Lilla Travels

Yesterday was  our last full day in Pico which meant cleaning, eating what remained in the fridge, packing and preparing the house to be vacant for another year. 

We took some final measurements of a few spaces to research items to buy next year, did a few loads of laundry, and generally had a relaxing day. 

At one point we drove to the neighboring town of Pontecorvo since their Conad supermarket is open on Sunday afternoon, which is not typically the case for markets in the area. We stocked up on snacks to bring home, filling an entire suitcase as Miss M had one free checked bag with her airline ticket.

We saw signs for Cosmo and Damian Basilica, so we drove a few minutes to see the church in recognition of D, but it was all locked. There were signs advertising their “Festa della Sagna” (lasagna festival) later this month. We’ll have to check it out next time. 

For dinner we returned to Senza Nome for a final pizza. You can probably guess our orders at this stage: half margarita and half diavola (spicy salami) for Miss M, the rucola and grana for me (prosciutto, arugula and grana cheese) and Paul tried their salmon pizza which wasn’t our favorite but still enjoyed the entire pie. We said farewell to Domenico and the Simone, the pizzaiolo. Until next time. 

Over dinner, we discussed the highs and lows of the Italy portion of our trip. We all agree the bugs are the biggest drawback. Between 5-8pm, we would get chomped by little somethings but unlike mosquito bites the itching didn’t persist for hours. Perhaps that’s why Italians don’t eat dinner until after 8: they are avoiding the bugs? Maybe it was the time of year, but it would be nice to sit on the terrace during that time of day but the past two weeks, we couldn’t. At night, Paul had to light a lot of citronella to keep the bugs away and we had to be vigilant about keeping the terrace screen doors and front door closed to keep the bugs out.

As for the highs: Miss M enjoyed meeting people, seeing the house come together, going to the beach, returning to Sorrento, and feeding the cats. I enjoyed the beach and seeing the house come together. Paul enjoyed the interactions with the local people: Biaggio wearing his Boston t-shirt that we gifted him last year, Francesco touching his heart when we gave him a gift this year, Sara from the fruit market saying “especially for you” when handing him a St Rocco bread. The deepening connections fills his heart. 

After dinner we walked to the piazza where again there were hundreds of people and another live band performing on stage. We saw Carlo and two of his nephews, one of which lives in Rome, works at Fiumicino and spoke very good English. We saw Marinella and her Dad. We met a couple who splits their time between Pico and Rome but spent many years in Switzerland so they were able to communicate well in English. We saw many of other friends and familiar faces and leaving the piazza would have taken an hour if Paul said goodbye and “until next time” to everyone. Regrettably we didn’t get to say farewell to Carlo who is always so helpful to us. 

As we reflected on the trip, Portugal feels like a lifetime ago and there was so much more we wanted to do in Pico and the surrounding area, but we ran out of time. I’m fortunate to be able to work remotely from Pico (“smart working” as the Italians call it) but it made the two weeks fly by even faster than last year. We never made it to the island of Ponza, north to Tivoli, south to Naples or to the many UNESCO heritage sites nearby including the Abbey at Montecasino. We didn’t have time for the outlet mall and didn’t get to explore the many other beach towns along the coast. I didn’t get to see our elderly neighbor Ana on this trip, and the living room isn’t as “finished” as we were hoping it would be at this stage. Until next time. 

As we closed up the house this morning, I reflected on so many pictures that I didn’t capture or share with all of you in an attempt to give a glimpse into life here. So I’m closing out the blog with a dump of photos. Until next time.

August 15 is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and in Italy, they celebrate Ferragosto along with the feast day. It’s national holiday with Latin roots with “feraie” meaning “day of rest” and “augusti” nodding to Emperor Augustus who granted people a day off from working in the fields.

In Italy, everything shuts down on this date and so many people go to the beach. Paul and I were in Sicily for Ferragosto 26 years ago and the grid lock of cars trying to leave the beach at the end of the day left a lasting impression. 

