The photos above are of the Buonopane church and the home of our friend Gianfranco Balestriere, where we stayed during the week we were on the Italian island of Ischia off the coast of Naples earlier this month. Our room was the whole lower front of the white house. If we opened the 3 shutters and stepped down, we were in the street facing the church. If we walked 50 paces or fewer, we'd have crossed the road and the church square to be in the church. It's a small village.
We arrived in the late afternoon after a flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam to Rome, a train ride from Rome to Naples, and a hydrofoil ride from Naples to Ischia. Of the islands off the coast of Naples, called the Campania Coast, Ischia is the largest. Volcanic in origin, it is famous for its termes, hot mineral springs with beneficial properties. On our way to Ischia (pronounced EES-kia), we passed the smaller island of Procida (PRO-chee-ta) where part of the film Il Postino was made. Other scenes were shot in Ischia Ponte, the point of land in the town of Ischia which sits right on the Mediterranean. Ischia Ponte also featured in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley. I'm certain this beautiful island has appeared in many other films as well. It is rocky, made from volcanic rock called tuff or tufo, and it has lush vegetation. Ischia also is the home of the large and knobbly Ischia lemons which go into the refreshing liqueur called Lemoncino.
We were sharing the house with Gianfranco, David Hendrickson from Washington, DC, and Gianfranco's nephew Francesco, his wife Elena, and their son, 8-month-old Gianni. They were all upstairs. Meals were cooked and we ate and socialized downstairs in the back portion of "our" quarters.
The daytime temperatures never got above 75 and we enjoyed sunny, blue-skied days. Even though the humidity remained at about 100% (because we were surrounded by water), there was always a gentle cooling breeze. Inside the house, which was built into a rocky hill with walls over a metre thick, it was always cool. In fact, we usually needed long-sleeves in the mornings and evenings and at night we slept under linen sheets, a bedspread, and 2 wool blankets.
The church bells tolled every hour--and tolled each hour every 15 minutes thereafter, followed by a second, different tone to denote each 15-minute period past the hour. Quarter til 1, for example, was 12 bongs followed by 3 dings to indicate 12:45. Further, at certain times each day (6:30 am, 12:30 noon, 3:30 p.m., and so forth) the striking of the hour would be followed by a 3-note pealing that would go on for 30 seconds or so. This often set the priest's dog to howling and so was quite hard to ignore. Of course the first night we heard the bell every time it chimed. We also heard cars, those special 3-wheeled little truck-like Apes (AH-pehs), and Vespas all night long. After the first night we began to run the dehumidifier for the white noise whenever we'd lie down for either a nap or the night. That and the fact that we gradually grew used to the bells (which cut right through the sound of the dehumidifier) did the trick and we slept well thereafter.
The first full day we were there, we discovered that the bakery next door (on the other side of that little alley that goes uphill) made the most wonderful pastries, including what became our standard breakfast--Cornettos, like almond croissants only containing surprises of 2 or 3 preserved cherries when we reached the centre. These we ate while drinking strong, black Italian espresso. Mmmm.
Otherwise, we ate healthy foods, mostly prepared by Gianfranco and/or David although occasionally we ate elsewhere. The predominant main course was fresh seafood: fresh sardines, anchovies, cod, squid, octopus, and prawns prepared interestingly and cooked to perfection. One night Gianfranco made a most wonderful rabbit casserole. All that was left from that meal were a few laurel leaves and a pile of bones! We ate lots of fresh vegetables and local crusty bread. Sometimes our first course would be pasta but twice we had risotto, once with fresh artichokes and once with fresh squid and prawns. There was always a salad and, of course, wine. When we ate out for lunch, we invariably had pizza except for Don's birthday lunch which was mostly fresh seafood and eaten right on the Mediterranean in Ischia Ponte.
The first day we had a late start. After breakfast, David took us out for a walk up a hill so that we got great views of "our side" of the island. Buonopane sits about two-thirds of the way up toward the highest point, Mount Epomeo. which isn't all that high (fewer than 800 metres and last erupted in 1300). From up on the hill, we could see, in one direction, the island of Procida with Vesuvius off in the misty distance and in another direction, the resort of Sant Angelo.
On our walk we saw lots of grape vines, wild red poppies, yellow daisies and broom, and other wildflowers. Gardens don't tend to be at the houses but, rather, in the surrounding countryside, like allotments. Each is fenced off and accessible through a locking gate. Some gardens had a few olive trees, all had some grapevines and lemon trees loaded down with lemons as well as studded with a few lingering sweet-scented white flowers. Also growing were fresh artichokes, peas, beans, tomatoes, and all sorts of herbs. Many people on the island keep chickens and some also raise rabbits, it being a favorite dish.
Ape-vans appeared in the village every day vending fish. The rubber-booted, white-aproned drivers would park near the square, get out and begin yelling "Pesce! Pesce!" as they opened up the back to show their wares. One day, an Ape pulled up outside the cafe-bar that also doubled as the internet cafe. It was vending houseplants and I thought, what a billiant idea that was. Why, if a houseplant vendor were to come down our street here in Comrie, the plants would be gone by the time he reached the end of the road!
That first day was a quiet one, spent catching up on our rest and getting to know the village. David took us into the church which is small but even lovelier inside than out, and it's quite attractive outside, don't you think? We did some shopping at one of the two local grocery stores. We checked our e-mail. We had lunch. We took a nap. We got up and played with baby Gianni while visiting with Franceso, Elena, Gianfranco, and David. We drank wine and listened to music. We drank wine and ate dinner. We slept like babies.
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