KK's Trip to Italy - Summer 2012

Cousin Count = 47

Friday was another day of new sites. Tour guide, Antonio, took us to some new places within “the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park”. This is the area of southern Italy that comprises 95 towns. This is where most of the Gentile family resides. (The map from my earlier post shows the park area). As I have mentioned it is full of wonderful sites of nature. Today we would first visit the Grotto di Castelcivita (Caves of Castelcivita). The village of Castelcivita is medieval and there is a legend that says that Spartacus hid in the caves as he was escaping from his revolt against Rome around 73 B. C. There are 30 some grottos within Italy, two in the Cilento Park. The pictures didn’t turn out to well so I have only included a few. The temperature difference had to be 30 to 40 degrees - a refreshing (but a bit chilly) change from the hot Mediterranean sun.

This is the village of Ottati - which we drove through on our way to/from the Caves.

We then visited Roscigno Vecchio. (Roscigno Old). The village of Roscigno is divided into two sections, old and new. The new was developed after the old town was deserted after many landslides. The old town is now visited by many tourists and its one resident tells you the story, invites you into the small museum which houses many old artifacts from the town along with many old photographs and asks you to sign the guest book. When hearing I was an American he pointed out that just recently he had visitors from Santa Barbara, CA. It is the Italian equivalent of a ghost town. The structures are beautiful even in their deteriorated state.

The only resident of the old village

We head for home as there is another family gathering this evening. This one will wind up having 27 family members. And on the menu…… homemade pizza from a wood fired pizza oven!!! OMG! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The meal started out with wonderful antipasto – many different types but then the pizzas started to come. 36 pizzas in total were made – all different types - Margherita, olive and anchovies, zucchini, broccoli and cheese – the list goes on. I captured quite a few still photos but the best is the video I took of the entire process. The Pizzaiolo (pizza chef) is the brother of Cousin Angelo’s wife, Carmela. He does this in a restaurant and once you see him work – it is magic. Now if I could just figure out how to get a wood fired stove in my backyard!