Miss M thought about catching a train to Florence to see D who made a spur of the moment trip to Italy for the weekend, but advice from friends in Pico, who repeatedly warned of inconsistent train operations, resulted in her spending yet another day with her parents. 

Since we only have two full days left on our trip, we decided to brave the crowds and drive back to Sperlonga. Raggio di Sole beach club was sold out but we were able to get three chairs and an umbrella at Blue Marine, the beach club we spent two weeks at in 2022. The chairs are closer together and costs are higher, but it’s the same clear water and soft sand. 

For lunch, we ate at Pizzeria Blue Marine: Paul had fried baccala with broccoli rabe, Miss M had a margherita pizza and my pizza was chosen by the waiter since I couldn’t make a decision – there were so many great options to choose from! He selected the Nerano which was zucchini cream, sliced zucchini, fior di latte cheese, caciocavallo cheese, fonduta di parmigiano cheese, oil, basil, lemon juice and lemon zest. We could see the blue tiled pizza oven from our seaside seat and Paul watched our the pizzaoila grate the zest right before it came to our table. They were steaming hot. 

Our afternoon snack consisted of two crema cafes and one crema marscapone, two espressos and a peach EstaTe. We always miss the snacks and drinks when we’re back in the US and tried making crema cafe once unsucessfully. 

We left the beach shortly after 6pm and began the drive home. There is always so much to look at, unlike driving down 95 from Gloucester to Belmont. We passed an entire city block filled with thousands of tomato and pepper plants with a huge pile of discarded cherry tomatoes in one corner. Palm trees grow next to olive trees. We always think of our pets when driving past “Pet Heaven” crematorium, and today we saw another fire in the distance with a helicopter dumping water. There’s bales of hay, abandoned structures and two traffic lights separating Pico and the beach. Driving into the mountains is also refreshing after being at the beach, with the tree lined, roads offering shade from the late afternoon sun. On today’s drive we pulled over to get a picture of the Pico borgo from a distance. 

Every night there’s something happening in the town center. We realized at 11p last night that we never went to the Campari themed night at one of the cafe/bars in town. We missed the Campari themed giveaways but there were still 200+ people in the town center socializing. 

Tonight there was an even larger group on the square; about 300-400 people gathered in the center of town to hear a Vasco Rossi cover band. With more than 250 songs and 30 albums, he’s one of the most popular Italian singer songwriters, so people of all ages were singing along to the hits. It was a solid 2 hour performance by the cover band, plus encores.

At 9:30 we met up with some friends from Pico who we spent a lot of time with last year: Mimo and his wife Titziana, Marinella and her husband Luca, and Marinella’s 90 year old father Fernando. It was nice to catch up with them while listening to the music. We didn’t get home until 1am. 

This morning Miss M and I walked through the center of town while Paul drove to Frosinone to pick up a package. We saw Pepino Marchetti who remembered first meeting Miss M when she first visited Pico at age 8, and we popped in and out of a few shops.

By 11:30am we arrived at Raggio di Sole, currently our favorite beach club in Sperlonga.

The sand was soft and hot, the water clear and calm. Little fishes swam nearby and the sky was a perfect shade of blue. While in the water we had a beautiful view up and down the coast: in one direction, the village of Sperlonga one mile away, the Arunci mountains behind the beach, and 25 miles in the other direction we could see past the town of Terracina to Monte Circeo.

For lunch we had fried calamari (not pictured), spaghetti with yellow and red tomatoes for Miss M, and tomatoes with buffalo mozzerella for me, with cocktails and followed by espressos of course. Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a crema cafe (a small cup of coffee ice cream) and a lemon granita which was super sweet and sugary. We saw someone enjoy tiramisu earlier in the day but have no room to eat more!

I could have stayed at the beach until sundown but we had to get back to Pico to prepare for our first dinner guest, our friend Carlo. 

Carlo owns Nena Al Borgo Castello, a four star hotel in Pico. We first met Carlo in 2012 and he’s been a good friend and advocate for us as we’ve assimilated into life in Pico.

