Author: midgeguerrera

Grazie Morcone for the International Tourism Award!

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo, Nonna's Trips & Events
Annarita Mancini, my cultural adventures partner, and I were invited to talk about
Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo

Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo started in 2016. Rossella Mancini and I gathered up a group of exciting and creative cooks to share their skills with culinary adventurers from all over the United States. How did this idea come about? Was I a tourism creative genius? Like most good ideas there was a catalyst that kicked my ass into creative action. Two women with roots in Pontelandolfo were the absolute catalyst for this initiative. Mary and Leona, while visiting the village of their heritage and saying hi to my next door neighbors, literally recognized me.

“Are you Midge from Nonna’s Mulberry Tree?”

After looking around to see if she was talking to someone else, I grinned like I just won a blog Emmy and said, “gulp, yes.” (I also realized I was in a very old and ugly house dress.)

“We love your blog and are so jealous. I wish I could live here like you and meet everyone.”

“Even for a week,” said her friend.

“But you can I said!” Not knowing what I was committing too, my theatre brain started improvising.

“How?”

Out of my mouth came – “Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo – a new program. Give me your email addresses and I’ll send you the information.”

I tossed on better clothes and dashed to Rossella’s house. Five coffees later, our brain cells were whirling and twirling in the Sannio Hills. 1. Idea was solidified. 2. Organized an army of – hate to be sexist but – women. 3. Meet with those women who would be the first home chefs, hook Annarita Mancini our ace multi lingua person as our primary translator, set a cultural track and bammmmmmm – Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo was born and off!!!! It took a village and still does. Thank you to every cook, translator, historian, cultural group and more. Thank you to all.

From Saturday, May 21 to Saturday May 28, 2016 culinary and cultural adventurers participated in the first ever Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo program. Four of the eight participants had direct Pontelandolfo roots. The other women discovered our village for the first time.

OUR FIRST WONDERFUL GROUP OF 2016 ADVENTURERS – Mary, Leona, Nancy, Dana, Charleen, Eloise, Flora and Lynn! GRAZIE A TUTTI!

This tourism initiative may have its roots in Pontelandolfo but introduces people to the Sannio Hills. Since 2016, the majority of men and women who have used this program to explore our region have been foreigners, without any family history in the area. After one week, those strangers feel not only like family but like proud Pontelandolfese. The international program has grown because those strangers have told other strangers, have told other strangers – and the beat goes on.

At that August 9th jam packed presentation, Annarita and I were stunned when Morcone’s Assessore of Tourism, Giulia Ocone, came up to the microphone with this –

Holey Moley! I actually CRIED!

Grazie al Comune de Morcone, Luigino Ciarlo sindaco, Giulia Ocone Assessore alla cultura, Daria Lepore di il giornali – La Cittadella, e Carlo Perugini per aver creduto in quello che faccio.

Un ringraziamento speciale ai donatori – finanziato dall’ Unione euorpea – Next Generation EU, Ministero degli affari esterni e della cooperativa internazionale, ministero della cultura.

Thank you to Comune de Morcone, Luigino Ciarlo mayor, Giulia Ocone council member for culture, Daria Lepore of the newspaper – La Cittadella, and Carlo Perugini for believing in what I do.

A special thanks to the donors –  finanziato dall’ Unione euorpea – Next Generation EU, Ministero degli affair esterni e della cooperative internazionale, and the  ministero della cultura.

WOW Midge, I hope you remembered everyone! If you don’t know what Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo is watch this –

Interested in being part of the 2025 adventure? Send me an email at info@nonnasmulberrytree.com.

Now we have expanded beyond cooking and are doing writer’s retreats! There are two spots left for the 2024 Write Where You Are October retreat.

Since, I have the attention span of a gnat and keep whirling like a mad dervish, I wrote two books that touted the area. Cars, Castles, Cows and Chaos is a collection of short stories that revolve around my Fiat, Fernando. Annarita and I finished a guide book to Pontelandolfo called, An italian Treasure Hunt: The Quest for the Crests of Pontelandolfo.

Jack and I are blessed to be part of the fabric of life here in the Sannio Hills. Thank you to all who have embraced us and embrace my crazy ideas. Thank you for the town of Morcone for recognizing what we have done. Ancora, grazie a tutti.

