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

Buon Natale!

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo
“Haul out the holly…”. “Jingle bells, jingle bells…”

Buon Natale and Happy New Year. No need to go “dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh” to have a happy holiday. Enjoy your family, friends and most importantly yourself this season. May all your dreams and wishes soar.

Pontelandolfo and the Sannio hills are magical at Christmas time. Lights twinkle in piazzas and line Benevento’s grand Corso Garibaldi. On January 3rd and 4th Morcone, our neighboring village, produces an amazing community wide Presepe Viventi – living nativity.

Small eyes peer upward searching for Babbo Natale. Santa’s train scoots around Piazza Roma. The crisp mountain air invigorates everyone who walks around the piazza gossiping with friends, looking at the lights and sipping adult beverages at one of our fabulous bars. Baccalà is soaking in kitchens. Nonna’s are kneading dough. Panettone waits on kitchen counters. Laughter and hugs will soon fill homes. Tis the season of family and friends who are like family.

The feeling of the holiday season is so strong that I really believe I can feel it sweeping across the sea.

Benvenuti a Pontelandolfo
Joy for everyone!

Did I mention that the Pontelandolfo spirit of Christmas could be felt across the sea? Not only across the sea, but across the continent. Jack and I are spending our happy holiday season with young Pontelandolfese in Los Angeles. Annalaura Iacovella and Allesandra Rosaria Niedt are hanging out with the elders this Christmas. We send our thoughts of love and good cheer to Pontelandolfese everywhere.

Ci Vediamo

Midge Guerrera

Panettone Enough for All

by midgeguerrera, posted in Food - Eating In and Out!, Local Businesses

Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la, la la la la. Gorge we now on panettone – – -! What else is a girl to do but gorge! This holiday confection seems to chase her around the store? Well, I could wait and not buy one. Impossible. I could buy a few and not eat every slice. The springy tall cake, liberally speckled with raisons, dried citrus and what ever else someone had in the pantry is impossible to ignore. If you don’t eat it all it starts to get stale. Hmm, not so bad stale either. I imagine, a slightly hard piece of deliciousness, soaked in eggs that have been whisked with vanilla and cinnamon, grilled on my Nonna’s cast iron stove top grill and then bathed in real, honest to God maple syrup. Couple that with crispy bacon and it is orgasmic. OMG. Weight Watcher points be damned that is one fine seasonal breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack.

Antonio Diglio makes the best Panettone!
Cross section of the best panettone in the world – from Diglio Forno!

Made by Antonio Diglio in Pontelandolfo, panettone is light, flavorful and simply fabulous. There is usually none left over unless it gets hidden so I don’t eat it all in one day. Making French Toast, all of those lovely spongy holes fill with egg and a slice cooks up heavenly. Sigh….

Perhaps, I should start at the beginning. Did I enjoy panettone as a child? Not that I can remember. When did I first taste the stale crappy ones sold in supermarkets? That would have been in college. Surrounded by all those Italian American women in my dorm from Italian enclaves like Jersey City, Newark and Hoboken I was introduced to the Italian traditions that New Jersey farm girl Midge never experienced. That is also when I discovered, having imbibed in a bit of Maryjane, how stupendous panettone was doctored with jam, jelly, maple syrup, etc. Luckily, later in life when I had a couple of lira in my pocket, I unearthed panettone that was light, airy, sweet but not gooey and wonderful to eat all by itself. Now, spending holiday time in Pontelandolfo I am binging on the fresh panettone from Diglio Forno and other cakes brought to town from the capital of panettone – Milano.

Diglio Forno makes holiday treats that require self control – no one can eat just one.

Who started this tradition of culinary goodness? What follows is an obvious embellishment of the ancient legend. It was a dark and stormy night, the ides of – wait, wait, wrong legends.

The Legend of Panettone: Tis the season to rock around the great hall. A blowout of a Christmas party was happening at the 15th century Milanese court of Ludovico Il Moro. Servers carried out tray after tray of beautifully prepared food. The dessert, which was to be a surprise and an incredible joy, was slowly cooking in the oven. One young kitchen helper was left to guard the oven and make sure the dessert came out pefectly. For whatever reason, maybe he ran out side to see the snow, maybe Gabriella the serving girl stopped and flirted with him, the reason doesn’t matter – he let the dessert burn to a blackened crisp. Caspita! Desperate, the lad looked around the kitchen and remembered he had made a bread with left over dough. He had tossed in dried fruits, lemon peels and whatever edibles were around. He gulped, put it on a fancy tray, powdered it with sugar, and suggested that the cook serve it. The cook walked incredibly slowly into the great hall. Toni was cowering in the doorway. Slices were served. Compliments were tossed and the party was a success. In summary: Toni, a lowly kitchen helper, made a terrible mistake and fearing he’d be served up roasted, was saved by his quick wit and culinary creation made of leftover stuff. He saved the party and introduced the world to “L’è ‘l pan del Toni,” meaning “It’s Toni’s bread, hence the name panettone. The end.

