomitorium so they could continue eating and partying. If they didn’t have a vomitorium available they vomited in a slave’s mouth.

We then had lunch in the cafeteria of the RAS foundation where we were presented with watches from our Rotary hosts. Next we went to a museum which houses many ancient artifacts from all the area ruins. We learned that many of the local people did not know that Vesuvius was an active volcano because 1,000 years had passed since the last eruption. The valley below Vesuvius was historically a place for wine cultivation. Pompeii was a port where they traded food and wine. We know that wine from Pompeii was transported to Spain and France. We saw iron tools that were used to cultivate food and learned that the local people of the time hunted deer and pigs. Before 1939, many of these ancient artifacts were sold to private collectors in America, during that time the Italy government created a law disallowing the sale of these artifacts so they would stay in Italy.

After the museum, our hosts drove us to the port in Naples so we could take the boat to Ischia. We met up with several Rotaract members who were also heading to the conference, including Nicola from Avellino. During the boat ride we could see Vesuvius, the city of Naples, Capri, Procida, and finally Ischia. We headed to our hotel by taxi and had to immediately get ready for dinner. We saw Giovanni and AnnaMaria outside of dinner. Once we were inside, Giuseppe brought over Tim who was visiting from New Zealand. Tim is doing a bit of a world tour visiting Rotaract conferences. After dinner, Nick, Jason and Martina headed to the club with the Rotaract Conference. We danced the night away and we were some of the first to leave at 3am.

May 22, 2008

2008-05-29T07:30:00.004-04:00

We woke up early to catch the boat to Capri. Salvatore met us at the hotel to wait for the Rotaract members to show up. Domenico and Max came by motorscooter because there was bad traffic on the autostrada so motorscooter was faster than car. We picked up the boat in Castellammare, it made two stops before reaching Capri. We were joined on the boat by a number of German tourists. The Italian shipmate who was serving drinks came around with bargain deals of 5 euro hats and 5 euro bags. The sales pitch was, “Special Price 5 Euros” and he actually said it in English.

Once we arrived in Capri we waited for our guide, Sascha, at Dock Zero. He found us and told us we were going to try to catch a boat tour since the Blue Grotto was closed due to rough waters. While we were waiting for the rest of Sascha’s tour group to arrive, we went to Pizzeria Buonocore. Buonocore is Martina’s grandmother’s maiden name. After ordering some breakfast, she spoke to the person behind the counter to find out who had the last name Buonocore. It turned out to be him. She told him about her family and had her picture taken with him. Nick said that the guy looked like Martina.

We then caught up with Sascha and his group to take a tour by boat around the island. The tour group was made up of English speaking visitors and Spanish speaking visitors, so he had to translate everything twice. First spot on the tour was the white grotto which is a small cave in the island. Sascha then pointed out a very high cliff and told us that Titus used to push slaves, messengers, and ex-lovers over the edge. Titus was ruler for a period and lived on Capri so during that time Capri was the capital of Italy. There were a number of large beautiful homes along the cliffs. There is a natural arch which looks like an elephant. There is a cove where teenagers take boats and go behind the rocks, but Sascha wouldn’t tell us what they did back there and Jane emphatically stated she did not want to know. On the other side of the island is a harbor which was placed there by the Romans and the ruins are still there. Today it is a private harbor. In the coral grotto, there is a waterline along the wall and just below that is the red coral. Scuba diving is forbidden so that people don’t come and steal the coral. At this point the sea started to get a bit more choppy causing a few of us to get wet, luckily it was a beautiful sunny day so we dried off quickly once we returned to port.

Sascha then told us to wait a moment while he spoke to the person who was coordinating the buses. He explained that he’d be back in two minutes, but it would be two German minutes, not two Italian minutes since an Italian two minutes is more like fifteen or twenty minutes. He told us that there is a problem if an Italian tells you, “No problem, only two minutes.” We then took a bus ride up the one road to the top of the island to a place called Anacapri. We could see the Rolex Boat Race as we squeezed up the small streets past many other buses and trucks. Once at the top of Anacapri, we were left in a high end store while Sascha went to see if we could have an early lunch. Everyone managed to slip out past Martina and she was left in the store wondering where everyone went. Luckily the group came back to find her. We sat for lunch with Domenico and Max. We had pasta as the first course. Martina and Jane didn’t have the second course which was a choice of meat or fish. Instead, Jane had an apple.

We then had a few minutes of free time to shop before we headed to Capri, the next town down. We were given some free time in Capri which the team took advantage of to do some shopping. We decided to head back to Sorrento earlier than scheduled so we could see the city. Our guides, Domenico and Max, took us around the city center and we were able to do more shopping. Jane then treated us to drinks before she, Domenico, and Max headed back to Castellammare. Jason, Nick, and Martina stayed around Sorrento and did some more shopping. They took the 6:22 train back to the hotel and had a chance to walk through Castellammare, which is a lovely town.
Stefano picked us up to take us to the Ercolano Rotary Club meeting. Stefano is a member of Rotaract and a pharmacist. At the club meeting we were treated to a presentation about advertising by a professor who created all of the advertisements in his presentation. We then exchanged flags and gifts with Antonio, the club president. Then we headed downstairs for dinner where we were treated to pasta, fish, and fruit for dessert. Stefano drove us back to Castellammare.

May 21, 2008

2008-05-29T07:27:00.005-04:00

With much sadness, we left our host families this morning and headed for Castellammare di Stabiae. We arrived at Hotel Montil and dropped off our bags. Ciro and Salvatore Iovenio brought us to a nearby city where we met up with another Rotarian who, along with Salvatore, brought us to Ercolano.

In Ercolano, we met up with Antonio (a gynecologist and president of the Ercolano club) and his daughter, Luisa, who is studying to be a judge. Martina joined Antonio on his scooter and Luisa brought the rest in her car. We all convened near the historical site of Ercolano and headed inside. Like Pompei, Ercolano was destroyed in 79 AD. Our tour guide, Salve, spoke perfect English and gave us an amazing tour. Ercolano was originally excavated in 1738. There is still a large portion of the city buried underneath the current city. Ercolano differs from Pompei in that Ercolano was buried in pyroclastic mud and Pompei was covered in lava. Much of Ercolano is better preserved because of this fact.

For many years, it was believed that most of the inhabitants had fled because they had only found 3 skeletons on the site. However, 300 more were recently unearthed at the port. Romans used to work from 6 am to noon and then spent their afternoons and evenings taking in the public baths, exercising at the palestra or just being their Roman selves. The word “siesta” actually comes from “sexta” which represents the 6 hours of work the Romans did daily.
In 62 AD, just seventeen years before the Vesuvius eruption, there was an earthquake which caused the city’s inhabitants to reinforce their structures brick and stone. The newer buildings show their advancement in architecture and building skills from the lessons of the earthquake.
While only 2 roads have been excavated, archaeologists believe there are 5 roads in total. Interestingly, these roads were built at right angles, were all one-way and provided space for pedestrians at crosswalks. Many of the villas have carbonized wood beams encased in glass to show the original structures. The wood survived because no air was able to reach it for so many years. Many of the villas still have original mosaic floors and iron grill windows. For apartment-type buildings where there was a second floor that was a separate family than the first, the higher floors were always the cheapest. For those searching for labor, they lined up outside the houses of the local businessmen and waited to be seen. The houses with the most people waiting outside were the richest. In ancient Ercolano, husbands and wives slept in separate rooms. Oh, how times have changed.

In these villas, some walls were covered with beautifully preserved frescoes. These were created by placing 6 levels of plaster on the wall, then they painted the fresco, and finally polished it with wax to further preserve them. It was very time-consuming but, if you had these in your home, then it was obvious you were a wealthy household. In a particularly large villa, there was an original bed still there in the bedroom. Bedrooms were actually very small by today’s standards because they only used them to sleep – any entertainment or socializing was done in the atrium or other areas of the villa.