Ci Vediamo.

Midge

14 Agosto 1861 – August 14, 1861

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

14 Agosto 1861. August 14, 1861. Books have been written, art has been created, songs have been song, blogs developed, plays have been performed, movies have been made, Pontelandolfo remembers, but have lessons been learned?

Genocide is hard to forget or forgive and yet genocide continues all over the world. OK, I am not a historian and I am calling the 1861 rape, pillage, burning and shooting of the people and places in Pontelandolfo genocide. Genocide done by the Italian army. An army that was told to annihilate everyone in the village. Italians killing Italians. Wow, in today’s world that sounds familiar.

A little back story – thanks to Pontelandolfo News – Renato Rinaldi and San Felese Society of New Jersey for a history lesson. This is all about money, power and who should be in charge. The unification of Italy and booting of the Bourbon Dynasty didn’t make everyone happy.

On August 13, 1861 General Cialdini commander of the Piedmont forces in southern Italy was getting reports from throughout southern Italy, especially in the rural southern countryside, about folks rebelling against the new regime. 

 He was outraged to hear that about 45 Piedmont soldiers had been killed by some rebels between Pontelandolfo and Casaldini in the province of Benevento. General Cialdini – think central casting super evil dude – loved punishing pro-Bourbonist southern Italians. Actually, bang, bang, he adored having his minions kill any pro-Bourbonist. 

 Why were Southern Italians so pissed off? With a new king, new government and pocket lining politicos, life changed dramatically. Decisions that seemed anti-south were imposed by Piedmont controlled local politicians as well as by central northern “national” politicians in Turin.

General Cialdini orders his field general in Campania, General De Sonnaz, to get rid of those blasted rebels and townspeople who had had the audacity to call for a Bourbon return. De Sonnaz passed the job on to Colonel Pier Eleonoro Negri.

Loving revenge, Italian Colonel Negri directed his men to launch an attack.  As Pontelandolfese calmly slept, an indignant, Colonel Negri ordered that his soldiers destroy the community.  Leave no stone left standing, he cried. (This command will forever seem extreme.) Entering Pontelandolfo in the middle of the night, Negri easily attacked.  Within moments, the countryside was in turmoil. 

Executions Under the Tilia Tree:

Italian soldiers crept into Pontelandolfo in the middle of the night.  Everyone was asleep.  Within minutes soldiers started pounding on doors, the church bells started to ring, guns were fired, boots pounded on the cobblestones.  Sleeping families woke up.  Holding their drowsy babies, parents wondered what was going on.
Racing to windows, balconies and doors, the Pontelandolfese were shocked to see soldiers running through their streets. The Italian Army had arrived, and everyone had a right to be afraid. The soldiers, kicked in doors, leaped up stairs, raced into homes killing men, women and children. They stole things and did things I don’t want to think about.  Flames soared into the night sky, and the village burned. The people that tried to fight back were dragged under the Tilia Tree in Piazza Roma and shot. Bang, bang!

Renato Rinaldi is the publisher of the Pontelandolfo News. He was a professor, as well as, a former Officer of the Navy.  Rinaldi is a passionate researcher of local history and has provided an in-depth look at the Pontelandolfo massacre of August 14, 1861.  As an author, he keeps the history of Pontelandolfo before us. We thank him for that.  We also thank him for his assistance with bringing Pontelandolfo to the world at large. He was instrumental in creating a village walking tour of the massacre of 1861. (I’m not sure if that is a real tourism draw but it is great for our school kids to learn our history. ) He had written stories to go with each stop on that tour and asked me to translate them into English. A few years ago, I did just that and printed a little pamphlet. Here is one of the graphic tales –

CONCETTA BIONDI: 

The story of Concetta Biondi has come to represent the disdain the mercenaries in the Italian army had for all that was good and pure. Women were treated like chattel and passed from man to man. Children were tossed aside like garbage. Husbands and fathers were held by laughing plunderers and forced to watch the mayhem.

As the marauders plundered the city, young Concetta Biondi, fearing the inhuman assailants, hid behind some barrels of wine in her family’s basement. When the young maiden was discovered by the mercenaries she fainted. Like cats with a mouse they toyed with her. Her father, Nicolas Biondi, charged down the steps to save her. He was quickly tied to a chair and forced to watch the debauchery. Finally, with a murderous hand, soldier killed this delicate flower and tossed her aside. Wine poured out of the barrels mingling with Concetta’s blood.

