Di Armstrong's Travel and Cooking: Letter from Nairobi - The Annual Migration and More...

Di Armstrong's Travel and Cooking: Letter from Nairobi - The Annual Migration and More...
Kenya Travel

Winter in Lubriano

Winter in Lubriano

Well I am back from Lubriano and can now call myself "Contadina Di" (Farmer Di). I closed on the land in the valley in late January on a day that was so cold and windy that even sitting in the Notiao's office we were all huddled in our coats with the wind howling through the old sash windows in the old building on the square in Bagnoregio opposite the hardware store. Mimmo came with me. I had made up my mind to remain calm as after two other closings I knew that if I worried about anything, it would be the wrong thing I was worrying about. Closings in Italy are so quirky.

Well Mimmo thought the two hour delay in the closing was due to the fact that the sellers, 3 brothers, had been given the land by their dying father rather than purchasing it, and Mimmo wriggled in and out of his chair and paced up and down giving me dire predictions. The problem was that the secretary had got in a small car accident and the Notary was having to type up the document herself (on a TYPEWRITER not on a computer I may add).

Mimmo Carol and I celebrated at Frontoio with those delicious steaks with funghi porcini and truffles. The next morning I went down to the property with a couple of chains and locks. I am not really sure why I did this, I think just to impose my ownership because there is nothing to lock away and it would have been quite nice to have got robbed of all the junk they left behind. Despite the walls on the 500 sq. ft hovel being 2 feet thick you could see through some of the walls - some cracks being as wide as two inches. The place will have to some down soon.
But the view was even better in winter with the view of Calanchi Valley unimpaired with the leafless fruit trees. But the valley is green as can be and the old silvery olives and green meadow still in the dead of winter are quite a picture. Horses (and about 5 tuxedo cats) on the next property complete the picture and the sound of the brook babbling at the bottom of the property make for a most promising 'white noise' for future sleep overs.

Lubriano in winter is quite different and it has a "we are family" kind of feel. In repayment for many kindnesses I had the butcher and greengrocer and their husbands over for a 'rustica' dinner around a huge fire in our kitchen. After a huge raging party and well after midnight the butcher Guissepina told me that my Italian was better last year than this year. Rats. I finished off my 10 day winter trip with an exciting 24 hours in Rome, staying with Gianni and Nelsa on Piazza Alessandria near Porta Pia. Our friendly Vatican tour guide Magdalena took me to visit St. Giovanni in Laterano (built by Constantine in 300 a.d. and the oldest church in Rome) it was a very special treat. She has offered to try and get me into some special Catacombs which requires a permit (not always granted) by the Pontifical Commission. Some of these entrances are thru manhole covers in the street of Rome. Well this could be a very unusual but good reason to go to Weight Watchers.