Campodimele

I still was not sleeping well. The combination of jet lag, missing Susan terribly, and the excitement of this trip-of-a-lifetime was keeping me awake. I was getting up early nearly every day to text Susan, upload pictures, and sometimes even calling Susan at home in North Carolina.

Today we ate breakfast at the hotel as we had been every day we stayed in Gaeta. And we uploaded lots of the pictures we had taken from yesterday. But, we took our time getting ready today as we did not have to leave for Campodimele quite so early.

Vito and Wilma met us in the hotel parking lot and more friends of Vito’s joined us there a short time afterward. Alex Milone and Rosa Paretta drove Alex’s mother’s van down from Terracina to help to shuttle us to Campodimele and celebrate our birthday with us. Vito, Wilma, and Giulia rode in Vito’s car and led the way.

Leaving Gaeta, we travelled in the direction of Itri, a small town on the north side of the aqueduct I mentioned earlier. We did not have a lot of time to see the sites of the town as our destination was up in the mountains to a small community on a mountaintop called Campodimele. This town was built with a wall completely surrounding the town to protect it from invaders in medieval times.

As we drove up the winding roads toward Campodimele, I was particularly struck by the fact there was no fences around the mountain side pastures where cows and steers roamed freely. Some were even grazing on the side of the road and without care one could easily round a bend and hit one with their vehicle. There were also many cyclists riding the roads on their bike. How they could do the uphill ride was a mystery to me since the roads were exceptionally steep. Of course, if you looked at the physiques, especially the calves, of these riders you could tell they were accustomed to the steep mountain roads.

Up and up we went, until…… on no! The van we were riding in was starting to overheat. Mark called Vito and at the earliest opportunity we had he pulled onto the side of the road followed by us. We turned off the cars and got out to exam and evaluate the problem. As we got out of the van, I asked Vito to tell Alex to open the hood latch so I could see just how bad it was. Steam was not too bad coming out of the radiator, but significant enough to warrant the stop. I quickly saw that the overflow tank for the radiator was empty.

Thinking fast on my feet, and having had experience with cooling overheating race cars in my past, AND remembering that Vito was keeping bottled water in the trunk of his car in the event we were out touring and needed quick liquid refreshment, I ask him for two of the bottles and a towel if he had one. He handed me the waters and fortunately he had a towel.

I emptied one of the bottles of water slowly over the top of the radiator and the cap. While it was cool, I slowly opened the cap on the top of the radiator so that the pressure was slowly released. Eventually, I had it opened. The second bottle of water went into the radiator. By this time the temperature had lowered significantly. I asked for a third bottle of water to put into the overflow tank and then asked Vito to ask Alex to start the car. The temperature gauge was now reading much lower, so we all got into our cars to proceed to Campodimele which was one more mountain away. Fortunately, we had no additional problems.

When we arrived at Campodimele and parked our vehicles, both Vito and Alex shook my hand and thanked me for saving the trip. I was just glad to finally see this town that I had heard so much about.

Campodimele is known as the City of Eternity. Best known for having the highest number of centenarians per capita of any city in the world, it is known for its healthy living and food. Mark had been here before when he came for Vito’s wedding and raved about its beauty and the food from a restaurant called “e Spunta la Luna” which means the “rising of the moon”. Vito recognized a friend of his who was from Gaeta that worked there and told him to expect us for lunch in about an hour.

We had a couple of hours before the restaurant would open for lunch by design, so we walked through the city, the only way you can get around once inside the walls. But on the outside of the walls is a view not to be believed. From the mountain top you can see several other mountains surrounding Campodimele, and the valleys below with paved and unpaved roads, terraced hillsides with stone walls to keep them from falling, houses with terra cotta roofs, farms with wells for water, and lush, green fields. But first, the walking tour.

Walking through the cobblestone streets of the city, many only wide enough for one or two people at a time was like taking a journey back in time. The houses were all side-by-side with common walls, planters hanging from windows, old-wooden doors, lots of potted plants, terra cotta roofs, stone steps, and narrow. We walked across to the scenic overlook and town amphitheater (like a town common area) and saw why the residents were so healthy and lived so long. The fields where they farmed their crops are at the base of the mountain on a flat plain. They farm the land below each day, and walk up the mountain when they have completed their days work. The combination of healthy foods from the numerous vegetables and the exercise keeps them fit. We did not see the first obese resident in the entire town. The pictures were phenomenal.

Vito had his priorities before we proceeded on the rest of the tour. ESPRESSO! We found a bar nearby and we all went in to get and espresso, except Wilma who remained outside with Giulia in the stroller. We had already told Vito that we intended to live by the Italian tradition where the person whose birthday it is pays for the celebrants. I set my camera down to get some Euros to pay; we drank our coffee, and then left. About two minutes later the attendant at the bar was running after me with my camera in hand. I had forgotten it when I paid. I was grateful for her honesty and inconvenience.

We walked in and out of many narrow streets. At one point, Vito saw the owner of the restaurant in a narrow, stone-covered street. There was a door there that he led us into that took us into a cellar where he was making various wines and liqueurs, kind-of-like a laboratory. It was dark and damp with a skylight, and two windows to lighten the room. The walls were lined with shelves with jars of “experimental” concoctions for aging.

After we left the cellar, we proceeded to walk the other streets of the city. One street we happened on had a stone, crushing wheel that was used for grains or tomatoes. Another was named Via Pasquale (our grandfathers’ name).  There was a church with a service in progress (after all, it was Sunday).

Finally, it was time to go to the restaurant for lunch. Mark and I had been communicating with a Campodimele city representative about the city named Mary Picano. She served as a tourist representative for the city and ambassador. We invited her to have dinner with us at e Spunta la Luna. It turned out that she was related to the owner by marriage. She was kind enough to bring us gifts and literature about the city. My favorite was a quart of Campodimele-made olive oil.

She met us at the restaurant and we all sat down for dinner in the main dining room in front of the fireplace. One of our first priorities was to order some wine, the house wine for the restaurant that had their logo on the label, artistic mountains with a moon rising overhead. Mark had it when he was here before and loved it.

Vito and Mary both made suggestions for what we should eat. We had our meal in the traditional Italian way, with an antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno, dolce, and a digestive. We had wild boar, chicken, beef, and we even had tripe, parts of the stomach of cows. Again, I participated in everything. The dolce was fantastic. It was a great dinner for the eight of us and I was happy to pay for our birthday meal.

Before we left, I asked the owner if I could buy four bottles of wine to take with me. They were more than happy to oblige. It was a great birthday for both of us. After saying goodbye to Mary, we left the restaurant just as a light rain began to fall. The trip back to Gaeta was mostly downhill, so overheating of the van was not an issue. Such a fantastic day!

Back in Gaeta, we went to Vito’s apartment and before we said our goodbyes to Alex and Rosa, they gave us each a bottle of white wine from Terracina. They were such great people and instantly became such great friends, even though we do not speak the same language.

After visiting with Vito, Wilma, and Giulia for a bit, Vito took us back to the hotel for another night of sleep. Each time he would take us back would be using a different road so we could see more of Gaeta. Time to sleep, hopefully!