May your holiday season be bright and filled with scrumptious panettone. If you buy one in an Italian market DO NOT SAVE IT. Why let it get stale – EAT IT TODAY. I googled what one can do with panettone and here are some ideas. Panettone bread pudding – obvious but yummy. Panettone tiramisu – hmm not so obvious. What follows is an easy way to use the bread up. On a griddle heat up slices of panettone. Toast it well on both sides. DO NOT PUT IT IN A TOASTER. I have and it warranted a call to the fire house. Put the slices on a plate and pour some Grand Marnier over it. Imagine all the liquors you could experiment with. Heating up a slice opens the door to the refrigerator and pantry because you can spread it with whatever sweet stuff you like. Or, eat it my way – make French toast and douse it in real maple syrup. Do not leave out the crispy bacon.

Enjoy the season!

Ci Vediamo

Midge Guerrera

BOOKS AND PLAYS MAKE GREAT GIFTS! 

CONSIDER GIFTING A WORK OF MINE. THANKS!

Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo!

A few slots are left for the week of June 29th. Message me for information. A week in Pontelandolfo is a great gift for a culinary adventurer.

Playwrights Write in Pontelandolfo!

by midgeguerrera, posted in Nonna's Trips & Events

Write Where You Are –

Pontelandolfo 2024 🇮🇹

SponsoreD by

Other Rooms founding artistic director, Jonathan Samarro, understands playwrights. Not only is he a produced and published playwright himself, but the organization he leads has been providing playwright support through a variety of initiatives. How do I know? Hey gang, you know I’m a playwright. (Check out my work on Next Stage Press and YouthPLAYS.) I’ve participated in and gained a lot from the resources Jonathan has created.

Accountable Sundays encourages writers – like sometimes lazy me – to commit to writing every Sunday. Write Where Your Are, a workshop that provides feedback during the creation of a new work, has been incredibly helpful. Other Voices is a reading series that features new completed plays. Retro Reads gives playwrights insights into the work of master playwrights through readings and discussions of classic plays. Seriously, we can all learn from the masters.

Jonathan’s latest initiative, Write Where You Are – Pontelandolfo 2024, offers playwrights the space, time, and community needed to move forward in their work. Those of you who follow this blog have already guessed why Pontelandolfo was chosen. It is my home town and where I do most of my writing. For those of you that are new – Pontelandolfo, nestled in the southern Italy Sannio hills, is a small village off the beaten tourist track. The Italian landscape and village life are a great catalyst for creativity.

Pontelandolfo – our favorite place.

Only eight playwrights were selected to participate in Other Rooms’ first retreat. Between October 14 – 23, 2024, the participants will be staying in La Locanda della Presuntuosa, an interesting villa built into a mountain and on acres of land. The villa provides an escape from the trodden tourist track of Italy’s big cities yet is minutes from Piazza Roma, the main piazza, and the center of Pontelandolfo life and lore. Cobblestone streets lead one to a medieval castle tower and cafés, ancient Roman churches and miniature works of art are hidden within an area steeped in history and culture.

Video is a wee bit too long but…

The week begins with a bar crawl to introduce everyone to village life. Hey, they are playwrights did you expect high tea? In addition to time for one’s own daily writing, the retreat offers master classes in playwriting, a stimulating array of traditional cultural activities, introduction to the province’s theatre community, opportunities to socialize with fellow writers and local people. They can even choose to eat lunch with a local family! YUMMMM!

Jonathan and his local team – gulp – which includes both Annarita Mancini and I, wanted to create a writer’s retreat that was different than the usual – meet around a table for a workshop. Chatting with Playwright and Professor Rosemary McLaughlin we decided to hold a master class, Writing Site Specific Work, at a site. The workshop will be held at Altilia, an excavation of a Roman Village in the town of Sepino – Area Archeologica di Saepinum.  How cool is that!

Rosemary is the head of the Playwriting Program at Drew University. She received her MFA in Theater Arts from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School and several writing fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Recent plays include Paterson Falls, commissioned by Writers Theatre of New Jersey, about the 1913 silk strike; A More Opportune Time, a contemporary adaptation of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus; Pushing the River, a comedy about aging, memory and eminent domain; Seven Fishermen, about the deadly consequences of a Westerner’s determination to “save” uncontacted people; and D.O.H. (Dykes of Hoboken), set in the 1980’s, a comedy in spite of being about gentrification and AIDS. Rosemary is also a director, a member of the Dramatists Guild and a board member of the International Centre for Women Playwrights.

Sidney Rushing will be introducing the group to the VOTE method to viable and practical story telling. (Victory, Obstacles Tactics and Emotions) It is method to attack a sagging second act, an inactive protagonist  and mine for a more meaningful story. (I really can’t wait to participate in this workshop.)This user friendly process is something you can apply to any story telling medium without angst or trepidation. You will learn how this technique applies to other stories and do the work for your own narrative. We haven’t decided yet where Sidney will be conducting this workshop but know it won’t be in a classroom like setting.