Tonight, we will be going to see the latest play about the massacre. It is written by our pal Michele Albini. As long as the story gets told, perhaps the lessons will be learned.

Ci vediamo prossima volta.

Midge

Award Winning
Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo

Is now organizing for 2025!
Lively Learning is also exploring artist, writer and musician retreats.
Contact me for more information. info@nonnasmulberrytree.com

Culinary, Cultural and Cursing Adventures

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Three Cs for the discerning tourist. Culinary treats, Cultural experiences and Cursing in a new language – complete with gestures. Vafan#@$%!

Did she say cursing adventures? Our sweet American lady in her third act would never suggest one come to Pontelandolfo to learn to flip the bird in another language. Midge would never ever simply curse in another language!

Dear readers, I might curse in multi languages at the same time, but is that really the same as cursing in another language which implies one language? 🤣

Sigh… The title for this concept was not my idea. For this new tourism initiative, I must give credit where credit is due. It was the idea of the witty, wise and wee bit snarky women from Baltimore who were here for our last Cooking in the Kitchen of Pontelandolfo experience. One of them suggested that the name for our activity should be the three cs culinary, cultural and cursing adventures. Cursing in another language is the true mark of an educated person.

For the sake of decorum, I will not reveal which of these howling ladies came up with the idea.

I thought about this idea, it really does make sense. What follows is X rated and not for those folks who have never cursed and will never curse.

When we’re happy we curse. When we’re angry we curse. When we’re sad we curse. But what language do we curse in? When I was a kid, I cursed. OK the only curse I really knew was the F bomb. Both my parents used the F bomb. After a while, the F bomb became simply a yawn bomb.

Now in Italy, I’m hearing curse words light. Simple ones like caspita which means damn or merde which means poop and the list goes on. What our guests were referring to were the words dashed out by the men playing scopa in the piazza or arguing over bocci points. Words like stronzo, che cazzo, or bastardo. You can look them up, I am too embarrassed to define them.

Susan at age one was whispering “eat shit.”
I replied the family password, “and die.”

Sadly, I must admit my sweet sister Susan and I would often say something horrific to each other. Usually, after my mother blamed the wrong one for some egregious error. Imagine my delight to discover that we could share the love in Italian with – mangia merde e morte! Sounds so much better in the language of Dante.

But seriously, our tourism inattive has gone beyond cooking. Speaking of cursing, we have a fabulous group of playwrights coming in October. THERE IS ONE SPOT LEFT MESSAGE ME FOR DETAILS. I am a playwright and I curse. Does that imply all playwrights curse? No, but I a betting a few F bombs dash out on pages just to add a bit of reality.

If you would like an experience that goes beyond the backpack carrying mass tour and experience literally Italy, including a smattering of bad words. Send me a message. We are setting up experiences for 2025 now. Together we create something unique and real. I cannot guarantee you will hear cursing. I can guarantee it will be an experience you won’t forget.

Ci Vediamo

Midge

Check out our new updated website for Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolo!

Can’t get to Italy this year? Read my book Cars, Castles, Cows and Chaos and live the life with me.

Where is Fernando Fiat today? Read Cars, Castles, Cows and Chaos.

Playwrights Come to Pontelandolfo

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Write Where You Are, a non profit committed to providing playwrights with a variety of opportunities, is sponsoring its first Playwright’s Retreat! Administrative Director, Jonathan Samarro, has been working with a group of Pontelandolfese – gulp, that includes me – on creating the perfect October 14th to the 23rd, 2025 experience.

Write Where You Are 2024: Pontelandolfo offers playwrights the space, time, and community needed to move forward in their work.  The Italian landscape and village life are a great catalyst for creativity.  In addition to providing time for ones own daily writing, they’ll offer activities to inspire you, from master classes in playwriting, to a stimulating array of cultural events and opportunities to socialize with fellow writers as well as local people.   This is your time to nurture your work.

Write Where You Are – Pontelandolfo participants will share large double rooms in La Locanda della Presuntuosa, a large villa on acres of land.

