Southern Lazio; Wine Tasting, Cooking Class, Churches,& a Cemetery

From there we went back to the B&B in Alvito to rest for an hour, then off again to go wine tasting at La Ferriera. Giuseppe Caporelli was waiting for us. 

He gave us a description of the history of the property while we toured the lush grounds. The part we saw wasn’t large, but wow, it was packed with history. La Ferriera was a major iron works factory. The huge smelting vats are gone, but the supporting structure is beautifully preserved and covered with greenery. 

Of course we finished with my favorite part… wine tasting and food pairing. I couldn’t bring myself to try the weird meat called lardo something or other. It looked like lard. He looked a little surprised and hurt that I wouldn’t even try it.

Then we were whisked off to Agriturismo Cerere for cooking lessons. Caterina (Adelina Eramo) welcomed us into her giant industrial kitchen. Everything was set up and ready for us to get to work. She had a great sense of humor and alternately praised us and laughed at us. The first thing we made were crackers, which was what we munched on for the rest of the preparations. 

A film crew was present to create a commercial for tourism in which we were the star guests… I guess it’s more authentic if you can watch someone actually floundering around in the kitchen trying to make pasta. A woman my age and two young ladies, all from France or Canada, and French was their primary language. Then Roseline (our French landlady) showed up to watch. Poor Vanessa and Caterina were outnumbered by foreigners.

After we’d finished creating a five or six course meal, we were led to the restaurant that I wasn’t even aware of. We ended up at a table for eight and a meal for us all, which lasted several hours. She emailed me the recipe.

That night we collapsed into our beds and surprisingly woke up early. The view was lovely, but we resisted the urge to sit like lazy bums. We headed down to get an espresso and a pastry. On the way back we stopped to admire a shrine in front of the church by our home. As we stood there, an elderly priest came by. 

He stopped and pointed to the church and mimed going inside. We eagerly followed him through the parish office past a couple of surprised nuns having coffee. As we stood there I photographed him patiently waiting for us to properly admire his little tiny church. What an honor.

As we were preparing to pack up and leave our little B&B, Roseline came to our room and asked me if I would be willing to look at her other room for rent. I agreed and crossed the hallway to another lovely flat. This one has an actual balcony. The reason she wanted me to look at it was so I could tell you guys that it’s for sale for 78, 000 Euros. The one we stayed in is going for 72,000. Can you imagine owning a flat overlooking Valle di Comino in the adorable town of Alvito? That would be amazing.

We hopped back into the Alfa Romeo and climbed to the famous Monte Cassino. Saint Benedict came to this mountaintop around 529 A.D., and decided it would be a peaceful place for his following of monks. Its giant parking lot was packed with tour buses. At the last moment I realized I wasn’t properly dressed for the abbey! I dug into my bag for something to cover up my shorts and bare shoulders. A green pajama dress and a scarf did the trick. In two minutes I was ready to go inside. Honestly… it didn’t look too bad!

This is an abbey with a difficult history. It’s been destroyed and rebuilt four times. It looks ancient, but was in fact leveled in 1944 by bombardment, so it’s only 74 years old. A temple to Apollo apparently was here first and Saint Benedict destroyed it and its associated grove of trees (which were used for pagan rites). He built a hospital and a worship center. The monks began accumulating medical books from around the world. Their skill increased. 

They began to teach, opened a medical school in nearby Salerno (the first school of higher learning in the world), and therefore played a major role in bringing Europe out of the Dark Ages. We entered the church, wandered the grounds and stopped for a little shopping in their store stocked with goodies made by the monks. I bought some elderberry jam.

Next stop was within sight; the Polish Cemetery and museum. If you go the museum, be sure to read the interactive computer book about the bear who was born in Iran and orphaned. The Polish II Corps adopted him, and he became a kind of mascot as he traveled with his regiment. He finally ended up in Scotland where he retired into zoo-life. To learn a little more about him, visit ItalyIndeed’s website and check out his story on their blog.

Over a thousand Poles died storming the abbey in the Battle of Monte Cassino. The cemetery is majestically beautiful. The best view is from the balconies of Montecassino, but I’m glad we went down to it. The museum is well done and compact. It is mostly ceiling to floor life-sized photographs.