After Ercolano, we headed to Antonio’s house for lunch. There, we met his wife Maria, who prepared a great lunch of mussels and pasta for us. We chatted for a bit over lunch then headed to Antonio’s roof where we could get a good look at Mt. Vesuvius. We had planned to climb Vesuvius in the afternoon but, once again, the weather trumped our plans. The peak of Vesuvius was closely guarded by some very large, selfish grey clouds, keeping the sight to themselves. It was an easy decision for to hold off climbing to the top of a volcano amidst some of the most ominous clouds we’ve ever seen. Next, we were given an impromptu musical performance. Antonio played guitar while Maria sang the lyrics to a classic Neapolitan song. It was a beautiful song and gesture. When asked if we had a traditional Philadelphian song that we could sing for them. We were stumped.

After the song, we headed to back to our Hotel for a couple hours before Salvatore picked us at for dinner and a brief tour at a local pasta factory. We were joined for dinner by Salvatore’s wife, Angela, his daughter, Anna, and her husband and daughter, Guido and Vittoria. Since we were at a pasta factory for dinner, it’s fitting that we had 4 dishes of past for dinner. They were all quite tasty. Vittoria is 4 years old and was one of the cutest little girls in the world. She got great pleasure out of making faces at Nick, drinking water one-handed from an adult’s glass, and clinking glasses with her mother. We were given some nice ceramic cups as gifts and headed back to the hotel.

Thank you and good night.

May 20, 2008

2008-05-29T07:21:00.004-04:00

We woke up today planning on taking a flight. Ciro had worked hard to arrange for us a private plane ride for a few hours over Mt. Vesuvius, the Amalfi Coast, Pompei and the local terrain. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and the skies were painted grey. Quickly, Ciro and Maria coordinated a visit to a local abbey of the Holy Trinity, which turned out to be pretty amazing. Maria accompanied us into the abbey and we received a great tour by one of the abbey’s English-speaking museum attendant.

It was over 1,000 years old and had been built on and improved by many different inhabitants. In the ancient times, the monks made wine and sold grain. Until recently, there was a college located on the premises. Immediately after the Napoleonic wars, this abbey was one of a very small numbers of abbeys still in operation. Amazingly, the 1980 earthquake, which heavily affected many places in this region, did not harm one single little hair on this abbey. We visited the museum with several paintings, gilded ornaments, Gregorian chant sheet music, and maps dated well back into the 13th century. On our way out, we stopped in the monks’ meeting room, which had a beautifully painted mosaic tile floor (created in 1777 and representative of the Port of Naples) and frescoes on the wall (from 1632) depicting many different saints.

After the abbey, Maria delivered us to Ciro, who was waiting to deliver us to…a delivery store. We headed to Salerno and went to a shipping center to give Jane a chance to ship some of her many gifts – GSE Team Leaders get more than Team Members. Once we finished at the shipping center, Ciro took us through the municipal court building, in which civil and penal cases are heard. There are two levels of courts here – the tribunal and appellate courts – and the third (currently unknown by this author) is located elsewhere (also unknown) in the city. This was our first court with a security system that actually checked our bags so we felt a whole new level of security. Judges here have hall lockers where they store their robes.

We headed to a local pizza place, Pizza Margherita, and happened to be waiting to cross the street as a few police officers approached. It turned out to be perfect timing because they stopped traffic for us and we were sitting in the restaurant in no time. At lunch, we were joined by, Ermanno, a GSE Alumni (he went to Ohio last year with Stefano Alcaro’s team) who spoke excellent English. He is a lawyer who does zoning law. As we awaited our pizzas, Ciro explained the origin of the pizza style “Margherita” (it was especially made for the Queen of Naples, Margherita, and includes the 3 colors of the Italian flag – tomatoes are red, mozzarella is white, and basil is green) and that this particular place had the best pizza in Salerno.

After lunch, we headed to the hills. Ciro took us to Castello Arechi, a medieval castle on a hillside overlooking the sea. The Longobardi people, a group from present-day Germany, built the structure. We had some great views of the city of Salerno and the sea. We had a quick visit at the castle and headed back into Salerno to meet up with Ermanno again. On the way, we passed by a portion of a Roman aqueduct. He took us for a walk through Salerno to the Basilica Cathedral of St. Matthew & St. Gregory, which at one point was an abbey. The sarcophagi of the monks are located in the courtyard, prior to the actual entrance to the church. The cathedral was built by Arabs as trade for corn. As we exited the church and headed back to the city center, we saw a man pouring a white powder on the grates in the streets. We asked Ermanno what it was and he informed us that it was to keep the rats away – aka rat poison.

Next up was a fountain dedicated to St. Matthew, one of the Apostles, and is located at the site of his death. It was around 4:00 and most of the shops were closed for their afternoon break so we headed to the promenade and walked along the sea for about half an hour. After some discussion about law, iPods, and the internet, we headed to a café for a quick snack/drink. Post-café activity? Shopping. We spent some time looking at many different nice shops but the end result was that Nick and Martina ended up getting an extra bag for all of their gifts.

The nightcap was the Cava di Terreni Rotary Club Meeting, where we did a brief presentation for the group. Ciro’s daughter, Laura, did a wonderful job translating for us so everyone could understand. It was a very nice dinner and we were able to give gifts to the people who hosted us for the past couple of nights.

May 19, 2008

2008-05-29T07:19:00.004-04:00

We all met up at Hotel Maiorina in the morning and headed to the Amalfi Coast. We stopped at a famous bakery, Di Riso, where their famous dish is Ricotta e Pere (ricotta cheese and pears). Directly in front of the bakery is a gas station, the only one on the entire Amalfi Coast.

After a serpentine journey along the mountainous coast and countless times of passing within inches of other vehicles, we arrived in the beautiful town of Amalfi. We walked through town to the duomo, fraught with tourists from around the world. Inside the church, there was a crypt with walls lined with exquisite inlaid marble patterns.

Next up was Ravello, a city on the top of the hill which provided beautiful vistas of the coast. We visited Villa Rudolfo, which is a restored villa with picturesque gardens overlooking the Amalfi Coast. We had an awesome lunch with an amazing view at Hotel Villa Maria, which is owned by Vincenzo Palumbo, a Rotarian of the Ravello club. Mr. Palumbo owns and operates an organic farm directly next door to the hotel and provides fresh fruit, vegetables and chicken daily. Before lunch, we were able to view the organic gardens, on terraces down the mountainside.

SMALL COMMERCIAL BREAK: Hotel Villa Maria offers a discount to Rotarians. In addition to lodging and food, they also offer cooking classes.

On the way back to Cava, we stopped by Rita’s family’s vacation home, which provided the best view of the coast we had all day. It was truly beautiful. Down on the beach was a town in which no cars were allowed. Jason was very intrigued.

Our next stop was Vietri Sul Mare for a bit of shopping. Jane and Martina bought a few of the local ceramics. After shopping, we returned to our host families. Nick and Jason were guests at a wonderful dinner party thrown by Carlo and Adriana at their home.

Thank you and good night.

May 18, 2008

2008-05-29T07:12:00.006-04:00

In a very unusual turn of events, Jason and Nick arrived to breakfast before the fair ladies, Martina and Jane. In fact, they arrived a full 15 minutes before anyone else in the conference showed up. Maybe they got their times mixed up.

We saw many of our friends at breakfast and said “arrivederci” to those not accompanying us to the ruins at Paestum. Entering the parking lot of the hotel, we quickly had to make a choice: regular old single decker bus or exotic, life-altering double decker. Believe it or not, we chose the double decker and sat right in the front on the second deck. Paestum is an ancient city with Greek and Roman ruins dating back to 600 B.C. The city was built rock by rock from the local mountain. However, the mountain isn’t so local so the rocks were shipped down the nearby river to the city. The Tyrennian Sea used to be only 400 meters from the city limits, now it is over 800 meters away.