Pontelandolfo’s cobblestone streets take you to a castle tower, cafés, ancient Roman churches and miniature works of art hidden within an area steeped in history and culture where the main plaza is still the center of town life and lore.

The retreat is only open to eight people. ONE SPOT REMAINS! Playwrights who participate in other Write Where You Are experiences signed up quickly. Interested in that one last spot? Contact Jonathan for more information – jonathanjsamarro@gmail.com.

INCLUDED HIGHLIGHTS: October 14 – 23, 2024

  • Transportation from the Benevento Train Station to Pontelandolfo
  • 10 nights a villa near the historic center of Pontelandolfo. 
  • Most meals are included, either out or cooked by our host/cook. Vegetarians can be accommodated.
  • Arrival Day Bar Crawl will help you know the town and for them to meet you.
  • Local Sourced Food Lunch at Agriturismo Borgo Cerquelle
  • Master Classes with Rosemary McLaughlin, director of the Playwriting Program at Drew University.
  • English Speaking Translator for all Italian centered events.
  • Daily opportunity for participants to share work.
  • Opportunity to meet and talk to Italian theater professionals. (https://solot.it/chi-siamo/)
  • Wine and artesian food tasting at a local vintner.
  • Excursion to Altilia Roman Ruins
  • Traditions of Historical Pontelandolfo – hunt for family crests and learn to roll cheese, la ruzzola. Cheese rolling is a sport that is now recognized and goes back centuries.
  • Excursion to Benevento – museum, Teatro Romano, Hortus Conclusus and explore historic center.
  • Optional Excursion to Reggio Caserta. Tickets are currently €15.
  • Wood-fired pizza made high in the Sannio hills in a centuries old oven.
  • Transportation to all workshops and events.

Ci vediam a presto!

Midge

Longing for a trip to Italy but are doing a staycation? Sip a Prosecco and read my humorous travel memoir, Cars, Castles, Cows and Chaos. Published by Read Furiously.

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Culinary Adventurers take Over Local Bars

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo, Nonna's Trips & Events

Bar Crawl! One can’t possibly appreciate Pontelandolfo’s culinary delights without experiencing the cultural delight of the Southern Italian bar. Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo, the program we started i 2016, offers more than tasty cooking. Participants also have unique tasty experiences.

Pour yourself a glass of something sparkling and join me for a Pontelandolfo Bar Crawl.

2024 Group One
Group 2 – Did Jack sneak into the Crawl???

First stop – Cafè Style. Run by the Nardone sibling, Antonio and Asia, the bar is nestled above the village and morning coffee there includes a glorious view. For our bar crawl, the participants – many for the first time – try a “spritz.” Often advertised in the USA, Aperol is the go to ingredient for a spritz. This orange aperitif, along with ice, Prosecco and a dash of fizzy water makes a colorful sparkling drink. Aperol is produced by the Campari Group. Speaking of Campari – Campari is my go to ingredient for a spritz that is a bit bitter and has a higher alcohol content. Just switch out the Campari for Aperol in the recipe and sip a great end of a long day adult beverage. The other happening spritz option is Limoncello, Yumm it tastes like a cool summer lemonade. My famous Los Angeles niece, Alexandra, turned me on to those. I hadn’t seen them in Pontelandolfo. The minute she told me to try one – zoom – I saw fashionable people sipping them in Piazza Roma. How did I miss this perfect summer trend??

Now, a spritz can’t be had without a little nosh. An aperitivo and a big nosh is called apericena – who needs a dinner. Frankly, I don’t want to waste my third act worrying about dinner and often grab Jack and head out for that 8:00 PM adult beverage and apericena. Ahhhhhhh.

Since this is the season of cucumbers, tomatoes and other early garden crops, Group 2 enjoyed an amazing cucumber salad, bruschetta of fresh chopped tomatoes, local cheese and sausage. Culinary plus cultural adventure number one!

Notice Pontelandolfo’s iconic tower in the background.

Onward! No weary partiers in our groups! Next stop Bar 2000! Down the hill, around the curves and into the center of town we go! Bar 2000 is owned by Ghaleb, a Tunisian expat, and his wife Rosaria. Calcio may be booming on the large screen but the late night snacks are middle eastern. The scent of the large skewer of meat slowly turning on the electric spit wafts down the street. Think of all those places you have visited serving Gyros. Here a handheld version is made with the addition of lettuce, tomatoes and more. These palate pleasing “piadine” are wrapped in foil and scarfed down by all. I suggested Italian beer as the cultural experience but, hey, I’m not their mom and one could drink what one wanted.

