It takes a half hour on a fast ferry from Reggio de Calabria to arrive in Messina, crossing the Strait of Messina. The large port is home to numerous ferries, commercial vessels as well as military ships. The city center of the small city of 215,000 is about 12 kilometers from the entrance to the Strait. The lovely City Hall sits along the harbor. The city, wracked by a major earthquake in 1908 leading to a devastating tsunami, backs up against hills to the west.
The Greeks liked this location, settling the area in the 8th BCE. Artifacts in the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (the Regional Museum) bear witness, but there is much more. The 1908 earthquake produced such vast devastation that many buildings were not rebuilt. Their decorations, paintings and other valuables were placed in the Museum. Capitols and a wide variety of other carvings sit in a special exhibit. An exuberant hostess showed us around and helped us with their 3-D glasses. These give you a 360 degree perspective, providing context for the objects upon which the presentation focused.
North end of Messina’s harbor
A room of the special exhibit simulates the deafening sounds of the earthquake. Beyond lies a huge collection of religious art with countless figuring staring into the clouds, as was common in that era. There is a collection of the works of Antonello da Messina, a well known painter of the early Renaissance. His works are much above average for the time. There are several Caravaggio paintings. He stopped here on his way to an early death near Napoli from the wounds he suffered in the last of his many street fights.
The comparative few who give previous thought to this small city in southern Italy wonder at its name. “Reggio’ comes from the ancient Greek for ‘region.’ There’s a Reggio elsewhere in Italy so ‘de Calabria’ distinguishes the two.
Despite its present day obscurity Reggio de Calabria was home to a perhaps legendary early king named Italus, whence ‘Italia.’ Italia initially referred to the general area surrounding Calabria before becoming the name of the whole peninsula circa third century BCE. This suggests a significant level of influence.
Reggio de Calabria is among the 100 largest cities in Europe, home to 500,000 plus. It was heavily damaged by the 7.1 earthquake of 1908, giving rise to much modernization. I’ll tell you a bit more about that quake in the upcoming post on Messina, whose municipal museum has extensive exhibits on the topic.
Reggio sits near the entrance to the Straights of Messina, across from its buddy city Messina. Reggio was a major stopping point for ships bound for Rome, often carrying wheat from Egypt. Much earlier it was a major city in Magna Grecia, the Greek speaking area which includes today’s southern Italy: Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Campania.
Reggio de Calabria, view of the Strait
The famous Riace bronzes are in the town’s important Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. It is protected by an antechamber that seals off the temperature and humidity of the rest of the museum. They are magnificent life size works, with a height of 199 cm/6’6″. Few of these bronze statues remain. These two were found about 200 meters from the shore in nearby Riace either by a diver or four young boys. One of the figures may have been holding a spear and shield, with one sporting a helmet. Restored at the museum over almost a decade after their 1972 discovery and again in 2011, the sculptures date to the 5th century BCE.
One of the Riace bronzes
Reggio de Calabria has a long (1 kilometer) pedestrian zone. It is the main shopping street, running parallel to the coast. Via Garibaldi is lined with magnolia and exotic palm trees. The city is laid out on a steep hill(s) but the pedestrian zone is on the flat. The train station is one level down, just above the sea. Opposite the station it is a tiny shop selling 30 varieties of arancini.
Arancini are the street food of choice for Sicilians. Cooked risotto is formed into various shapes. Then things like mozzarella, fungi (mushrooms), shredded beef and other meats, bits of eggplant and so on are added. The attractive middle aged woman who runs the place across from the station came up with many variations. There was even one with spada – swordfish.
30 varieties of arancini
Once formed into the desired shape, the sticky rice and its other contents are rolled in corn flour, then deep fried. They end up with a nice crunch and an orange color, thus the term ‘arancini’ – oranges. And please try not to refer to the singular in the same manner. If there is only one then the word is orancino.