Paul made spaghetti carbonara which Carlo seemed very impressed by. Carlo is a Roman and had high praise for this traditional Roman dish. 

After dinner, Paul, Carlo and I took a stroll through the borgo. A lot of people were enjoying the cool breeze at the Castel Pub and there was a nice view of Ferragosto fireworks being launched in the distance. More on Ferragosto tomorrow.

We ended the night at Sant. Antonino church where the first of two processions of St. Rocco just concluded. More on St Rocco and the dog holding a piece of bread on Sunday.

Despite being a citizen, owning a home, paying bills, taxes and possessing a Codice fiscale (Italian tax number), having a package delivered to Pico has been a challenge. 

We decided to try Amazon.it delivery this year knowing Paul would be in Pico for five weeks in case a shipment was delayed. Well, five weeks isn’t enough time to get Amazon deliveries, it seems.

And, in case you were curious, US Amazon Prime benefits do not apply in Italy, but we figured we’d still give it a try and just pay for shipping. 

Ordering through Amazon.it has been an adventure. 

Package #1: attempted delivery of something inexpensive in case it got lost. The order was ultimately cancelled after multiple unsuccessful delivery attempts, even though Paul was home during the attempted delivery. Paul called Amazon.it customer service and Poste Italiane who said maybe we need a mailbox with our name on it; so off to the hardware store he went. 

Package #2: same item, multiple delivery attempts, even though in the order instructions he specified it’s OK to just leave the package at the front door. One day the doorbell rang: success!

Package #3: Last week we found a table and chairs for the terrace but delivery takes ten days which would cut it tight with our schedule and deliveries haven’t been smooth. Yesterday Paul purchased the items at the store and successfully fit them in the Fiat Pandina. Hooray!

Package #4: 12 days ago we placed an order for a multi-bin trash system to replace the 5 town-issued recycling/waste bins in our kitchen. The item was supposed to be delivered last Friday and again we received an attempted delivery message via email. So, Paul made some calls. Poste Italiane said it’s an Amazon issue, but it’s possible there are delivery issues because there are multiple streets with our address in the province of Frosinone, but only one in the town of Pico which is in Frosinone. Amazon said because it’s a larger package they would need to check with their larger package team and would email an update. 

For several days we continued to receive attempted delivery messages and Paul continued to call Amazon and Poste Italiane. He also went to the post office in Pico for advice. They provided two phone numbers for the third party package delivery company but no one picked up when we called.

Yesterday we spent some time online trying to decode Amazon.it, Poste Italiane and SDA (the third party shipping company, mind you that’s part of Poste Italiane) websites and finally reached a helpful woman who said our package is being held at a facility in Frosinone! Looking on a map, the facility is 40 minutes away and right next door to where Paul picked up a table and chairs yesterday. She also said the issue is our Amazon.it account is linked to a US phone number and we should instead associate an Italian number with the account.

Today, Paul made the 2 hour round trip excursion to the SDA office in Frosinone which turns out to be the same place D and Paul drove to last year to pick up an IKEA order. Thankfully he was able to pick up our package and fit it in the car. Paul, and the Fiat Pandina, have been through a lot!

Every day is an adventure and we’re slowly making progress on the house. As the Italians like to say: “piano, piano”, meaning “little by little”.

We love going to supermarkets in other countries. Yesterday I shared photos from the small market in Pico. Now that we have a refrigerator that’s larger than what you’d find in a college dorm room, we’ve been able to grocery shop! Here’s a quick look at what’s in our fridge:

Top shelf: Corona and Peroni beer, pear juice, milk, a small jar of anchovies, blood orange juice, passata (jarred tomato puree), and tiny limes from the garden (hence the corona beer)

Second shelf: prosecco, apricot jam, yogurt, breaded chicken cutlets but it’s been too hot to turn on the oven, sliced provolone and a ball of mozzerella

Third shelf: two bowls of pasta salad and leftover pasta

Fourth shelf: Eggs, plain yogurt, grapes, two containers of sliced cantaloupe

Bottom drawer: bread, two packages of guanciale for spaghetti carbonara

On the door: EstaThe in two sizes which is a brand of iced tea which we like, two fruit juice boxes, butter, more eggs, salami, still water, wine dispensed from the vat at the fruit market, sparkling water, white wine, Gatorade and part of a chocolate bar because it’s too hot to leave it in the pantry,

In the freezer: limoncello, amaro del capo, amarena flavored gelato cups, and lots of ice. 

