A real life nativity

The nativity is a popular Christmas tradition in Italy. Sure, in Australia we put a little manger under our Christmas tree, with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus etc... but here in Italy it is a whole different matter. At Christmas time people make elaborate nativities in their homes, and sometimes whole villages get turned into a giant nativity scene.

Bel fidanzato has created a beautiful nativity in our apartment, using - as most people do - bits and bobs that you find around. The ground is covered with dirt and moss collected outside, the 'mountains' are these wooden/bark things that are decoration in our home and the scattered snow is good old flour. The trees are branches, and the grotto in the corner are rocks from our future home. The little houses are 'borrowed' from the in-laws since this is our first Christmas here, and we haven't had time to make our own houses! Mary and Joseph are yet to make an appearance as they are out and about with the donkey of course searching for a place to have the baby Jesus (and we haven't got them yet!)

This is my second Christmas in Malito. Last year bel fidanzato and I were nice and warm in Australia, and two years ago I celebrated my first Christmas here. Bel fidanzato took me to Panettieri , a small, mountainous town on a cold, pre-Christmas night to see life size presepe - nativity. The town itself is small, and not too far from Malito kilometres wise, but to reach it we had to drive for what felt like forever up steep, curvy, dark mountainous roads.


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I was amazed that this tiny village, literally in the middle of no where was host to this Christmas tradition. They had turned the entire old town into a life size nativity scene. It was beautiful. We paid a small entrance fee and then we left to follow the one way system around town. The streets were lined with hay, candles and open flames lit the way and the normal street lights were all covered with hessian sacks creating an authentic atmosphere. Town folk were dressed in costume and wandered the streets, each acting their part.

Many 'houses' were open for us to walk inside. The majority of these houses were magazzini which are storage rooms. Most Italians have a magazzino which they use to store wood, the years supply of bottled tomatoes, wine, oil etc... These storage rooms are often very large and can be attached to your own home, or close by. These rooms were turned into shops for the evening, such as a shoe maker, cheese maker, baker etc... with the villagers demonstrating how these shops functioned back in biblical times. They didn't give demonstrations as such - if you wanted to talk to them and ask questions then you could, but the village was an open-air play with all of the 'actors' going about the daily routine of years, and years ago.

They even had gorgeous ponies that you could pat - well I was patting them anyway.







And at the end, the nativity town was complete with the manger, Maria (Mary), Giuseppe (Joseph), an empty cradle for Jesus, little angels and even the donkey.

Le Castella

Springtime had returned to Calabria. Whilst the north of Italy was under snow, ice and rain, we spent the past few days outside, enjoying the sun and temperatures of 20 degrees. We opened all of the windows to let the warm air flow in, since our apartment was so cold on the inside, but so warm on the outside. We ate lunch outside on the balcony, with no jackets in site. A day was spent working outside at our future home, marvelling at the fact that there were flowers blooming all around us. A lot of the trees still have not lost their leaves, and the countryside is remarkably green...very, very odd for this time of the year.

Taking full advantage of this strange but most welcome weather, we decided to set out for a day trip on the 8th of December which is a public holiday here in Italy. Destination Le Castella in the province of Crotone. The castle is about a 2 hour drive from us here in Malito.

The 16th century Aragonese castle was apparently built on the site of an ancient Greek fort. The history is not very clear, but according to Greek mythology the place was built for the Greek Goddess Calypso and her son so they could be near their great love - Ulysses who was a man of the sea. Whatever the history, I had seen photos of Le Castella and wanted to visit, so we set out for our day trip.

When we arrived the sun was shining, but the castle was closed.

Work is being done to restore the castle, but even if you can't/don't want to go inside, you can see a lot by walking around the bottom.

It is a magnificent place, and at this time of year there were only a few tourists strolling around. We were able to find a secluded rock and eat our lunch with undisturbed views of the castle and the sea.

If you are in Calabria then this place is well worth a visit.

Ancient town of Amantea

After visiting Fiumefreddo, we drove a little further down the Calabrian coast until we reached the town of Amantea. The town is rather large, about 14,000 and the new part is quite a bustling place, full of shops, restaurants, bars, noise, traffic and chaos! It is a popular tourist spot for Italians and foreigners alike and picturesque as it's built into the cliff with the new town based at the bottom, slowly working it's way up, and the old, ancient town being situated at the top.

Amantea was a very important town, held in high esteem by the Arabs who used this town as a strong-hold, thus the origins of the name. Amantea is of Arabic origin meaning strong hold.

We drove up as far as possible. Once you reach the entrance to the old town you either have to walk up the street, cobbled streets, or enter on a scooter. Not having the latter, we used our feet but my 29 week pregnant feet could not make it all the way to the very top where the ruins of the castle lies. Just as well since it wasn't our day for visiting castles, like the one in Fiumefreddo, this one too was closed for work. Not to matter as I had visited the castle a few years before!