Back to swordfish. They are in these waters apparently in large numbers judging by their predominance on the menus. There are several variations in their use in the restaurants. Aside from grilled, it is added to various pasta dishes. Pasta Norma is one such. On its own Pasta Norma is a thick short noodle with tomato sauce and grated ricotta salata, a bone dry and very salty version of the otherwise soft, creamy cheese.
Ricotta salata in foreground. Caponata is on most menus
In the old days ricotta was made by reheating the whey and then adding lemon or some other acid causing the milk elements to congeal. Thus the term ‘ricotta,’ re-cooked.’ Dry it out and salt it up and you have ‘ricotta salata.’ It all makes sense once you understand the language a bit.
From Pisa we drove some 500k/300m to the Abruzo region, staying in the tiny town of Caprociano. This town is home to 100 people. It is nestled on a rocky hillside. Our rustic residence was in part dug out of the rock by our host Gaetano, a friendly sixty something jolly good fellow. The pellet stove we used for heat was smoking us out without warming us very well. Our Italian was barely adequate to deal with this issue but his good nature helped get us through. He moved us to his own gorgeous summer house just a two minute walk away.
The area is made for hiking, which is why our travel companions chose the location. Off they went on several occasions, following village to village trails. It was cold and rainy during our short stay but our trekkers did not hold back.
Nearly each little town has a castle, many in ruins but some rebuilt or repaired. We toured the Castello di Pacentro, resting on a steep slope overlooking the valley. I climbed the tower for the fabulous views. It’s a puffer of some 6 stories, its steep stairs posing a challenge for those who never exercise.
Pacentro, pen and ink, 21 x 39cm/8.3×11.7″
We arranged for a wine tasting in tiny Vitorrito. Mariapaola greeted us at their winery. See http://www.vinidicato.it. This is a father/daughter operation making about 6000 bottles a year of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo without pesticides or fertilizers. The main grape is Montepulciano. One bottle she served was the typical mildly tannic red you find everywhere. Another was slightly carbonic, giving a slight fizz. They make a golden hued white from another grape.
Mariapaola showed us their small bottle filler and sealer. They can do four bottles at a time. There is also a corker. They put the labels on by hand. The newspaper Correre della Sera’s book “One Hundred best Italian Wines” names this winery as number 91 of 100, amazing considering its size and the thousands of wineries there are to choose between.
Snow covered Apennines seen from near the winery
In addition to homemade bread sticks and two homemade sausages (salchichas seches, dry sausages), MariaPaoloa then brought out cake and other sweets. We left some uneaten and she worried aloud in her charming manner if we did not like them.
Mariapaola serves bread sticks and crackers
Another day we went to Pescara, a beach town noted for seafood. For 150 euros for four we enjoyed fine dining and two bottles of wine in an attractive setting. The menu of the day was 25 euros (beverages not included). I had a seafood soup with some thick pasta and lots of shrimp and clams for a mere 13 euros.
Abruzo runs from this mountainous area down to the coast. It lies roughly in the center of the country but strangely considered culturally part of the south. Historically it’s been highly agricultural but from the early 50’s to the mid-90’s, it’s become more industrial. Mechanic engineering, transportation equipment, telecommunications and tourism have become important to its economy. There are boar running around the mountains, hawks and other wildlife.
In the center of town we found the city’s main plaza, a large one flanked by majestic Medici era architecture. But the city goes back much further, to the Etruscans circa 800 BCE. Excavations in the 1980’s and 90’s proved its Etruscan origins, around the 5th century BCE. The city is close to the coast and was once a maritime power. It is split by the Arno River, which nearly topped it’s tall banks here and in Firenze (Florence) just a few weeks ago from the mountain rains to the east. The historical center would have been disastrously flooded.
Pisa was at its height from the 11th century until the 17th as one of the major maritime republics of Italy. The city’s port still provides significant employment as does tourism and the major universities and schools. The University of Pisa dates to the 12th century. The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (high school teacher training), founded by Napoleon in 1810, is in the main plaza.