Three temples currently reside in Paestum. They were originally built by the ancient Greeks and then were occupied, updated and used by the Romans up on the expansion of their empire. The temples are still standing to this day for many reasons. One of them is that the Greeks used bronze (the original rebar) inside the marble columns as reinforcement. Historically, temples have always been situated East-to-West and Paestum is no different. For many centuries, Paestum was abandoned due to a high population of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.

The site was also chosen as a residence for soldiers because the view of the sea provided them notice of incoming brigades from Africa and around the world.

The Greeks erected a huge Parliament building to elect officials but the Romans deconstructed it and used the blocks for other buildings.

It wasn’t until the past three hundred years that Paestum was rediscovered by a German traveler who stumbled upon the site. Today, much of the site is privately owned by local home and property owners, so we were only able to see a fifth of the entire site.

We visited the museum and saw the most famous piece from the site at Paestum. It is the lid of an ancient sarcophagus with a metaphoric painting on it. All sarcophagi had some sort of painting that told a story. This particular one, titled The Diver, shows a man diving into a pool of water. It signified the cycle of life: he was passing from this life into the next.

After the Museum, we headed to lunch on the beach. After several different plates, Nick joined Gianluca and Ricardo while they were attempting to fly a kite on the sand. While Nick was successful in helping them put the kite together, he failed miserably at flying the kite. Gianluca, however, was an ace and Ricardo showed much promise.

Lunch ended, we headed back to the hotel, got our bags and left for Cava with Ciro (Jane and Martina) and Maolo (Jason and Nick). We arrived at our respective host families: Martina stayed with Ciro and Rita, Jason and Nick stayed with Carlo and Adriana, and Jane stayed with Pio and Maria. After some decompression, we all reconvened in downtown Cava.

In Cava, we met up with Ciro’s wife, Rita, and their daughters Elvira and Laura. One Sunday a month in Cava (and some other places in southern Italy) is Passegiata, which is a night with a carnival-type atmosphere. Shops are open, the streets are filled with people and there are other activities to entertain. This particular Sunday, we got quite a treat because there were several high school groups participating in a 600-year old competition in which bands play music while another member is juggling several flags – there were some very impressive routines.

Following this event, we continued to walk around town. Martina bought socks for her Yikes and Jane bought deodorant after hers spontaneously combusted earlier in the day. Our next stop was a 2,000 square foot Nativity scene in which everything was made by hand in painstaking detail. This site was associated with the nearby St. Francis of Assisi church.

A wonderful dinner soon followed at Ciro’s house. Rita had prepared a great meal for us – pasta, pork, bufala mozzarella with tomatoes, a potato/cheese/ham casserole, peas, a fruit tray and babas (rum cake muffins). Stuffed with Italian food yet again, it was time for bed and we all headed to our host families. Lucky for Martina, she was already with hers.

Thank you and good night.

May 17, 2008

2008-05-29T07:01:00.007-04:00

Today is Jason’s 5^th wedding anniversary. Bellissima! Congratulations! Auguri!!

Today was the Rotary District Conference. We saw the Italian GSE team and sat with them at the conference. The conference was held in a very large hall. The schedule ran a little behind due to the informative presentations so we ended up not presenting until late in the afternoon even though we had been scheduled for the morning. There was a presentation done in the morning about the Rotary programs and the presented included a slide with our blog. We did a ten minute presentation on ourselves and Philadelphia. Jason, Nick, and Martina had Maria Louisa and Elvia help them translate their parts into Italian. THANK YOU MARIA LOUSIA AND ELVIA!!! Jane presented Giancarlo, District Governor, with a flag and gifts from District Governor Russ and Mayor Nutter. The conference ended around 7pm.

We headed to dinner at Hotel Savoy. We had to take a bus to get there and back. During the cocktail hour we met Gianluca and his family. Elvia and Amadeu had us join them for dinner. Amadeu liked sitting at the American table because he was able to take his jacket off. He pointed out that the Americans were the only ones who took off their coats even though it was very warm in the room.

After dinner there was a group of musicians playing a mixture of American and Italian music. Jane, Elvia, and Amadea headed back to the hotel. Nick and Jason wanted to go dancing so they tried to locate dance partners. Nick convinced Annamaria to do the twist with him. He then participated in an Italian line dance and managed to master the moves very quickly. Roberto was a dancing fiend and knew how to dance to every song. Jason, Nick, and Martina left around midnight to head back to the hotel.

May 16, 2008

2008-05-20T14:09:00.006-04:00

This morning, we were picked up by Gianni and headed to a Bufalo farm. The group from last night's dinner joined us on our excursions this morning, including Grace who is Gianni's niece. Grace is originally from Canada and moved here to marry her husband Ciro. Our hosts for the day were from the Battipaglia Rotary Club.

The bufalo farm used to be a small village and had a small church on the property. The employees of the village visited Paestum infrequently. We saw the nursery which houses baby bufalos ranging in age from 19 days to 6 months. The mothers are artificially inseminated. The bufalos don’t start to produce milk until 18 to 24 months of age. They live for 60 days in small cages. They are using an experimental process called intensive farming which means that the animals do not have free range. The females have horns. The males are only kept for two years before being sent to slaughter. The meat is very lean and full of iron. There is an inn where you can come and stay or where they host many events.
We then visited the Casa de Ficcio, also known as a Dairy and Cheese Shop. We sampled bufalo mozzarella and toured the cheese processing area. We also learned that Ricotta means “cooked again”, and it is made from the leftovers of the mozzarella cheese-making process.
We visited an agricultural institute where they make wine, jam, and various other food products. This secondary school is for students starting at age 13. The purpose of the school is to train students in the art of making food and wine. We witnessed applesauce being made and had the opportunity to sample a very young, but very delicious red wine from aglianico grapes grown on site. We were given jars of orange marmalade, strawberry jam, and applesauce.
Next we headed to a coffee factory called Pareo which is owned and operated by Ciro, Gianni’s nephew and Grace’s husband. We learned that Italian coffee is typically made of a blend of at least seven types of beans. The beans are roasted on site and are imported from all over the world. Coffee beans of the highest quality tend to be grown in the mountainous regions along the equator. Ciro explained that he uses traditional oakwood fired roasting. They offer three lines of coffee: Pareo (traditional), Bio (organic), and Orzo Mondo (barley). He exports to the US a brand called Suave which can be found at Costco.
Then we visited a grower of strawberries, Roma tomatoes, cantaloupe, Italian peppers, and grape tomatoes. The farm is part of a 15 farm cooperative of which Paolo is the President. Two of the farms are organic.
We had a great lunch with typical food from this region including artichokes, eggplant parmegiana, and smoked buffalo cheese.
Then we headed to Paolo’s farm where he operates a food packing plant that during peak times can process 100 tons of produce per day. He grows nectarines, peaches, kiwi, and fennel. There was a large scale in the packing plant so Martina, Nick, and Jason each weighed themselves to see what they had gained since arriving in Italy. They were all disappointed.

We were then dropped off at the hotel to get ready for the evening festivities. We had a reunion with the people we had met over the last two weeks. We couldn't believe how many people we knew. Jason and Martina even sat at dinner with the hosts for next weeks excursions. After a dinner of speeches, pasta, fish, and so much more, the Inner Wheel planned an after dinner show of opera singing and dancing.

May 15, 2008

2008-05-20T13:38:00.007-04:00

Today was a vocational half day.

Martina went with Tranquillino to the Tribunal where he had a civil case in the morning. His client is a landlord and the defendant is a tenant who hasn’t paid his rent. Tranquillino first had to find out if the defendant had paid, which he hadn’t. We then went upstairs to the “court” rooms. The room consists of four desks, one of which is where the judge sits when she arrives. There are no set times for each case. You have to first locate your case file on a table, then write down what you are asking from the judge, and place it on the bottom of a pile on the judge’s desk. The judge goes through each case from top to bottom with all of the lawyers from both parties in front of her desk. The clients usually do not attend these types of hearings. (Tranquillino won his case.)