Since no one except me was tired. We ambled down the cobblestones to our final stop – Bar Cafè Elimar.

Bar Elimar is also a tavola calda and has a neat interior dining space. Since it was a Saturday night, the outside was jammed packed. Saying we’re not hungry but eagle looking forward to our crepes.

After a long day filled with conversation, tasty morsels and alcohol, what could be better than a Nutella filled crepe accompanied by a digestivo! Some adventurers tried Strega, the aperitif made locally. The Strega recipe of secret herbs has been guarded for centuries. Others, myself included, sipped dark colored digestives like Amaro di Capo, Cynar, Vecchio Romagna, or- gulp- sweet Limoncello.

Huzzah! We made it through another bar crawl. What culinary and cultural adventure waits around the corner? Everyday, life in a Southern Italian village like Pontelandolfo reminds me that we truly are lucky to live “la dolce vita.”

Ci Vediamo

Midge

Time to organize our 2025 Culinary and Cultural Adventures.

Boom, Bang, Ouch and GRAZIE A TUTTI

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Have you missed me? Sorry, I’ve been so silent, but life in New Jersey had some ups and downs. Speaking of ups and downs. Boom, bang – no not thank you mam – but my blood all over the nice marble floor of Aeroporto Fiumicino. Caspita! I’ve always had stars in my eyes but this wasn’t my favorite way to find new ones.

I am now – thanks to family, friends and the medical system – fine. Swollen knees, cracked teeth, ditzy witzy head and a hole in my lower lip ain’t gonna keep me down. Yes, I did all the right things – went to doctors, dentists, got X-rays and an MRI. (Panoramic X-Ray of my teeth – €40. MRI of my fabulous head – €100.) That’s the boring part of the tale. This is actually one of those “feel good” stories.

BACKSTORY –

Why were my eyeglasses on the floor over there? Hmm? Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw were my eyeglasses floating above my ear. My ears were very active –

Signora, mi senti? Ma’am can you hear me? Yes I could hear her – what is in my mouth? Why is my nose smelling the floor?

Tutto OK? Was I OK? Bo? I haven’t an idea – the floor looks good – nice marbling. I was asked that by about six different people. Was I finally an extra in the Law and Order franchise?? Damn, what fun. Do I get the SAG day rate??

Apparently, after we got off the plane, which had been held for about 3 hours on the tarmac in Newark, NJ, got Jack a wheel chair ( his aching back won’t tolerate super long walks), I fainted.

Sta sanguinando! She’s bleeding! Whose bleeding? Shit is that wet stuff under my mouth my blood? Shit, it is my blood. People, speaking a variety of languages, were tossing blood soaking up things at me and putting them on my lower lip and chin. No one was afraid to touch the bloody lady sprawled on the floor.

Two woman helped me sit up. Whoa – sitting on the floor was a nice change from eating the floor but I wasn’t going anywhere else. Weee, the merry go round is fun! We’re my underpants clean and not ancient?

Chiamare i pronto scorso! Someone called the EMTs and suddenly I was in a chair being prodded and poked.

There had been a female vigile near by who not only had seen everything, but with the incredible woman pushing Jack’s wheelchair got me to sit on the floor and carried all pazillion pounds of me to a nearby chair. How did the chair got there? She explained to the head EMT (doctor) that I was walking perfectly well and then suddenly like a waterfall slowly wafted to the floor smacking my face/head. Wafted to the floor – was that a Graham dance move or was I once again channeling Ruth St. Denis?

Good goddess, why is Midge telling us all this horrific tale? Because “she” – me – I was treated like visiting royalty. Every staff person who interacted with me was genuinely concerned, courteous and terrific. OK, OK, I can hear you cynics thinking – they just worry about lawsuits. In Italy a lawsuit would take 100 years.

I am telling this tale because I want to publicly thank the woman pushing Jack who then called for a wheel chair for me and organized our getting through passport control, getting our luggage and even asking a pal at lost luggage to leave her spot and find Jack’s lost bag. Damn, she was great, as was the other woman who was stuck pushing me and dragging my carryon.