At night the old town streets are abuzz. It seems like most of the city’s 35,000 students are talking at the same time, clustered around bars drinking beer, wine and Aperol. It’s late March so the weather is more encouraging, with temps in the 10-20c (50-68f). The churches are still quite cold and damp.
The lively night life in il Borgo, the historical center of Pisa
It appears that Pisans seem to have a distinct preference for spaghetti, as opposed to say linguine or orecchiette in Puglia, as each of the restaurants we visited served only spaghetti (aside from lasagna) with the sauces on offer. I found a rice pie in one of the bakeries. I was hoping to try “cecina,” a flatbread made with garbanzo bean flour.
Statue to Cosomo Medici
The statue to Cosomo Medici was commissioned by Grand Duke Ferdinando I in 1596. Pietro Francavilla sculpted the piece in the elegant Late Mannerist style. The building behind is the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, with only 600 students enrolled. It’s primary purpose is the training of high school teachers. The decor is painted onto what I believe is concrete or something similar.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina. The wall on the left is the river’s retaining wall.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina is a lovely and small Gothic church on the southern bank of the Arno. The Gualandi family built it in the 1200s, naming it Santa Maria di Pontenovo. It was moved to its current location to better protect it from flood waters. “Della Spina” refers to a thorn from the crown of thorns, no longer in the church. It is in the Chiesa di Santa Chiara on Via Roma. Pontenuovo collapsed in the 15th c, never rebuilt. It was closed when we were there. Too bad. There is a famous Gothic sculpture Madonna of the Rose by the Pisano brothers.
Surely there is no king with a more beautiful castle or palace and with so many gilded rooms (…) …how magnificent and sumptuous is this palace. — 15th-century German diary (British Museum)
Olite is a town of 4,000 in the Spanish Province of Navarre. The Royal Palace located there is a beautiful example of French castle design. French, you say? Indeed. King Charles III built the Royal Palace in the 15th century, taking builders with him on a tour of French castles before starting the project. The result is an extravagant Gothic castle. I counted four slate covered pointed roofs typical of French castles. The towers, galleries, gardens and patios were luxuriously decorated, but little remains of the furnishings. Nonetheless it is a joy to imagine what it was like back then, until your legs had climbed the 6 or more tightly circular staircase stories up from ground level. A lovely view of the surrounding countryside makes it worthwhile.
The castle became a residence of Henri of Navarre (1553-1610), who ruled as Henri IV of France from 1589-1610 and King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572. He was the first King of France from the House of Bourbon, a branch of the Capetians. The Capetians ruled from the late 10th century until 1792. He was Protestant, and is famous for saying “Paris is worth a mass” to become King of France. The current King of Spain is a Bourbon, from which comes the name for the famous Kentucky distillate.
The castle was made a National Monument in 1925.
After the invasion of Navarre in 1512 the palace was only used as an occasional residence by the Viceroys. It was set afire during the Spanish War of Independence in 1813 to stop Napoleon’s troops from occupying it.
There is a second castle on the site, called the Old Palace. It is much smaller and is now a Parador, a government-owned chain of luxury hotels located in buildings of architectural and historic importance but no longer in official use. The Old Palace dates to the 13th century. Only the outer walls and towers remain. It is now under renovation.
“Apparently, it (the Old Palace) held originally a more military purpose and only served as temporary residence for Theobald II in the last year of his life and his brother-cum-successor Henry I during his short reign (1270 – 1274) before the Gothic styled structure came to house the Naverrese Court late in the century.” https://breakingthruhistory.wordpress.com/2024/07/17/the-royal-palace-of-olite-navarre-spain/. Construction of its successor, the Royal Palace, began in 1406 according to other sources.
The Old Palace (Palacio Viejo) sits atop an ancient Roman fortification. It was constructed in the reign of Sancho VII of Navarre ‘the Strong’ (r. 1194 – 1234). It was enlarged by his successors Theobald I (r. 1234 – 1253) and Theobald II (r. 1253 – 1270).