Jason was to visit the Avellino City Hall, specifically the Department of Public Works and City Planning. On the way to City Hall, they stopped for coffee at De Pasquale. There was also an adjacent wine shop offering many of the famous Avellino wines. Avellino is famous for Taurasi, Greco di Tufo, and Fiano di Avellino wines. Sonya and Nick took Jason through City Hall, visiting the information technology department, the city planning group, and the city council.

Renato brought Nick to visit Misericordia, a nonprofit in Avellino. They offer ambulance support services to local hospitals and offer paratransport for the elderly as well as providing free medicine to the poor. He was treated to a wonderful tour led by Irene, Daniela (I think that was her name) and Vittorio. Nick soon learned that Misericordia is run almost entirely by volunteers – they have 50 very active people who staff the facility 24 hours a day with 10 people there at any given moment. The highlight of the visit was a simulated rescue of a “victim” on the roof of the building. It was quite a treat to see them all in action.

Jane visited the Hospital di Rilievo Nazionale "San Guiseppe Moscati" in Avellino. This public hospital is sponsored by a private corporation but it is part of the national health system and treats all Italians regardless of their ability to pay. The hospital is currently being expanded with new facilities to provide care for 25,000 patients a year in 650 beds. It features 10 medical departments and has a working relationship with the medical school at the University of Naples. Their medical schools are slightly different than ours in structure. Their medical school consists of 6 years, then 4 years of specialty and then beyond that fellowships which can be either sponsored by the Italian government or by the European Union.

Jane was greeted by the Director General of the Hospital, Dr. Giudeppe Rosato, and then spent time with Dr. Maria Egidia Gabrielli, who is responsible for public relations for the hospital. We discussed the differences between how hospitals now in the U.S. must market their services. She stated that because all health care is free to Italian citizens, and there are few hospital choices particularly in a town the size of Avellino, her primary challenge is to inform patients of the services available to them.

We all met up at City Hall and met with the Mayor who described a large public project to repair and restore earthquake damage from 1980. The city of Avellino is undergoing 51 projects in total to revamp the downtown and create a park with bicycle paths and a tunnel to alleviate traffic congestion. Then we visited the church adjacent to City Hall where a team of historical researchers are trying to dig under the church to locate a crypt. They were burrowing a hole to slip a camera through to see if there was anything in the crypt and determine whether it was worthwhile to do more excavating. They are looking to find the tomb of the Caracciolo royal family of Avellino from the 1600s.

Then we enjoyed lunch with Tranquillino, Mary Louisa, Renato, and his wife. We enjoyed local fare from Avellino and Campania including some delicious, fresh buffalo mozzarella.

We then headed to Mastroberardino Winery, the oldest winery in Campania. Housed inside are 1300 oak barrels of vino rosso and vino rose from the aglianico grape. Traditionally before air conditioning Italians built wineries from tufo rock to help keep the temperature regulated. The winery is owned and operated by the District Governor, who we met and sampled wine with. We were then shown the wine cellar which houses wine dating back to the 1870s.

We were met by Ciro Senatore of Rotary Club Cava di Tirreni who loaded a trailer with our luggage and drove us to a meeting point near Paestum. We were then transferred to the cars of two members from the Rotary Club Battipaglia. They drove us to Hotel Ariston which is where the District Conference is being held and where we will stay until Sunday. We then rested until 8pm at which time we headed for pizza. The pizza restaurant, Ciri Pizza, was converted from a warehouse into the restaurant. We went into the kitchen to see pizza being made. Nick tried his hand at making pizza. The manager of the restaurant said that it was the best pizza he’s ever had made by an American. They have a special kitchen cordoned off by glass walls where they prepare gluten-free pizza. We also saw their storage area which houses floor from Oliveto Citra (Martina’s grandmother’s hometown). After much pizza eating, we headed back to the hotel.

May 14, 2008

2008-05-20T13:31:00.004-04:00

Tranquillino brought Nick and Jason to the Hotel Malaga where Jane and Martina stayed. We were then picked up by Renato and he took us to the Baronia pasta factory. On the way there was a major accident headed in the opposite direction and the people were standing outside of their cars waiting for the accident to be cleared.

We were given an indepth tour of the impeccable facilities. We were required to wear very stylish ensembles to view the plant. They first showed us the main building which is where the grain is dropped off to be made into flour. Before the grain can even enter the compound, it has to be checked outside the gate. If it isn’t good enough, it is sent to a different facility. There are 7 floors each with a different function to modify the grain. We took a top down tour. The grain mostly comes from Puglia. There are 250 employees working in the Baronia factory. After the grain is completely ground down it is sent through a tunnel over to the pasta manufacturing building. At this point, Luigi, a Rotarian, joined us on our tour. In the manufacturing building they mix the flour with water and have eight different stations making different types of pasta. We saw as they made spaghetti, tagliatelli, shells, spinach lasagna, bowties, and much more. The entire process is done in this building from making the pasta to drying the pasta to packaging it and then shipping it off to a number of foreign countries as well as locally. They have a brand marketed to Whole Foods in the United States. We learned that the date printed on the box is two years, but the shelf life of pasta is indefinite because it is vacuum packed. We were then treated to a lunch of pasta called Basca which are very large looking rigatoni. Enzo De Matteis, a Rotarian, joined us at the end of lunch.

We were met by members of the Avellino Centaura Rotary Club. They took us to BioGem a genetic research lab. The lab was founded in 1997, but the building in Ariano Irpino was completed in 2006. The main research activity is to study human disease. They don’t perform testing on live animals. They genetically modify the embryos of over 40,000 rodents to study the effects and they add or subtract genes to get different results. The laboratory works in collaboration with the Universities of Sannio, Bari, Foggia, Naples, and Catanzaro. We then toured the facilities including the research building and the animal housing building. Our guides Andrea, Mario, Pasquale, and Giuseppe gave us detailed information about the research equipment, how they work with the materials, how they obtained funding from the European Union, and the animal housing building.

We then headed into Ariano Irpino to the local church. Jason’s great-great grandfather Rafael DeVito was from this town. The town has co-patron saints. The doors outside the church were redone in bronze during an anniversary of the church. Inside the church to the left is a statute given to the church by the town. To the right of this is a baptismal font from the tenth century. On the ceiling are paintings of the twelve apostles and around the walls are the stations of the cross. Toward the front of the church on the left is a small alter which is said to hold the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. It was a gift from the French Baron who used to have control of the area. There are a number of pieces in the church that were originally there before the earthquake in the 1700s. We were then taken through the back door of the church to the attached Bishop’s home. The top of the Bishop’s home is a type of library which holds many old archives dating back to the 1600s.

We then headed to dinner at Biffy’s, a local restaurant well known for pesce. We were joined by Guerino Gazzella, who also took us around during il pomeriggio, the President of the Rotary Club Avellino Centauro. We met a number of other people including Guiseppe, President of the Avellino Rotoract club and Guiseppe (Gepe), who lived in Baltimore for two years. Guiseppe, the Rotoracter, drove us home after dinner at 11:30 pm.

May 13, 2008

2008-05-20T13:27:00.001-04:00

Miryam and Gigi picked us up at the hotel and took us to the train station. Our 8:39 am train picked us up promptly and we were off to Sorrento. Our lovely hosts had us seated in first class and we were able to comfortably work on the blog and/or sleep depending on the team member.

Tranquillino and Renato met us at the train station in Sorrento to drive us to Avellino. Tranquillino is a civil attorney and Renato is a doctor of geriatrics. On the way to lunch, we picked up Maria Louisa who is one of the members of the team from Italy that visited District 7450 in April.