After visiting the old town we drove down to the Amantea beach where we had lunch, enjoying the strangely warm weather. Even my belly liked the beach!

Visiting Fiumefreddo

It felt like springtime had returned to Calabria this weekend, even though we are in the middle of autumn with winter waiting at the door. Bel fidanzato, my ever growing stomach and I were playing host/tour guide to bel fidanzato's cousin. He is from Texas and was only visiting for the weekend. With the weather on our side we headed off to the coast to visit the beautiful medieval town of Fiumefreddo Bruzio.



The village is part of the club 'Borghi piu belli d'italia' (the most beautiful small villages of Italy) and it rightly has such a title. There is a run down castle which was apparently built in 1201 and it was closed since it seems work is being done to restore it.

The village is small, with a population of approximately 3,100 people (which is massive compared to the 800 odd inhabitants of Malito!) The village is well preserved, and it is apparent that the locals pride themselves on their home. The small, cobbled streets lead to a spectacular piazza which has views over the emerald green Tyrrhenian sea. There are not any grand sites or monuments to see, other then a few well maintained, charming churches, the castle and old town gates but the reason that I like this village is that it is a small, stunning, but simple medieval town.
If you decide to pay the village a visit then head up to the top of the hilltop which is where the old village lies. Like most Calabrian seaside towns, these days there is the new town of Fiumefreddo down on the coast and this beautiful little village all the way up the top.

Picnic in the Pollino

Last weekend bel fidanzato and I went for a picnic about an hours drive north of here, to the Pollino mountains which is part of a National Park. We weren't there by chance, we were there to see some of my aunts and uncles who were on holiday from Australia. My aunts are two of dad's sisters so therefore they were going back to visit their home town, Policastrello, which is surrounded by the Pollino mountain ranges. 

The setting for the picnic was beautiful.

The land was well cultivated as herds of cows live in this area of the park and they make sure the grass doesn't get too long. They had run off by the time I whipped my camera out.

We were about 1300m high and the air was refreshingly cool. There was lots of food including hamburgers which my aunts had made Australian style and lots of vegetarian plates for me. I still got harassed by everyone there that the baby needs meat...but I am used to this by now so just smile. And of course there was watermelon as no summers day would be complete without hordes of the stuff!

There was of course lots of music and even a bit of dancing. A man and lady in our group whipped out their guitars and a guy grabbed his accordion from the car.

Picnics are never a dull affair in Italy!

Scilla

On our way back from Sicily, we stopped by in a beautiful, Calabrian seaside town - Scilla.

Located in the region of Reggio, right down at the bottom of Calabria this town may be small, but it is charming and worth a visit.

Like a lot of seaside towns, there is the hill top part of town which I will admit we did not look at! It looked nice and all, but this was the view from the piazza so you can't blame us for hurrying down there. 

It was a hot, sunny day and it was hard to find a park even though it was not yet the summer season. We managed though, and took a stroll along the seafront. The town is dominated by a castle built into the jagged rocks. According to one of the many legends the name Scilla originates from Scylla - who was a beautiful, young girl. The Marine God Glauco was in love with her and Circe who was an evil wizard, transformed her into a monster.

What ever the history may be, there is no doubting that this town is a hidden little gem on the Calabria coast.

 

Rain and babies

Hmmm...that summer that I was talking about in the last post has gone! Rain has struck us again, but that's ok since it isn't even officially spring time yet!

Today the bel fidanzato and I went to the hospital in Cosenza to visit our brand new friend who, when I held him, was only 2 hours old! You always hear horror stories about the hospitals in Italy - well I have anyway. In Sorrento I not only heard the horror stories, but saw them. Once when I was visiting a customer who had fallen, I had to ask the doctor to change the pillow on the bed, since his head wound had opened up and bled out everywhere...Apparently we should have been lucky that there were pillows in the hospital, as apparently in the Lamezia hospital you have to bring your own pillows, and everything else to do with your well being whilst there.

My friend who gave birth today told me that even in the 'good' hospitals in Italy you have to bring nappies and everything baby related. I - never having given birth before - know nothing of what one does and does not have to bring to a hospital - in any country - so I am not sure if this is normal.

All this aside, the maternity ward was lovely. Well...I did past some young children smoking in the corridor by an open window but then their pregnant friend was with them, and probably having a drag or two before going off to give birth. So other than the people smoking, the maternity section was bright and colourful with orange, purple, yellow etc...walls. The bedroom was very, very hot (but we don't want the babies getting cold since they are by the mothers side from the moment they are born) but it looked modern. My friend was in a dark pink, 2 bedroom with a private bathroom (lilac door) and a private baby changing room (mint green door) and she seemed comfortable and although we had difficulty finding the room, when we did - it was very nice and nothing like the horrible Italian hospitals that I have seen in the past.