A few notes on the cuisine
Each region of Spain has its own take on the cuisine. The one restaurant in which we dined featured a grilled trout with a full slice of Serrano type ham inside. This is probably the only place in the world that would think to add pork to fish. It was good but not outstanding. Another dish was superb – Alubias pochas con chorizo. Alubias are white beans, but in the local dialect they are called ‘pochas.’ It had a deep, rich flavor from the bits of chorizo and the stock. The Spanish are known for bean dishes and this was a great example. In the evening we went out for tapas and a beverage. I tried some sort of puff pastry with various fillings, sweet or savory, tasty and moist, going well with the local wine. I had the same pastry for breakfast the next morning. And there is, among other offerings, something called a Torta Ttxantxigorri, made with “chicharrones de cerdo,” pig skin, sugar and cinnamon.
Olite is not far from Teruel, known for its dry cured hams, commonly referred to as Serrano ham. It is in the same family as the Italian prosciutto crudo, literally raw ham to distinguish it from prosciutto cotto, cooked ham, and the French jambon cru, also literally raw ham but also dry cured. The best known Italian version is Parma ham, made in, you guessed it, Parma, the same area that brings us parmigiano the cheese and things like eggplant parmesan (melanzane parmigiano). The Spanish jamon is generally cured for longer periods than others, up to 18 months.
We drove south to visit a monastary on the way back to Valencia. There was a black and white hooded monk standing at the door of the Monasterio de Santa Maria Real de la Oliva as we drove up. He was gone a moment later. For a moment I thought I was having a Padre Pio moment. Il Padre was known for being in two places at once, or rather for people thinking so. However this monk had merely gone inside, awaiting us at the counter. He was happy to chat, in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and the mysterious Basque. And some African language, as he’d been assigned to some post in Angola at one time. At age 95 and going strong. he was just one of about nine Cistercian monks in the monastery that once probably held over a hundred. The ones that remained were all approaching the century mark, except for the part time visiting monks. The cells once reserved for prayer are now available for those wishing a quiet getaway.
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The peaceful cloisters of the Monasterio.
The monastery’s large church is part Romanesque and part Gothic, reflecting its early origins and the influence of French architecture even then. You can see the Gothic design in the tracery of the cloisters.
We stopped back in the shop to buy some wine from the friendly old monk, and while there considered some of the cheese. We passed on the latter. A few days later tried the wine. It’s a bit thin on the viscosity as well as nose and tongue, but drinkable enough, just not worth the price given how much good wine you can get here for three or four euros.
With the renewal of the €10 unlimited regional travel pass we’re again visiting the smaller towns near Valencia. Puig (officially El Puig de Santa Maria) is just 14k and less than 30 minutes away. The train wasn’t crowded on the way there, though bursting at the seams on the way back as people were joining the King’s Day festivities in Valencia.
Walking to the center of Puig from the metro stop we passed a field of recently harvested persimmons, those left unharvested sitting bright orange in the sun to tempt the passers-by. In town’s center children lined up for face painting, balloon making and such, part of the festivities associated with King’s Day, January 6, when the “kings” appeared with gifts for the newborn Jesus. The actual ranks, names, origins, appearances, and exact number are unmentioned, all these coming later on as traditions and not as history. The Kings story is only found in the Gospel According to “Mathew” (we don’t know who actually wrote any of the Gospels). The bakeries all around Spain are undeterred by any of this, happily selling round King cakes for the January 6 event, much like the ones sold in New Orleans, in case you’ve ever had one there.
Entry to the Monastery is a mere €4, which includes the obligatory guided tour. They throw in the puffingly steep climb to the museum entry. Our Spanish only guide spoke quickly, her voice often reverberating heavily off the stone and plaster walls. You have to stand in front of her to have much hope of understanding. She turns to explain the various features of the many rooms so you have to keep up. I stopped trying to do so after a while, thinking she’d found my tracking her to be odd.