We had a nice lunch in the mountains before heading to City Hall. We met the Assistant Mayor. He showed us a movie about Avellino and then presented us each with a copy of the video along with a blessed picture with a copy of the Madonna portrait they have in the monastery. Next we visited this monastery that was built in the 1100s. The resident monks lived on the mountain but came to the monastery during the winter months so they could help people in the hospital. The original house was destroyed by an earthquake in 1732, but rebuilt by Domenico Baccado. Today this monastery serves as home to public archives and has a large library. Many of the ancient works were written by hand by the monks in an effort to preserve the history of the town as well as the history of the world. There is a room in the monastery away from the library which holds a number of very old manuscripts. You have to be a specialist to receive permission to view these documents. There is an ancient pharmacy in the monastery. They had one room to hold all of the ingredients and another room where they mixed the medicinal herbs. To this day people visit the monastery asking the monks to cure their illnesses. They still have a number of the old measuring tools and jars that were used which they managed to save during the war. In the library are scrolls that date back to the 900s.

For dinner we went to the Ristorante Barone in downtown Avellino and enjoyed some Campania dishes such as fried zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese and pumpkin marinated in olive oil. We enjoyed dinner with a number of Rotary and Rotoract members including the Avellino Rotary Club President. Jason and Nick stayed with host families while Jane and Martina stayed in a hotel. Jason stayed with Tranquillino’s family. Nick stayed with Tranquillino’s friend and neighbor Tomas.

May 12, 2008

2008-05-20T13:14:00.002-04:00

Peppino and Luigi, and Eleanora met us at our hotel to say good bye. Alfonso, Teresa, GianFranco, Cristiana, and Maddalena picked us up to take us to Nicotera. GianFranco had a whistle (fisciato) and everytime we needed to be herded together, he would blow the whistle. He also had a Mercedes SUV that was very nice and comfortable, and accommodated our many bags with no problem. Cristiana and Maddalena spoke English, and thus helped to translate. We stopped at a coffee shop and took some pictures, and then headed to a panoramic vista that overlooks Nicotera. We were then joined by Lea and Pasquale. We saw a monument commemorating Domenica Nicotera, a captain during World War I.

Next we visited the Museo provinciale di Mineralogia e Petrografia. There were many rocks, gems, minerals, and oceanic fossils. There was an adjacent museum that we subsequently walked through that had ancient jugs and pottery. Next we went to a Norman Church that was built in 1065. It was reconstructed and enlarged in 1586. In 1783 it was rebuilt after a large earthquake. There was a large wooden crucifix hanging on the wall with 7 bullet holes, inflicted by the Turks, who invaded the church in 1636.

Next we visited another museum that was once the home of a countess. She did not have any children, so she gave it to the Capuchin order of monks. This, by the way, is where the name Cappuccino comes from because the Capuchin monks wore a light brown robe. The home was damaged by an earthquake in 1783 and then taken over by a bishop until 1930. We asked where the monks went, and we were told they “went away.” Not sure what that means. Anyway, in 1975, the building became a museum. The museum includes pieces of Catholic memorabilia from throughout the ages including the garments of the priests, many statues, jewelry, candelabras, and chalices.

Next we went to pranzo (lunch) at Ristorante La Pineta. GianFranco started out by telling us that this was a gastronomy museum, which apparently was a joke. Jason figured it out after the first course was finished. During lunch, we discussed the correct pronunciation of bruschetta. It’s BRU-SKETTA, not BRU-SHETTA. People who say BRU-SHETTA sound American and misinformed. Apparently BRU-SHETTA is also an Italian criminal. For lunch we had several courses of pasta Calabrese before a course of pork with arugula and parmesan cheese. Jason took a picture.

Next we drove to Palmi and checked into our hotel. We met with Maryam Poscosta, the president of the local Rotary Club. We checked in to our hotel and then went to a panoramic vista overlooking Palmi called St. Elia. We could see Sicily – it was about 15 miles away. There is a legend that Saint Elia and the devil got into a fight. St. Elia won, and she kicked the devil to the island of Stromboli. On the mountain, there is a footprint of the devil that he left before departing to Stromboli.

Speaking of Stromboli, there is no such food as Stromboli in Italia. Only Calzone. It must be a Philadelphia invention. Oh, and the island is pronounced STRUM-boli, not strom-BOLI. It’s unclear if the devil actually lives there.

This is the farthest point South we will go on this trip. We learned that the government wants to build a bridge between Reggio Calabria and Messina. The span across the water is only about 3km.

Next we went to Palmi. We walked around the town square and saw the Rotary club’s 100 year anniversary project, which is a monument in a little park. We also saw a palace which had bronze statues of military figures.

By this time it was 9pm, so headed off to dinner…Pizza. The restaurant had a buffet antipasti bar that was unbelievable. We each ordered our favorite type of pizza, and when they brought it out, it was all made together into one gigantic pizza. It was about 8 feet long and two feet wide. It took up the entire table. The Pizza Calabrese section had nduja and was very spicy. There was also some pizza that had arugula and parmesan cheese that was very good. Pizza was followed by tartufo for some and Capo (local liquor) for others.

After dinner, we presented some flags and some Phillies caps to Cristiana and Maddalena and drove to the beach. We took some pictures and listened to the ocean for a few minutes before heading back to our hotel. We really enjoyed our new friends, and wish we could stay longer, but it’s time to travel North to Avellino. We have an 8:30am train to catch.

May 11, 2008

2008-05-12T12:27:00.004-04:00

Today is Giancarlo’s birthday (and Mother's Day).

The dawn broke grey on the Tyrannian Sea, but it was less windy than yesterday. Everyone apologized for the lack of sun, however we know from speaking with our families that it’s much warmer here than it is at home. Off we went with Peppino and Giancarlo to Tropea where we were met by a huge contingent of Rotarians from the Tropea club including some of their children. We met Club President Luigi, as well as Giuseppe, Peppino, Raffaela, Pino, Giaccomo, Ernesto, and his son Lorenzo.

We first walked through the old city of Tropea, which was largely built in the 5^th century. We viewed an island with a castle on it called Santa Maria del Isola. It used to be isolated by water 2 centuries ago, but now it is connected to land.

We saw the Jesuit church, where the priest told us he had visited the St. John Neumann shrine in Philadelphia. There was a large bomb hanging on the wall inside of the church. It was dropped by an American bomber during World War II along with six other bombs. They did not detonate, and it was believed to be a miracle performed by Madonna, so it was hung on the wall. They had to dig it out of the ground from 5 meters below.

The town was full of a festive feeling because it was the first communion day for many young people, plus they were celebrating Festa della Mamma (Mother’s day).

Tropea is quite beautiful, and you should visit. If you come, it is recommended that you visit in June or September. There are 7 islands off the coast. You can sail to them. In Tropea, there are 42 restaurants.

We had a fantastic lunch in the country at a very secluded restaurant known only to the locals where the vegetables, fruit, meat, olive oil, and wine are all produced by the proprietors. This area is known for its wine production. We were fated with multi-antipasti, (eggplant, olives, ricotta, anduja), primi (pasta), and grande secondi (meats and sausages), and molte vino Calabrese (lots of local wine). We enjoyed the feast and the crowded noisy ristorante immensely. This was one of the best meals thus far.

On the way back to town, we stopped by Giuseppe’s house to pick up our schedule for the next 5 days, and enjoyed tartufo (ice cream) and a nocino (walnut liquor) made by Raffaela’s mother. From there, we went off to look at the sea from different panoramic spots. It was gorgeous. The turquoise-colored water was so clear that you could see the bottom. You could see Sicily from the coast. We then walked along the beach. We then went back to our hotel (albergo) for an hour’s rest before a large dinner.

At dinner, some of the dishes included smoked swordfish (yum!), cefallo (local pesche), spaghetti with fish, swordfish rotini (rolled swordfish, baked in cheese and olive oil). The wine tonight was white (vino bianco), and was called Grecco. It’s very typical in Calabria. I believe we had it the first night we were here as well. Try it if you can find it – it’s quite good. We also had more tartufo. We have become tartufo connoisseurs, and are making plans to learn how to make it when we get back.

Tomorrow we are off to Nicotera and Palmi. We are working our way South, before heading up towards Napoli. Hopefully we can drop by an Internet café so that we can publish this for you.

