Italia-Day 3

At Europcar, no this is not our rental!:)

Into the woods

the only inhabitants of Falvaterra

the view from Falvaterra

Sabrina and Gianni-this is where we ate dinner each night in Latina-it's one long table!

Thursday, July 3 we took a taxi to the car rental place first thing, so we could drive out to find the remains of D's great-grandfather's birthplace. After traipsing throught the overgrown area for a while (well, I stayed in the car) and asking lots of neighbors, it was determined that there were no visible parts of the foundation of the homestead. We did meet some great people and a very cute motormouth kitten. At least we were able to see the lot and the street itself, in order to get a better idea of the view he might have had as a child. About 1:30, we drove into the mountain town of Falvaterra, a village of 600 inhabitants built into a crest of the Musoni mountains (yes, I googled this.) Everything was shut down at this time, and it was quite like walking through a ghost town as we explored the tiny winding lanes and tooks lots of photographs. From time to time, you could hear a tv droning or a signora talking on the telephone, but all in all it was quiet and empty. After unsuccessfully trying to find a place for lunch (everything shuts down between about 1:30-4:40), we stopped at the Latina grocery store for rations and had a makeshift picnic on the hotel bed, where I invented prosciutto lollipops (just wrap some prosciutto around the top of a breadstick and you're good to go) At six that evening Gianni came by and we followed him to the local hospital where his father was a patient so we could visit. Later we had a seafood dinner at their home, where D. was bowled over by the linguini with clam sauce. I will post a pic of the kitten and the clams soon. Here are some more shots of the day.