It”s close to the end of our time here, so here’s what’s left in our pantry: dog and cat treats, salsa flavored potato chips, two types of pasta, gluten-free crackers, breadsticks and a jar of Nutella.

Not pictured: avocados, oranges from our tree, walnuts from our tree, peaches and plums, breakfast cereal and a lot of taralle crackers that we love to snack on. 

Making pasta salad is a treat here. Pick up a handful of tomatoes from Sara at the produce market and a bag of bufala mozzerella from the grocery store next door. Why do we not sell mozzerella this way in the US? Each mozzarella ball is individually packaged in its liquid to maintain freshness and there are multiple balls of mozzerella in the larger bag. 

Today Miss M took the train to Rome for the day. After taking her to the train station, we grabbed a cappuccino and croissant from L’Angolo Bar. On our walk down the hill we saw Biaggio who asked how we were enjoying the air conditioning, MariaAntonietta, who works in the law office that managed our purchase and sale agreement and Pino Marchitti, who Paul may or may not be related to.

It was 11am on a Wednesday and there were at least 50 people (majority men) socializing and enjoying the shade. We saw Simone, the owner of Senza Nome pizzeria and Biaggio, our neighbor Enzo, and others.  

Pics

Previously Paul and I have wondered what makes someone decide to go to L’Angelo Bar versus Antico Bar. Is it based on friend group? Age? Specialties at each location? They are right across the street from each other and offer exactly the same food and drink, so we couldn’t figure it out. 

Until today.

It because the outdoor seating at L’Angelo Bar is in the shade! Across the street, at Antico Bar, the outdoor seating is in the sun which explains why it’s crowded with people at the end of the day. 

A short while later, as we walked back up the hill, we grabbed a few groceries at the market (see pics below; there’s a lot happening in a very small space) and popped into the flower shop for some gift items to bring back to the US.

We then drove 5 minutes to the pharmacy and to a gift shop next store. You’d think the gift shop was an abandoned building but they had a ton of home goods, candles, toys, gift items and even this Miele kitchen playset. 

We then took a brief drive through the mountains. I was hoping to see the angry goats that we hear from the terrace, but no luck. Only this view. 

I worked the rest of the afternoon and into the evening while Paul picked up Miss M from her 5.5 hour trip to Rome. She saw the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountian, Pantheon, and Spanish Steps. All places she wanted to see since she didn’t spend time in Rome during her semester abroad in Italy. There was more on her list for the day, but it was so hot and crowded 5.5 hours was enough.

Dinner tonight at Senza Nome for more pizza. There was a part of 30 near us and our friend Carlo was there as well. Margherita for Miss M and “Rucola and Grana” for Paul and I (arugula, mozzerella, Sicilian tomatos, prosciutto crudo and grana cheese.)

We ended the evening with a walk through the borgo; Miss M had cats trailing her on the walk. 

This morning Paul and I broke down two pieces of living room furniture that were left in the house when we bought it. The wood remnants are now in the cantina along with a wardrobe, dresser, a futon frame and mattress, and a bunch of other things that were left behind when we moved in. Paul has done his best to break apart the large pieces, preparing the items for a bulk waste pick up. 

Last year he called a company that services the town for bulk waste, but we didn’t hear back from them. 

This year he called and WhatsApp’d them before we went to Portugal. And then again over the past two weeks that we’ve been in Pico, but still no confirmation on what date they would arrive to pick up the piles in the cantina. Guess the items will just stay in there another year!

