May 15, 2008

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.