The vigile must have called the accident in and two oh so handsome men in superior uniforms arrived to check our passports and calmed me down in English. Actually, they both had luminous dark eyes and maybe that’s what calmed me down.

The EMT staff was there quickly and acted professionally. As a woman was taking my blood pressure and oxygen levels another was looking in my eyes. Everything they checked was perfect – even my sugar levels. They wanted to transport me to the hospital in Rome, I wanted to go home. After signing a release that I was refusing the hospital, I was not allowed to stand and transferred to the wheelchair. Grazie Mille a tutti.

This is one of the reasons I had to get home. Our first group of culinary adventurers were arriving June 8 and I landed June 1.

I want to thank Giuseppe who was our ride home from the airport. He literally waited hours for us and didn’t laugh at my bloody swollen face once – well maybe once. He was a gem.

Once I landed on the couch in our house, I received incredible support. Thank you Annarita for all you do. Thank you Mariann and Jeff for making sure I wasn’t comatose and fed. Thank you Carmella and Giusy for making sure I had help, appointments for X-rays and doctor visits. Thank you Rossella for keeping me sane. Thank you Zia Vittoria for getting edibles in my empty refrigerator. Thank you to the men in my life Jack, Nicola and Mario.

Thank you all.

Stay tuned for more about life in a small Southern Italian village.

Ci vediamo.

Pontelandolfo’s Homage to Film Noir

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Nonna Anna Film Group is just one of the collections of artists that are creatively nurtured by the hills of Pontelandolfo. Filmmakers, dancers, theatre people, photographers, painters and writers all call Pontelandolfo home. Living in a small village, I am often asked –

“Don’t you miss the cultural world of New York or Philadelphia.”

Nope, I don’t miss the traffic, crowds and cost. Artists – young and old – to talk to in the piazza. Popping up minutes from our home, arts events and creativity percolate in our little village.

Speaking of percolating – in the past few months Nonna Anna Film Group, led by producer/director Gianluca De Michele has moved from comedy to the dark and grungy world of film noir.

Towerburg – La Serie, is an episodic YouTube series that is different from the comic shorts the company has usually produced. I asked Gianluca why they have shifted artistic focus and the answer made me realize that these young filmmakers were more familiar with early Hollywood film noir than I was.

Gianluca said: Abbiamo scelto di cimentarci nel genere noir perché avevamo voglia di provare a fare qualcosa di diverso dalla commedia, che è stato il nostro unico genere nei corti precedenti. Così abbiamo intrapreso la strada del Noir, uno dei miei generi preferiti, e di un cinema drammatico, non rivolto alla risata. L’idea del corto è nata, parlando con Valerio, della voglia e della necessità di esprimermi attraverso il noir, in un periodo in cui ero totalmente immerso nella visione di film noir come “Il grande sonno” (The Big Sleep), “Il mistero del falco” (The Maltese Falcon), “Il terzo uomo” ( The Third Man), “Viale del tramonto” (Sunset Boulevard) ecc.

We chose to try our hand at the noir genre because we wanted to experiment with something other than comedy, which in previous shorts was our only genre. So we embarked on the path of Noir, one of my favorite genres, a dramatic cinema, not aimed at laughter. The idea for this short film was born. I spoke with Valerio Mancini about my desire and need to express myself through noir. At the time I was totally immersed in the vision of film noir studying such films as “The Big Sleep,” “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Third Man,”and “Sunset Boulevard.”

Inspirations for scenes in Towerburg.

Towerburg was born as a short film. Since the production had cliffhangers, the company decided to divide it and make it a web series.

Bravi! My applause to the production team and the performers. (Pssst, I’m related to Valerio and Alessio – don’t tell anyone.)

Igor Rinaldi as Pat Connaughton

Paola Corbo as Miss Daisy

Valerio Mancini as Jack King

Federico Mancini as Big Brisco

Francesco Mancini as Joe Mitraglietta

Francesco Natale as Wilbour

Davide Mancini as Manny

Gennaro Barile as Jones Portis

Simona Macolino as Miss Emily

Alessio Iacovella as Mac

I absolutely love living in Pontelandolfo where one can meet interesting young people with a passion for the arts. Enjoy the arts, wherever you are.