I spent most of the morning measuring and putting up curtains in the second bedroom and kitchen. Paul tried to get the air conditioning app to synch with his phone and continued to try and navigate Amazon.it before running errands. 

In between work calls Paul and I went to the “Sagra Della Gnocchi” or gnocchi festival. The Associazone Pro-loco Pico was offering gnocchi topped with red sauce or mushrooms  – 8 Euro each and the first 200 patrons enjoyed their gnocchi in a terracotta bowl.

The thought of hot gnocchi on these 100 degree days was unappealing but it torrentially rained this afternoon which made the temperature drop dramatically. Perfect gnocchi temperature. 

They started serving at 8:30pm and after serving a dozen or so patrons from that one tray of gnocchi, they ran out. Then a car came screaming around the corner to deliver two more trays of gnocchi. No idea where it’s being prepared but obviously not in the town square. They also had to grind service to a halt after only serving a dozen people since they didn’t have their 200 special bowls set out ahead of time. The festival organizers could learn a thing or two from the St James bazaar planning team. 

When Paul and I left at 9:15 so I could hop on another work call, the music hadn’t started yet and I counted about 150 people in attendance, including people speaking German and English. Definitely a tourist attraction. 

Paul returned to the festival to listen to the music (an accordion, synthesizer, vocals and a drummer) and chatted with some locals. By 11:45p I was done with work and the benefit of living 0.2 miles from the town center is we could hear the music and laughter of the crowd from the terrace.

Our neighbor Marino, and his plumber friend Pasquale, arrived to install air conditioning “after breakfast” which ended up being at 8:40am. Pasquale must live nearby because he arrived with the AC unit and everything he needed for the day, but without a contractors truck like you’d see in the US. 

It’s the Lamborghini model of AC units and I was disappointed when Paul told me it had nothing to do with the car. 

Google Translate failed me, as I tried to tell the men that I was “excited” and instead told them I was “aroused”.   We all had a good laugh.  

It was a neighborhood event. Our nextdoor neighbor ArcAngela and her daughter Julianna came by to check out the scene, her friend Ricardo came later in the day, Biaggio stopped by as did Marino’s wife Valentina. Presiding over it all was India who was displeased by the heat.

By Noon it was time for a break. They had successfully used a very long drill bit (approx 25 lbs, maybe 3 feet long) to bore a hole through the stone and hung the AC unit in the kitchen. 

At 2:30p they returned, well rested and ready to finish things up outside, and that’s when things got really interesting. 

The guys hit a wire and knocked out our electricity, one hour before my afternoon of work meetings began. While Marino called an electrician for help, Paul drove me down the hill to AnticoBar where I set myself up for “smart working” in an air conditioned, empty side room that is likely filled with patrons during the winter months. I quickly hopped on their WiFi, bought an espresso and bag of chips for sustenance, and got to work. 

Meanwhile, Paul and Miss M melted in the heat of the house without fans to cool them down. 

At 6:15p, the electricians arrived. “Infortunato” was used in his description, but had the electricity back on by 7pm.

Paul, Marino and Pasquale all celebrated with a round of beers.

By 8:15p, we had AC. It’s a beautiful thing. 

When I walked in the house at 9pm, Paul was cooking spaghetti with oil and garlic and trying to connect the AC unit to an app on his phone. Miss M had a smile on her face since it was slowly starting to get cooler and I promptly poured myself a drink. Another end to an eventful day! 

Happy Sunday!

Paul and I started the day with a walk into the center of town for cappuccino, plain and cream-filled croissants. I counted 22 men standing, sitting and conversing with each other at the bar and one table of three women.

As we walked back up the hill, we ran into Federica who said the beach water has been so hot that it’s like broth. We also ran into Biaggio who said going to the beach is not for him, it’s for young people. 

Despite these sentiments, we went to the beach anyway. By 10:15 we were on the road, stopping briefly at an open air market for fruit to bring to the beach and passing five packs of bikers braving the hills and the heat. 