She begin In 1237 when Jaume I (Jaime in Spanish, James in English) ordered the construction of a church on a hill in el Puig. A priest named Peter Nolasco (Peter is the Valenciano, Pedro the Spanish) found a Byzantine icon of what came to be called Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, by no means the only image carrying this name. Jaume already had a castle on a nearby and taller hill – you can explore the ruins easily. The work on the church was finished in 1240 and turned over to the Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, the Mercedarians, an order established in 1218 by the very same priest in Barcelona. Makes me wonder how he “found” this icon.
Pilgrims flocked to the site to see Nuestra Señora, believing the discovery to have been miraculous. To better handle the crowds workers began to build the present Gothic church in 1300. In 1588 they built the massive monastery in which there are cloisters, the Salón Real, the Salon Gotico of Jaume I, and the Salón of Ceramics. The architect was one Antón Dexado de la Cossa.
Video on the Monastery’s official website
Our video of the visit
The monastery they built has a fortress-like rectangular stone exterior. It looks to be some six stories high with four imposing towers. The interior is richly appointed everywhere you look. You’d think that given its size they would have run out of decor but in those days gold was flowing into Spain from the “New” World (not new at all to the inhabitants, of course) and there were lots of artisans. The building has served many purposes, one of them was for printing, and there is a museum dedicated to this.
There are two cloisters. In one you see the Gothic Hall and the Printing Museum. There are numerous paintings by José Vergara (1726-1799). In the second cloister there are many paintings as well, and the Salón Real (Royal Hall), the Hall of the Order of the Knights of el Puig along with the Gothic church. The expertly painted dome is behind the main chapel. The materials and workmanship everywhere are stupendous. See https://www.spain.info/en/places-of-interest/royal-monastery-puig-santa-maria
From El Puig’s castle Jaime I launched his assault on Valencia, then held by the Moors, the Arabic conquerors who invaded Spain in 711 CE. The Moors were preparing a surprise attack on the castle in Puig. Legend has it that Jaime was awoken by the beating wings of a bat, allowing him to thwart the enemy. He added the bat with open wings to the coat of arms of Valencia, where it remains to this day. See https://valencia-unravelled.com/history/a-story-of-bats-and-dragons/
Below the monastery there is a bomb shelter, built during the Spanish Civil War. On the hill with the castle there are defensive trenches dug by the Republicans during that period.
Some of the art I produced this past year. Most of the watercolors were done aboard Viking. There is limited space and I have to put everything away each time so larger paintings are difficult to mange. It’s perfect for watercolors though!
It was a wonderful year for cruising once the rains let up around June 1. Before that it was rather dreary and the Maas (Meuse in French) was running quite fast as we headed against the current on our way south.
Christmas eve dinner here in Rome: I prepared a multiple course meal. Well it was mostly me, as the spousal unit managed to sneak in some very non-Italian smoked herring and salmon. You can get both of these in the stores here these days, but that is no excuse, IMHO.
In Italy the meal is divided into courses: antipasto (before the pasta), Primo piato (first plate, meaning pasta) and Secondo, meaning seafood and meats, Contorni (vegetables) and the Dolci (desserts) and then at the end an espresso (and NOT a cappuccino, let alone one WITH the meal). For primo I made stuffed mushrooms and ricotta fritters (both family recipes), smoked salmon with grilled veg as well as polpette marino (disliked by all but one), these last two begrudgingly admitted to this course in order to humor the unit, and artichokes.
Wine bottles in a bar in Rome
Primos: I made pasta with meatballs and gnochhi in a pistachio pesto sauce. Spaghetti and meatballs served together is an Italian-American thing, as “polpetti” is a meat item and therefore comes as a secondo. This was another compromise, in an effort to serve at least something that the younger non-Italians with us would identify as Italian and in which they might find comfort. “Enough with the surprises, already!” they seemed to be saying, though maybe I was jumping the gun, as to my great delight these are not picky eaters.