Here in Italy a woman also has to/can stay with the mother all the time. The father of the baby can only really visit in visiting hours while overnight a FEMALAE friend/relative of the mother stays with them, acting a bit like a nurse - helping to change and feed the baby. It is a big no no for men to stay in the wards for too long - female privacy and all that I guess....but anyway, the baby is here, he is beautiful and that is the important thing! I am also re-learning to knit (I used to knit with my grandmother when I was younger, but have forgotten a bit) so bel fidanzato's mother is helping me knit a pair of booties for the baby. (Ok so she is knitting them, but I am practicing with my ugly wool and she knits with the good stuff!)

Getting married Italian Style

**This post has since been edited since I had a lovely comment from Malitano(that means a man from Malito) who told me that weddings are even more confusing then I thought. Giuseppe is his name (bel ragazzo knows him)and thanks to him my information is now more acurate. Grazie Giuseppe :)



Bel ragazzo and I popped down to Malito on Wednesday night so we could be there for the brothers promessa on Thursday. After 18 odd years together the brother is finally getting married...and what a big wedding it is going to be. Not only has it been building up for 18 years, but both the brother and his fidanzata are the eldest siblings so it is going to be one massive affair.

Let me explain to you a bit about Italian weddings. There are 3 aspects to a wedding: 1 is the promessa- promise - at the church. Since the brother is going to have a religious ceremony, we went to the church so they could sign some documents saying that they are single, Catholic and understand the conditions of marriage. The priest was talking forever and I kept floating in and out of the conversation as he was slipping into dilect quite often. I did snap to attention when I heard to word orgasm mentioned. Yes - the priest was telling us about all aspects of a marriage...

After that was the comune promessa, which is technically the registry office. A couple has to go to the comune and sign some documents then legally (on paper) they are married. **EDIT - this is not true. Giuseppe who commented told me that you still need to have the actual comune wedding, as well as the comune promessa** If you are Catholic however this piece of paper means nothing as in the eyes of God you are not married until you are married in the church. BUT if you don't intend to be married in a church, then this piece of paper means that you are now husband and wife. **Opps...another little wrong piece of information*** So bel ragazzo and I went down to Malito for the church promise and the comune promise.

I found it a little odd that although the brother and the fidanzata are now legally married, they still went and slept in their parental homes after the ceremony. In their eyes they are not married until August after the church wedding, and God forbid should they live together first!

I could write all day about Italian weddings and still have much more to say. This was my first promessa and it was much quicker then I had expected and the party afterwards with all the gift giving was much larger then I had expected.

In some parts of Italy, or at least Malito, there are many traditions to be followed. In this case bel ragazzo's mother bought the fidanzata's wedding dress. The fidanzata's mother has to buy the brothers shirt and tie for the wedding ceremony. Bel ragazzo's brother bought the fidanzata an engagement ring, and his parents bought her a beautiful necklace and earrings. The fidanzata's mother is in charge of furnishing aspects of the house, such as buying all the towels, kitchen goods etc.. Gosh! So much money is being spent...it is going to the biggest wedding I have ever been to and I have been to some big weddings before.

There are many more things that someone has to buy someone and someone else has to do this or that but I cannot remember it all! I was stressed enough after going suit shopping with the bel ragazzo and the brother. We got them all sorted with suits, vests, ties, shoes etc...(I never knew wedding suits were so expensive)and after seeing their elegant suits I suddenly was paranoid that my dress is far from appropriate! What with the promessa, the wedding in August, another family wedding in July I was so confused about what I can and cannot wear that I had to try on all my dresses and do a mock fashion parade in front of the family so we could decide which dress would be appropriate for what. God forbid that I wear an inappropriate dress and create brutta figura.

Visiting Morano Calabro

On the way back from lunch in my dad's village, bel ragazzo and I stopped in a beautiful town called Morano Calabro which was a slight detour off the autostrada on our way home to Malito. Throughout Calabria there are a few 'touristy' towns such as Tropea, Pizzo and Altomonte but there are so many more towns which should be on the tourist list - Morano Calabro is one such town.

The views driving into the town were amazing. The old town is so condensed, so unique with the castle on the top right hand corner and an old church on the left. It was an impressive site.





The old town is built into the mountains and the small streets are very steep reminding me of Taormina with the never ending stairs. It was almost a struggle for us to get to the top and I cannot imagine how the old or disabled people cope. (I assume most of them have moved to the 'new' town which has been built below the old town, on a flatter surface.)







As we were walking around the deserted steep streets an old lady opened her kitchen door (I speak quite loudly) and asked us where we were from and what did we think of the town. We told her all she asked, commenting that the town was beautiful and she smiled proudly before wishing us a safe journey.

If you are ever in Calabria, I would make sure to stop at Morano Calabro. The views are amazing.