We explored a new beach club today, this time on the other side of Sperlonga city center. At Bazzano Beach Club we had three lounge chairs and an umbrella in the last row of the club, near where people wash their feet at the end of the day. Not an ideal spot as the beach sand is soft, yet extremely hot to walk on, and it’s painful to walk on the hot sand the further away you are from the water.  

The good news: the restaurant was just a few feet away. For lunch we enjoyed fish tacos, spaghetti with clams, zucchini flowers stuffed with scamorza cheese, fried calamari with fried vegetables, Aperol and Hugo spritzes, and two espressos. It was all delicious. 

This beach club is a lot busier than where we typically go: Raggio Di Sole. There were at least a dozen waitstaff handling the outdoor dining space, there was a bachelor party in matching tshirts and aperol spritz banners on display for the promotional event later that afternoon. The club was crowded but I never feel like my space was being encroached upon like when you spread towels down at a public beach. 

Today we noticed bits of ash in the water, likely blown to sea from the mountain fires that happen regularly in this area. While in the water, we could see smoke rising on one of the hills behind us and a helicopter making regular trips to the ocean, filling up with water to help extinguish the scene. Very similar to what we experienced in Greece. 

By 7:30 we were back in Pico, burnt from the day in the sun but relaxed. As we unloaded the car, our neighbor Stefano (who likes to joke around a lot) said “Pico is burning” and from our terrace we could see a helicopter and plane spraying water in the distance. We didn’t smell anything burning, so the spraying may have been preventative. As our friend Luca told us many years ago, sometimes the water spraying occurs because the emergency department needs to prove they are busy to maintain their contract year after year. 

For dinner Paul picked up three pizzas from Senza Nome: margherita for Miss M, diavolo for me (spicy salami) and crocche (mozzerella, potato croquettes, cooked ham and provola cheese) for Paul.

After dinner, Paul relaxed on the terrace while India barked incessantly at another intruder, and Miss M fed the cats.

If you look at a map of Italy, there’s a ring road that surrounds the city of Rome. Fiumicino airport would be at the southwest spot, just outside the ring. Today we drove 90 minutes to the northeast part of the ring road. 

09:00: left Pico, driving the familiar road through the mountains and different towns to reach the A1 – the main highway that runs north to south.

09:08 – passing through San Giovanni Incarico we see porchetta rotating on a spit in the center of town

09:17 – passing through Ceprano, set up of a stage, lights, chairs and tables are underway. Must be a feast tonight

10:30 – arrived at Secondamano il Mercantino Dell’usato. I’ve been following this second hand shop on Instagram for the past year. We spent an hour browsing home goods, furniture, and accessories filling up the trunk for 107 euros. 

11:55 – the Talenti Village Shopping Centre (mall) has a huge Carrefour supermarket inside it. It was the largest supermarket we’ve ever seen in Italy so we stocked up on dry goods and a ton of snacks for the week. We popped in and out of stores and each ordered rectangular pizzas slices from the food court: zucchini flower, ham and cheese, tomato pesto and mozzarella, and a rice ball.

14:10 – passed the Mormon temple in Rome, built 7 years ago and features Italian marble and Murano glass chandeliers 

14:15 – arrived at Porta di Roma, a mall with 220+ stores which is the same size as the Natick Mall. It was packed with people; and their dogs, escaping the 100+ degree heat. 

17:00 – arrived at Mercantino Le Valli, another secondhand store. Not as impressive as the first shop. 

18:00 – stopped by a farmacia to pick up Miamo skincare products, an Italian brand unavailable in the US. 

18:45 – as we headed south down the A1, we stopped at the Autogrill for gas and Paul’s 4th espresso of the day. Pulling out of the Autogrill we saw a beautiful rainbow and it was visible for most of the drive south. 

20:00 – dinner at il Re in San Giovanni Incarico. We started with an antipasto platter and enjoyed a pizza with tomato, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto, caramelle al limone (paper thin egg noodles filled with ricotta, speck, provolone and lemon), mixed grilled meats with a cold broccoli salad for Paul. 