Pasta con cozze (mussels) served the next day with the leftover mussels and their broth
Shrimp grilled in butter and lots of garlic, and steamed mussels came next. By this time everyone was full so there were left over shrimp and mussels, and we never even got to the contorni, the vegetable side dish, in one restaurant laughingly translated as “contours.” I’d made cicoria sauteed with garlic, olives and olive oil. We skipped to the dolci, Panettone as well as Vin Santo. Vin Santo, a sweet wine, is a Rome tradition. You dip the crunchy Tozzeti alle Mandorle and chomp away. Tozzeti are called ‘biscotti’ in the US, but ‘biscotti’ is simply the Italian word for ‘biscuit’ or, better yet, ‘cookie.’ There are numerous variations of tozzeti as well as biscotti in general, but mostly just one in the US if you can find them there at all.
White and red wine accompanied the meal. The white in this photo is from the nearby Colli Albani. It is not good enough for a special meal so we opened a better one. The one in the photo and its variations are popular in Rome, sold in bottles or delivered by truck and then pumped via hose into the basement casks of the “enotecas” (wine shops). The shops in turn deliver via spigot to customers who bring their own bottles. They charge about $2.50 a liter. It is often served as the ‘vino della casa’ at restaurants for 6-10 euros a liter (a bottle is .75 liters)
White wine from nearby Frascati
Christmas Day: Lunch with friends, people we have known since our sojourn of 1999-2000. There was prosciutto crudo and Russian salad for antipasto. Prosciutto is the Italian word for ham. It can either be cotto (cooked, that is, regular ham) or crudo, literally ‘raw,’ but actually it is salt cured for long term conservation without refrigeration. In the US people think that ‘prosciutto’ just refers to the crudo version. Russian salad, just their family tradition and not at all common, is diced potatoes, carrots, peas, and hard boiled eggs. The eggs in this case were, thankfully, sliced and laid on top, as I dislike them. A lasagna and then an Italian version of meatloaf came next. It was a fine meal, with long periods of conversation beforehand and between each course as well.
Pannetones are a fruit cake, though nowadays there are many variations.
A few days later we went to another friend’s house for coffee. She served up some really good and not too sweet cookies she made using family recipes, as well as turron, marzipan and the ubiquitous panettone. I’d brought a panettone with me, as we had too many even after taking one to the Christmas eve dinner. I was hoping to get rid of it. We’d already had one and ‘basta!’ one was enough. I thought I was out of luck but then our friend announced she would like to take us to see her daughter. I was hoping for another opportunity. Nope. She had the rest of the panettone in tow. Mine remained hidden in my backpack.
Everyone seems to try to pan off their panettones here. I am sure that when we lived here in December of 1999 we brought panettones to friends’ houses that were the very ones they brought to ours.
Some other tidbits about eating in Italy
Bread is a big deal in Italy. You can get it in grocery stores and panificio, a bread shop. Pastries are sold in a pasticceria. Bread and pastries are not normally sold in the same shop. Whether you get bread in a grocery store (supermercato) or a panificio, you chose the bread you want from the clerk, who weighs it and applies a price sticker to the bag.
You will need a good bread knife as few places have a slicer and the breads have mighty fine crusty crusts. In addition these breads are not made with chemicals so they dry out and harden quickly, so it is best not to slice them in advance, although these days you can freeze them and they will be just fine for weeks.
Bread counter in a Todis, a very popular discount grocer in Rome
Want some pizza on the run? Get slices at any of the many small shops. You order by size, they weigh and heat it up for you- they seem to love to weigh food here. You can also get veggies in some places. A tavola calda (“hot table”) has pizza (by the weight of course!) and much more, such as roasted chicken, porchetta (pork stuffed with garlic and herbs) and contorni (also by the weight). Beer, wine and soft drinks are served from a refrigerated case (not weighed, thanks goodness). These places have plenty of seating, unlike most by the slice places, and are much less expensive than a restaurant. You order at the counter and pay then and there.
Pizza a taglio (by the weight), cicoria (bitter green loved by the Italians), polpette (meatballs). Not fancy but good!