Buona Notte.

May 10, 2008

2008-05-12T12:17:00.005-04:00

Martina and Jason stayed up late last night uploading the blog to the Internet. The WIFI in the hotel wasn’t operational, so we had to use the computer in the lobby. This morning Salvatore took us to pick up our laundry at the lavanderia. Then, Salvatore and Domenico and his wife drove us to the next stop: Vibo. The name of the hotel is “Hotel 501”, named after a Fiat. The hotel was very nice. Jane and Martina even had a balcony overlooking the Tyrannian Sea.

Giuseppe (Peppino) Sarlo, his daughter Stefania, and her fiancé GianCarlo met us at the hotel for a coffee before embarking upon a walking tour of Vibo Centro (city center). Today is Saturday, so there was an open air market (mercato) downtown. Martina bought a new handbag. Nick took lots of pictures, and Nick, Jason, and GianCarlo talked about American politics. GianCarlo is a financial controller for a real estate company so we all spoke with him about our plans to buy a house in Italy.

Next we visited a famous castle that had a museum and a restoration center. We viewed (and held) artifacts, some that were as old as 500BC. In the restoration center there were literally thousands of boxes of ancient treasures in various stages of restoration. Many of these items were of Greek origin, as many Greeks traveled by boat, and settled in Italy. Vibo was the most prominent harbor in Southern Italy for quite some time, so Vibo was a key port for the Greeks. We also learned that the Romans branded their pottery with stamps, while the Greeks did not. We saw wine jugs that were quite large and took two people to carry them. They were used on ships to transport wine, and if the ship became too heavy, they were thrown overboard. As such, they are often found in shipwrecks. We also saw a foil description of a legend called a mnemosyne. This is a rare artifact; one of only 5 in the world.

Next we had an excellent lunch in the city of Pizzo which included lots of fresh fish (pesce) and pasta (spaghetti).

We then visited Piedigrotta, which is an underground cave (and church) near the sea where a father and son carved religious statues into the rock over the course of 30 years during the 19^th century. Religious services are held on July 2^nd only.

Finally, we visited the Castle (fortress) of Pizzo that was built in 1492. It was used as a prison and held Gioacchino Murat, who had been married to the sister of Napolean Bonaparte.

We enjoyed dinner with everyone, and also Peppino’s nephew, Gregorio at a typical Italian family restaurant in the country. We enjoyed various pastas. Jane’s tasted the best. Peppino was very pleased to receive the print of Independence Hall, and said he would think of us when he looked at it. He asked us to send him a PDF of our presentation so that he could write an article about us.

If only we could access the Internet!

May 9, 2008

2008-05-12T12:07:00.007-04:00

We started off the day in Lamazia Terme with Carlo, Peppino and Domenico who gave us maps and packets of information about the region. Lamazia Terme is actually comprised of three towns: Nicastro, Sambiase, and Eufamia. We visited the local archeological museum. Two excellent guides took us through the museum showing us the treasures of the area. We saw an ancient will stamped on bronze, an ancient loom, and a 2000 year-old tomb.

Jason asked what “Terme” means in the name “Lamazia Terme.” Domenico explained that Terme means “thermal baths,” and we were then on our way to a thermal bath center. As we got out of the car, we immediately smelled the aroma of sulphur. We went inside where people were breathing the sulphur steam for health purposes. We went back outside, and Martina waded into the thermal pool. Many lizards scurried around.

On our way to lunch we stopped at a large structure created by the knights of Malta.

Carlo joined us for lunch at the hotel, but could not join us for dinner because his wife was returning from Lourdes (in France).

We had some free time so we wandered around the train station.

Salvatore picked us up at 3:30 and took us to the mall so that we could buy Italian SIM cards for our cell phones. Jason, who was confused by all of the calling plans, decided to stick with a good old fashioned calling card.

Next we went to a kiwi farm owned by Rudolfo and his wife. Nadia, Marisa, and Rudolfo fed us cake and then drove us through the farm in the back of a pick-up truck. The kiwi farm began in 1971 with 10 plants. Now there are 14,000. Some interesting facts: there is one male kiwi plant to 7 females. Kiwis contain vitamins A, B, and C. One kiwi has more nutrition than 3 oranges. Rudolfo also grows olive trees for olive oil (olio), and has over 5000 olive trees. Everything is contained on 48 hectares, and very little pesticide is used. Rudolfo invited us to join him for harvest season in November. Jason is seriously considering it.

Next we went for a long walk around the town of Nicastro, and were rewarded with Gelato. Finally, we had a quiet dinner at our hotel. Notice the order: Gelato first, dinner second.

May 8, 2008

2008-05-09T19:04:00.004-04:00

We woke up for our last morning at Hotel Villaggio Guglielmo and gathered, for the last time, around the pool with the palm trees gently swaying and the swallows diving to and fro. We enjoyed our blood orange juice and cappuccino before hopping in the van to visit the coffee roasting plant of the Guglielmo operation nearby. Daniel, the plant manager, greeted us and his assistant, Silvana, explained the operations while offering all of us espressos. We watched coffee being roasted and packed to be shipped all over the world…But, the best part was the coffee pot car in the parking lot.

We returned to the hotel where we met Franco and Francesco who helped us stuff our many bags into their cars and off we went to Lamezia Terme. Giacomo, the president of the Rotary Club of Amantea, met us at the hotel. We said good bye to our friends from Soverato and took a ride along the beautiful west coast of Italy overlooking the turquoise waters of the Tyrennian Sea. We navigated the narrow streets of Amantea, a lovely historical town along the coast, and met up with some Rotarian friends. Again, we saw another permanent meeting place for a Rotary Club in southern Italy in a meeting room in a hotel on the sea. From there, we went into the hotel dining room for pranzo (lunch), with an excellent local wine. It began with a seafood salad and many other types of appetizers (including a fish fritter, a zucchini fritter, shrimp, sardines in olive oil and lemon, salmon, cheese, salami). And when the waiter asked what we wanted next, we replied with a chorus of “Pasta!” For dessert, we had Macedonia (fruit salad). During lunch, Alfonso reveled us with his tales of his family and his travels. He even called his daughter in Milan to share his meeting us with her.

After lunch, the best picture of the day was Nick on Alfonso’s Harley in front of the hotel. Or, was it the clothesline hanging in the historic center of town? Or, was it the hearse, bedecked with copious amounts of fresh flowers, and the accompanying marching band at a local funeral? Or, was it Martina on “Danger Street?”

We walked by the sea and then ran into the town Mayor and took some pictures. Nick, Jason, Martina and Giacomo hiked almost all the way up to the castello high on the hill while Jane sat and caught another pass of the funeral marching band. At the top of the hill was a historic military lookout for Napoelon’s army. From this lookout, Amantea successfully held off Napoleon’s army for more than 5 months before succumbing.

After the funeral and castello, we left the old section of Amantea and headed down to the sea where we met Enrico, who had come to play a short recital for us and a few Rotarians, and his girlfriend Anna. Enrico is a student of Giacomo’s and is also a teacher at the music conservatory. He played a Beethoven sonata and two Chopin pieces. It was a huge treat to have such a private concert arranged by such considerable, kind people only for our pleasure. It must be what royalty felt like.

From there, we headed back to the hotel and to a quiet dinner with just the four of us. Jane was happy that she could have pastina soup. Martina was ecstatic that she could eat chicken for the first time in a week. Jason ordered typical Calabrian sausage and loved it.

And, the most important thing of all: we’re getting our laundry done tomorrow!

May 7, 2008

2008-05-09T18:58:00.002-04:00

Today was intended to be a leisurely day for us and, thankfully, it stayed true to form. We were greeted at the entrance by Givoanni, his wife Anna Maria and 6-7 Soverato Rotarians. Due to Enzo’s great concern for Martina’s ability to hike in high heels, Maria, the Soverato club president, presented Martina with a brand spanking new pair of Yike sneakers. Next, we headed out to Soverato. Again, the boys went in one car and the girls in another.