Syd has penned various stage productions in both Chicago, Texas and Los Angeles. He also wrote and performed his one man show Brother’s Tellin’  in Los Angeles earning a NAACP Best Play nomination. It opened up for Lily Tomlin’s show, The Search for Signs for Intelligent Life in the Universe. Syd was then selected for the Mark Taper Playwright’s Program. He went on to a string of produced plays including Aberdeen and Netarine, Akashic Permutations, Zu’s Earth, Unsung Heroes and more. Rushing was honored to be a recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry Distinguished Achievement Award, The 21st Century Voices winner, The Inaugural August Wilson Fellow and a top ten finalist in the Screen Craft Pilot Screenplay Competition 2023. He has taught every grade level from K-12, Prep for College and at Texas State University — named teacher of the year three times in succession within public schools. 

Write Where You Are – Pontelandolfo 2024 will be an exciting program for both the participants and the citizens of Pontelandolfo. This year’s participants have been selected but Other Rooms has set up a waiting list. If you would like to be considered for the waiting list or are interested in any of the programs sponsored by Other Rooms, contact Jonathan Samarro –   jonathanjsamarro@gmail.com.
 

Ci vediamo prossima volta!

Midge Guerrera

Books and plays make great gifts!

consider gifting a work of mine. Thanks!

Cook, Eat, Laugh in Pontelandolfo!

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo

Cooking in the Kitchens of Pontelandolfo

Borgo Cerquelle

June 8 to June 15, 2024

Limited to 8 people!

Cook, Eat, Laugh!

Cook, Eat, Laugh in a small southern Italian village and gain a cultural understanding of what lies behind the great dishes.  Stay in an agriturismo that prides itself on farm to table cooking. This culinary experience is for those of you who want to see a part of Italy that is off the crowded tourist trail and taste dishes that go back generations.

This is not your traditional vacation! Spend mornings not in a restaurant or cooking school kitchen, but in a real family’s kitchen, learning the recipes and menus that have been handed down for generations. During this one-week exploration of the food and culture of Southern Italy, almost everything is included.

Includes –

  • Transportation from the Benevento Train Station
  • 7 nights at Borgo Cerquelle an agriturismo in a centuries old contrada. The double rooms are large with ensuite bathrooms.  All participants will be sharing rooms, so ask a friend to come on the adventure.
  • Welcoming Night Bar Crawl – meet the locals at their favorite hang-outs. 
  • 4 half-day cooking classes with local cooks. After preparing the dishes for pranzo or cena you will sit down and eat multi-courses with the family.  
  • English Speaking Translator for all classes and events.
  • Wine and artesian food tasting at a local vintner
  • Pontelandolfo Day – open air market, tasting of locally produced products, other local activities and light cena.
  • Excursion to Sepino Altilia Roman Ruins    
  • Walking Tour of Historical Pontelandolfo
  • Enjoy traditional folk dancing, cheese tossing and bocci.
  • Last night serata di arriverderci with all the local cooks.
  • Apron
  • Written recipes in English.

Regretfully, there are no special dietary considerations.  Since you will be cooking and eating in people’s homes, not restaurants, accommodations cannot be made for allergies or preferences. This medieval village has charming cobblestone streets but it is not handicapped accessible.  The adventure and experience in the home of local families requires the ability to climb stairs, walk on uneven streets and feel comfortable in a hilly environment.

Visit www.cookinginthekitchensofpontelandolfo.com

Visit our Facebook Page.   Read about Pontelandolfo at www.nonnasmulberrytree.com

Registration materials and financial information will be sent via e-mail to those that want to join the adventure.   info@nonnasmulberrytree.com

Pontelandolfo Hosts International Competition!

by midgeguerrera, posted in Any Day in Pontelandolfo
Cheese Rolling is an International Sport!

This unusual competition takes strength, precision and a passion for the past. La Ruzzola is an ancient game played in the streets of Italy. Members of a squadra, team, toss wheels of cheese down a course. Originally it was a well aged pecorino cheese. The early players were probably farmers and shepherds – pecorino cheese is made from sheep’s milk. The winner sent the cheese soaring down a path the farthest. Today, the goal is to reach a specific point with the least number of tosses. I heard someone in the crowd watching the day I was there say it reminded them a bit of golf.

This is a serious sport. Team shirts, buses, fans and all the trappings of a sport were seen in Pontelandolfo this past weekend. Fifty teams from throughout Italy filled the village on Saturday. Some didn’t qualify for Sunday and took their cheese home.

The sport is regulated by the Federazione Italiana Giochi e Sport Tradizionali e dall’European Traditional Sports and Game Association. What is not regulated are the dogs who dashed into the street chasing the rolling cheese. Or the spectator who took a flop when a huge wheel of cheese hit him in the legs. Don’t stand so close!

I could talk about how glorious it was on an October weekend to what happened a sport that is so unique. I could ramble on and on about the feeling of comradeship. Or talk about the fun I had watching out of town guests amble up the street following the action. I could but isn’t it better to watch this –

Enjoy!

See you in Pontelandolfo (BN), the best village in the world of cheese throwing.

Ci vediamo.

Midge

Click here to discover the world of the plays I’ve written! All looking for a production.
Blatant self promotion – check out the books that take place in Pontelandolfo!