Ci Vediamo

Midge (www.midgeguerrera.com)

PS. Tell a pal to read my humorous travel memoir Cars, Castles, Cows and Chaos. Ask me about my one woman show – La Dolce Vita or Is It???

La Befana and Me

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Every year, the night before Epiphany, La Befana on her souped up broom soars across the winter sky. Which means, every January 5th Italian children across the world hang a stocking, cross their fingers that they’ve been good enough and go to bed keeping one eye open looking for the old woman on a broom who also has a “naughty or nice” list. Nice means candies and gifts are squirreled away in the stocking. Bad – carbone – black coal good only for tossing at the cat – sits there staring at the offender. Snappily dressed in a ratty shawl, babushka, stripped sox and long skirt, the nonnina (tiny nonna) arrives on the Festa dell’Epifania eve. Epiphany is a celebration of the Three Kings visiting the newborn Christ child.

Growing up in Somerset County New Jersey, when there were more horses than houses, I wasn’t surrounded by a neighborhood of Italians. My grandparents loved me, loved their subsistence farm and barely mentioned Italian traditions. I was probably in my fifties when I stumbled upon a magical book in a Morcone bookstore. The grinning, shabbily dressed old woman riding the broom and sporting a huge smile reached into my heart. I bought the book – it was written for six year olds so I could almost follow the Italian – and I became obsessed with La Befana. So obsessed that after midnight one January 6th, determined to see her zoom into our Flagtown farmhouse, I pried my eyelids open with toothpicks.  My SLR camera was ready. Snap! I nailed her. Well not exactly – but this shadow tells the story! 

I guess people on the “nice list” didn’t try to catch La Befana in the act. Not only was there no candy in my stocking, but not even a hunk of coal. I discovered, just a piece of straw from her broom taunting me from my empty scotch glass. That piece of straw reminded me that some mysteries and traditions are best just accepted. Not only accepted but embraced. Did you know that YouTube has hundreds of videos about this charming witchlike old lady? I do! I watched about a bazillion of them. (The WordPress police wouldn’t let me share any with you.)

Some say her name is a riff on the Roman dialect pronunciation of the Italian epifania. The theory I love is that she is really a Christian knockoff of Sabine (also known as “Strenia” and “Bastrina”) a Roman goddess of the new year, new beginnings.

Her back story is wonderful. This is the very short version. Living alone in the woods, she was visited by the lost Three Kings. She invites them to share her meager fare and they invite her to go with them to see the new born king. She bows out to use her handy broom and clean her little cabin. Then it hits her – a new born king! She ought to try to follow the Three Kings and visit the new babe. She doesn’t make it to Bethlehem and instead continues to visit Italian children on that blessed day. She is adored and celebrated everywhere.

Everywhere I go in Italy I see her. Here is La Befana in Sardegna!
Celebrating in Venice!

La Befana crept into my psyche and I knew I couldn’t get relief unless I wrote a play that featured her. So I did and Next Stage Press published it last year. (The digital version is only $1. ) The play is looking for a production by a youth friendly theater or school. Give the Christmas Carol a season off and try something – Italian!

Mamma Mia – La Befana?! weaves the ancient Italian Epiphany tale, La Befana, into a contemporary American setting.  Nonna comes to Vermont to spend Christmas with her daughter, Maria, and nipote (granddaughter) Mary.  Arriving first was Nonna’s ancient magical moving and tweaking suitcase – filled, we discover, not with gifts but the ragged costume of La Befana.  

 On the eve of Epiphany, in response to this family crisis, young Mary determined to save the day, rides off to find their senator’s office and appeal for help.  Texting while biking, she loses control and is hurt. With a severely injured leg, Mary drags herself to the San Rocco Church manger scene and keeps warm by burrowing into the straw.  No one knows where she is but the entire town – including her three pals Bethany, Micah and Gaspar who recently played the Three Wise Men in the Christmas Pageant – searches for her.  

Could the fun loving sixty-something Nonna from Florida really be the thousands of years old Italian La Befana? Every January 6th La Befana finds all the Italian children in the world and leaves them gifts.  This January she found one very special Italo-Ameriana, her granddaughter Mary.

Buy a copy and enjoy the story. Then please let your drama teacher pals and theater for youth besties know about this special holiday tale.

Grazie Mille!

Midge