Within 90 minutes or so, we had reached our destination: Serra San Bruno. Serra San Bruno is a small, mountainous town and is named after San Bruno, a monk who founded a cloistered monastery in the town in 1091 and had been Pope Urban II’s mentor. We met up with a tour guide when we arrived. She was French but spoke English and led us through two of the seven churches in the town, including the largest, San Biaggio. In 1783, there was an earthquake that destroyed the entire town but the town began to rebuild quickly and San Biaggio was finished by 1795.

After that, we drove to the monastery founded by San Bruno. No one is allowed to enter the monastery and the museum was off limits today due to construction. So, we walked around the outside and learned more about San Bruno and the history of the monastery. San Bruno was born in Cologne in 1030 and founded the Carthusian Order in 1084. He fled to Calabria in 1090 to escape oppression. From there, we drove to the Santa Maria chapel, where San Bruno was buried. In 1984, Pope John Paul II visited this site for the 900-year anniversary of the founding of the Carthusian Order.

By the time we finished there, we were all hungry and getting ready for a lunch of “mushrooms only,” or so we were told. Luckily, lunch turned out to be more than just a huge plate of mushrooms. In fact, we had quite the spread there waiting for us. Several types of sliced meat, zucchini wedges, fried cauliflower, bread, fava beans, a pasta roll and broccoli were lined up for us near our table. Before our entrées arrived, one of our hosts, Giuseppe, suggested we try “nduja,” which is Calabrian dialect for a hot red pepper spread. Jason and Nick tried, and loved, it while Martina and Jane declined the adventure. Giovanni told us how to clear our plate of excess sauce. You are supposed to use “scarpeta”, which means “little shoes” but is actually using small pieces of bread to soak up the sauce. Grazie, Giovanni.

After lunch, we drove to Grecio, a pipe workshop at the artisan’s house. The owner’s wife showed us a pipe that her father-in-law, the founder, had handcrafted. There was a woman’s face with amazing detail carved into the wood. The type of wood used comes from the base of local briar trees. We headed inside the workshop to meet the owner and see some of his work. He explained the process of making these pipes and we were amazed at what went into the whole thing. Briar trees’ wood is used because the adverse conditions in which they grow force the trees to adapt in order to continue to thrive. The wood is extracted from the trees and boiled for 20 hours. Then, the wood is placed in racks and exposed to the elements for 10 years! After this short wait, the wood is expected to have been weathered enough to be ready for lifelong use. The pipes are then carved out of the wood, treated and sold to shops around the world.

We headed back to the hotel to quickly change and head to the Soverato Rotary Club office to deliver our presentation. While we were at Grecio, Jane told Monica, a Soverato Rotarian, that Nick was in love with the Italian song, “La Gatta,” and she actually sang it for us. Well, not only did she sing it but she also arranged for the song and lyrics to be hand delivered to Nick at the meeting! Needless to say, Nick is still on Cloud Nine. After meeting the rest of the Rotarians, we gave our presentation but, this time, we had an interpreter! We all felt pretty good about our performance. Then, we exchanged gifts and were treated to a nice, small dinner of pizza and finger foods. This was a great break for our stomachs because we have eaten so much since we’ve gotten here. We also had some great desserts, all of which were handmade with almonds. Best of all was the limoncello, made by Maria, the club president! After dinner, Stefano took us to Marrons Glacés, the gelato place we went to the other night and we made up for the calories we missed at dinner!

This was our final day with the Catanzaro and Soverato clubs and we have to say that it has been a fabulous start to our trip. Everywhere we turn, our hosts are there to make us feel welcome, engage us in excellent conversation and give us all we need and more. Our group has come to the conclusion that we couldn’t think of a better place to go for the Group Study Exchange. The hospitality of southern Italy, not only of Rotarians but all people we meet, is overwhelming. We are anxiously awaiting our next adventure in Amantea tomorrow. Stay tuned for the next post.

Thank you and good night.

May 6, 2008

2008-05-09T18:37:00.009-04:00

We finally got around to buying Internet access this morning. Hopefully that will mean we can publish this tonight. This morning we went to visit Gruppo Cusimano, which is a local tile and brick manufacturer. Francesco Cusimano, a Rotarian, is the owner and was our guide - he walked us all through the plant. Francesco’s father came from Palermo, Sicily 35 years ago and invested in land in Calabria and now operates a very successful business. One interesting story is that Francesco’s father traveled back to Sicily right before Francesco was born so that he could be “from Sicily” officially. Italians are very proud of where they are from. Gruppo Cusimano exports bricks and tiles to France, China, Japan, and Russia.

Next we went to the University of Magna Grecia where Stefano and Rocco are professors. The school offers three main courses of study: medicine, law, and pharmacy. There are 12,000 students, and the university was founded 10 years ago. Until then, there was no University of its kind in Calabria. The medical school is very competitive; 700 students applied last year, but only 80 were accepted. The tuition costs are paid by taxes which are based upon a sliding income scale. Most students are from Calabria, however some are from Campania and Basilicata. We viewed a nanotechnology lab and saw an electron beam microscope. They are working on their first nano product for commercial use. We also visited Stefano’s lab where they are using computer modeling to research the effectiveness of potential pharmaceuticals. Later they can be tested in the biological lab.

Next we had lunch at Rocco’s house. His wife Anna prepared an amazing lunch with many courses including Ricotta Cheese made from sheep’s milk, pasta made with shellfish, and eggplant parmigiana. For dessert, there was a rum cake that Jason labeled the “flammable rum cake.” It was very good, but everyone was exercising restraint in the food department today. Dazzling guests with delicious food is part of Italian culture, but we are all realizing that we need to say no sometimes so to avoid gaining 20 pounds this month. Rocco presented our team with “strumbolo,” which are hand-made spinning tops. Before we left, Rocco’s sons, Gaetano and Donato performed a crowd-pleasing skit they had prepared especially for us.

Next we visited a military museum that had two parts: Napoleon and Risorgimento. Lots of what you would expect: Medals, Helmets, Armor, Guns, Uniforms, Grenades, etc. We took a golf cart ride around the beautiful park that surrounded the museum, which apparently used to be a garbage dump until 2002. The city of Catanzaro commissioned the park to be built which now includes fountains, an amphitheatre, a skate park, a pizza shop, a bird sanctuary, and lots of things for kids. There was a long tunnel that was covered with fragrant flowering wisteria that someone labeled the “love tunnel.” Today we came to the conclusion that the Italian word Prego can be used for just about anything. In our Italian books, it’s supposed to mean “you’re welcome.” But people say it when they open the door for you and when you say hello, and basically all the time. Nick, Jason, and Martina started saying Prego to each other a lot. I wonder if Calabrians know about Prego spaghetti sauce. I doubt it. Next we visited the Carabinieri – imagine if you combined the army, the navy, the coast guard, the police, the secret service, the marines, and the armored truck companies. That’s the Carabinieri. Apparently it was highly unusual that the general and his cabinet could meet with us. They presented us with a large, velvet box holding the seal of the Carabinieri. By this time we were about 2 hours behind schedule which was causing everyone’s cell phones to ring even more than normal.

We hurried to the next stop – Camera di commercio. Translation – Chamber of Commerce. We met with the President, and he told us there are 200,000 businesses registered. It was an interesting meeting, but somewhat cut short due to the fact that it was 7pm and everyone was ready to go. We got cool gifts there too. Speaking of gifts, the gifting is overwhelming. It is not an exaggeration that we need a suitcase already to transport all the gifts back, and we’re only on day two. Not sure if this will continue. Stay tuned. Next we visited the Rotary club of Catanzaro Tre Colli (3 hills). Here’s an interesting note about both Rotary Clubs in Catanzaro: they have their own offices where the Rotary, Rotaract and Interact Clubs meet and they have large displays of banners, charters, etc. We gave our presentation for the first time in Italy. We all agreed that it went very well. More gifts.

