Beautiful Ceresole

Today is July Fourth and I didn’t even realize it until I turned on my computer to type up this entry! I am going to sing the Star Spangled Banner right now. And My Country Tis of Thee. And say the National Anthem. Okay, now I feel like I at least remembered the holiday a little bit!

On Wednesday the kids, their grandparents and I arrived at their villa in a small city called Ceresole. It is so beautiful here! The house is over 100 years old, but it doesn’t seem that old. It has three floors, which have been divided between Nonno Amadeo and two of his brothers upon the death of their father. Since then there have been a lot of renovations done so that each floor has bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. Our floor is on the ground level, and it used to be the dining area. They told me that it was only a kitchen, bathroom and tables. Now, there are three bedrooms, and another living area that can be turned into a bedroom if necessary, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. I share a room with the two kids on bunk beds, the grandparents share another room with two twin beds, and there is a room with a queen bed for Benedetta and Matteo. In total, 11 people can sleep on this floor comfortably. The kitchen has a dishwasher and a gas stove. The water comes from a fresh mountain spring which is shared with 3 other houses near this one. The water is usually freezing, and sometimes warm. Showers have to be very fast for two reasons: the shortage of water, and Nonno Amadeo’s bladder.

Nonno Amadeo is such an awesome man! He is about 80 years old, but very strong. I was amazed to see him and his older brother carrying heavy rocks to fix the road that leads to the house, which was somewhat washed out because of the heavy rainfall this year. He also chopped wood, broke the rocks with a sledge hammer, and played a fierce game of ping-pong. He drinks about a liter of wine everyday. Today (Friday) he had to leave in a rush because the red alarm was sounded at the vineyard. I’m not exactly sure what the problem was, but I think it was something like too much sun and too many bugs. He told me that they have only 24 hours to save the vineyard from when the alarm first sounds. It is two hours away from Ceresole and they left immediately. He and his brother will prepare the chemicals tonight and then wake up early to hand trim the vines while they wait for the dew to evaporate, and then spray the plants, also by hand. The vineyard is 29 rows wide, and 50 meters long, and produces about 1,000-1,200 liters of wine every year.

So back to my first day here…It took about 1.5 hours to drive here. We stopped once for gas, once to buy bread (10 round loaves, and a kilo of grissini-bread sticks), and once to buy our meat, cheese, and a few other things. When we got here, we unpacked and then went out to play. For lunch we had toasted bread with either bruschetta or prociutto. Then more playing and then we were off to go fishing! We went to this little house by the lake where a man gave us a pole, and we caught 3 fish. Tommaso went first and it took him three tries to catch one. Then Eugenia and I went together and got it on the first try! Tommaso got the third one. For dinner we had…

Thursday I played with Nene, Tom and their second cousins. I was a fugitive and would go hide somewhere on the mountain behind the villa, and then they would come looking for me. I got to use pine cones as grenades, and they hadd wooden pistols. When they saw me, they took me under arrest back to the garage, where I would once again escape and this went on and on for hours. I got really tired of running, and luckily Nonna Gea called us in to help make gnocchi, which I love(this was actually my first time eating it)!!! After they were cooked, Nonna Gea just mixed them with melted butter and served it up. We also ate one of the trouts that we caught. They know that I don’t like fish, so they told me that I could just have an egg, but I decided to eat it anyway. I was surprised to find that not only did I not throw it up, but I actually like it a little bit! With a lot of lemon juice it tasted just fine.

Friday we took a long hike up the mountain and I took tons of pictures. Ceresole is situated between two mountains and I loved the view. We got near the top and then stopped for a small lunch of bread, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, soft boiled eggs, and fruit. The hike took us about 4 hours, including lunch, but I have no idea how long it was. After lunch I took a little nap and a shower while the others went out to buy a present for Tommaso because Thursday was St. Tommaso day. When they got back, Nonna Gea sent me into town to buy 3 liters of milk, 6 eggs, a tube of mayonnaise, salt, mozzarella, and to pay for the ricotta she bought on Wednesday (but she couldn’t pay for because the store didn’t know the price). It took me about 15 minutes to walk there, 15 minutes to find the stuff and talk to the store worker, and 10 minutes to walk back home (it was downhill on the way home).
For dinner on Friday we had really tasty rice mixed with peas and melted white cheese, hamburger patties, and fruit. Benedetta arrived while I was playing hide and seek with the kids and their cousins. She will stay until Sunday afternoon.

well, my time on the internet is almost up, so I'll try to update again soon.

Ciao!