Next we went to dinner at Pepe La Rouge’s. The fare was very typical Calabrian. We had some more Ricotta – Italians eat it plain - as an appetizer. There were fried zucchini fritters, and fried meatballs that were shaped like sausages. Interesting. Then it was time for the main dish, which was Morzello. It’s basically a spicy meat sandwich on a roll. There are two kinds – meat and fish. Jason opted for fish based upon a recommendation from Francesco’s wife, whose name (I think) was Sabrina. Nick went for the meat, being a bit tired of fish. As his meal arrived the locals broke the news to him that the meat was really the internal organs of veal. Upon hearing this, Nick was too proud to decline, and Martina skipped dinner. Jane got the fish, but it was too spicy for her. Check out the picture and decide for yourself. Believe it or not, the next course was raw fava beans and raw fennel. It was actually pretty good. Next there was cake, but everyone declined. Dinner (called cena – pronounced CHAY-na) was followed by a healthy round of goodbyes (Ciao!!!), and Nick got a ride around the block on Stefano’s scooter. A domani and Prego!!

May 5th 2008

2008-05-09T18:21:00.002-04:00

Jason awoke to the sound of a train and decided to take a shower. Nick, on the other hand, awoke to the sounds of knocking on the door, courtesy of Jane. Breakfast was typical European fare, although the blood orange juice was a nice surprise. Martina’s new laptop had WIFI problems, which none of us could fix. Giovanni joined us for breakfast, and asked where the liar was. We explained that Martina (a lawyer) was still getting ready. Roberto (Catanzaro Rotary Secretary) didn’t speak much English, but did speak French, so we thought it would be a good idea if Jason and Nick rode with Roberto, since they both spoke French. Everything was fine until we picked up Roberto’s wife, Maria Teresa, who didn’t speak French. Then there were 3 languages being spoken in the car. Nick and Jason decided to revert back to Italian. Meanwhile, Giovanni’s car apparently stopped to take pictures of the Morandi bridge, which, by the way is 43 years old, and the 2nd largest single arch bridge in Europe. Then we arrived at the courthouse. We couldn’t find a parking spot, so we just stopped the car in the middle of the street, and got out. This seems to be common.

We then met Nunzio, the Vice President of Catanzaro Rotary club. When he learned Jason was a Geographer, he gave him a hug. Nunzio is a professor of Economic Geography. Nunzio thought Nick looked like Barack Obama, which earned Nick the nickname of “Obama” for the remainder of the day; possibly longer. Interestingly, you can smoke in the courthouse, and the witness stand has bars around it. Next, we proceeded to the MARCA Museum, which houses a collection of Calabrian art. Marcella, our English-speaking tour guide showed us the Mimmo Rotella exhibit. Rotella invented deCollage, a style of art where you layer posters on top of one another and rip pieces off. Quite interesting. His most famous piece is untitled and is 18m wide. It is all white with wrinkles and apparently worth 2 million Euros. We walked by a few local sights, and took some pictures. A journalist spotted us, (OK actually Nunzio spotted the journalist). Anyway, we had our picture taken. Then we had a meeting at Confindustria, a local organization that supports entrepreneurial enterprise. We met the Director (Dario), who is also a Rotarian. We were filmed by the local media, and apparently we’re going to be in the newspaper tomorrow.

The Confindustria organization offered us some aperitifs, and a book on Calabria. Next was lunch: 7 courses. First Course: Fish salad. Second Course: Bianchino – a white fish with breadcrumb crust. Third Course: Mussels. Fourth Course: Fish ravioli with pasta, shrimp, and artichokes. At this point there were 4 bottles of wine on the table, and Nunzio had offered at least 6 toasts. Fifth Course: Baked cod. Then we had salad. For dessert, we had lemon cake with crème. Jason had explicit instructions to investigate interesting culinary dishes, so he took pictures of each plate before eating. Someone proposed grappa, but we all said no. Instead they ordered us Amaro del Capo, which was an herbal liquor. At this point, Jane divulged that she in fact makes the best cheesesteaks in the entire world. At 4pm, we decided lunch was over, so we went to the Catanzaro Rotary Club to exchange gifts. We all tried on our new hats, and took some pictures.

Next stop: Roccelletta – Roman and Greek ruins. We wandered around for about an hour, and checked out the ancient amphitheatre. Then, we went back to the hotel to relax for about an hour, before heading out for….yes, more food. They took us to the local pizza favorite, Lido Don Pedro. For some reason, Nick decided to engage in a pizza eating contest with Julia, who was Marcella’s 13 year-old daughter. Julia won.

Still hungry? How about some pizza with molten dark chocolate on top? Jason was skeptical, but later conceded that it was pretty tasty. We had a nice time speaking with the Rotaractors, who we will see again tomorrow. We presented gifts to the district Rotaract representative-elect. Finally, Gregorio, the assistant district governor-elect drove us back to our hotel. Jason stated he is going for a run in the morning, and Nick is doing push-ups.

May 4th - Our First Day!

2008-05-07T20:56:00.005-04:00

We met at the airport more or less at 3:15p as planned (Jason was late). Russ (Governor), Brian (Treasurer), and Jenny (GSE Co-chair) arrived to see us off. Jane and Nick successfully navigated the ticket kiosks. Jason and Martina weren’t so lucky, and received error messages that resulted in a slight wait for an attendant. Security and the airplane trip was smooth and uneventful.

We arrived at Rome customs with 4 people, but only 3 jackets, because Jason left his on the airplane. He tried to take the train in the reverse direction back to the gate, however was chased away by an Italian security guard. We had to call and have security retrieve the jacket. Total delay = 30 mins. Luckily we had a 4 hour layover. We stopped to sit down at a café, and eventually some of us became hungry. Some people next to us were eating via frattina, which looked good, so Martina bought one. Nick asked, “what kind of bread is that?” Martina thought the person who sold it to her called it “spicy bread,” but later realized it was “spiced bread.” Jane, who until this point wasn’t paying full attention to Martina asked if she was eating a spicy donut. Nick and Jason thought this was quite funny, however this may have been due to trans-Atlantic delirium. Most of us fell asleep while we were waiting for the plane to Lamezia Terme. Luckily Jane stayed awake and woke us when it was time to go.

We boarded the plane, which had a bright green interior, and promptly fell asleep before takeoff. We awoke in time to see olive trees, wind farms, and the sea before landing. Stefano, Giovanni, and Enzo were there to meet us.

We took some pictures in front of the Rotary monument at the airport before making our way to Copanello, where we are staying at a seaside hotel.

Martina, Nick, and Jason went for a walk on the beach for a few hours.

We met everyone for dinner at 8pm for a 4 course meal, which was accompanied with the local white wine. Finally, Giovanni offered to take us for gelato in Catanzaro Lido. Jason dropped his camera on the floor. Jane remarked that it was the best gelato she’d ever had in her entire life. Quite a statement if you ask me.

2007-08 GSE Exchange with Italy

2008-04-08T10:07:00.005-04:00

2007-08 GSE Exchange with Italy
This Rotary year, District 7450 is exchanging teams with District 2100 in Naples, Italy. District 2100 includes Campania, Calabria, and Territorio di Lauria. It has 73 Rotary Clubs, with a membership of 3,915 Rotarians. Rtn. Giancarlo Calise is the District Governor for 2007-2008.

You can read more about the program on website below:
http://rotary7450.org/GSE/

The Inbound Italy team arrived Saturday, April 5th at the Philadelphia International Airport. They were greeted by several Rotary members and then transported to King of Prussia to their hotel. Sunday morning they received a warm reception breakfast with approximately 30 Rotarians. The schedule for the Italy team is available for download from the district calendar at http://www.rotary7450.org/common/calendar.htm.

The Outbound Italy team is currently preparing for their trip overseas. They are taking Italian language courses at the America-Italy Society in Philadelphia. They are also working on their group presentation that they will be sharing with the Rotary Clubs in Italy during their travels from May 3rd until June 1st.