22:00 – arrived home to unload all of our purchases from the day.

22:15 – Miss M fed the cats

23:30 – finished catching up with the Grandparents and then headed to bed!

Today Miss M and I planned to take the train into Sorrento while Paul picked up a few things at IKEA and waited back in Pico for our couch to arrive. 

At 8:30a we began the journey: Paul drove us to a train/bus station just outside of Naples. After navigating the large, modern station, we boarded a 10:20a bus to Naples Centrale where we would then hop on the train to Sorrento. 

At 11am we were wandering around Naples Centrale and learned the trains to Sorrento were cancelled for today and tomorrow. Not wanting to endure a 2 hour bus ride there and a 2 hour bus ride back to Naples at the end of the day, plus another 90 minutes back to Pico, we aborted our plan. We quickly hopped on a different train north along the coast to the Formia-Gaeta station arriving there by 12:30pm. 

While we were taking buses and trains, Paul picked up the items we needed from IKEA and met us at a coffee shop near the station. By 2p we were back in Pico.

While Paul got to work assembling a dresser for the second bedroom, I began my work day, rescheduling my vacation day to Monday instead. 

A short while later, three men arrived with the couch and within minutes it was in place. Easy peasy! Before leaving, Tomasso made sure to ask Paul about the pain he has in his knees when he squats and jumps. Paul’s athletic training expertise is now being shared across multiple continents. 

After relaxing on the couch for a bit, we decided to take a 15 minute drive to the Festa della Montagna (Festival of the Mountain) which is advertised locally as “Three Days of Nature, Traditions, and Flavors from the Aurunci Mountains.”

We drove up, up, up the mountain, and our little Fiat Pandina did a fair amount of off-roading, following signs to the festival passing a very large wild boar (cinghiale.) Finally we saw lighting in the distance, parked the car and we’re directed to walk a very steep hill without a path where we had to hold on to a tree bark railing held together by rope otherwise we would go sliding down the hill in our sandals. 

When we reached the top, it was like we stumbled upon the Watertown church Greek festival. Tons of picnic tables, two dozen staff in festival tshirts, huge tents where they were grilling all sorts of meats, a ticket taker for your food, banners with sponsors of the festival, including Senza Nome pizzeria, an insurance company, an agritourismo, and a wedding florist from Pico.

Well, we arrived at 8:30 PM, we were obviously early. There were only 50 people and a sign about something starting at 11:00, but we didn’t understand what it said. (Translated it later and it said “crazy little things.)

For €23, we enjoyed french fries, two delicious sausage sandwiches, a very large porchetta sandwich, a glass of wine, a beer and a bottle of water.

While we saw a few tables of people playing cards and chitchatting, we were the only ones eating. We sat near the entertainment: three accordion players, someone on the tambourine smoking a cigarette, and someone else playing an instrument that resembled a beige clarinet. 

When we left at 9:30, cars were pouring in and we saw a woman who works at the Pico town hall who has been very helpful to Paul over the past two years.

After winding our way back down the mountain, we went to the center of town for some gelato and then called it a night. 

If we had gone to Sorrento for the day, we likely we would not have made it to the mountain festival, so sometimes the best plans are the ones you don’t truly plan for. 

Last year Paul and I were separated by 4,160 miles on our 25th wedding anniversary. It’s just the way the summer panned out between traveling to multiple countries, scheduling a pre-college tonsillectomy, and navigating new home ownership in another country.

Today is our 26th wedding anniversary and this year was a balance again. I worked a full day on east coast hours but that meant I had the morning free to shop in Frosinone with Miss M and Paul.

At Coin Casa we bought new sheets for both bedrooms as the bedding from IKEA left a lot to be desired, an additional beach towel and some bathroom accessories. At Centro Commerciale le Sorgenti (a mall), Paul picked up a book on Michael Jordan in Italian and I purchased a shirt. We also introduced Miss M to Orizzonte who describes the store as a Walmart/Dicks Sporting Goods/Ace Hardware/CVS with a cafe with outdoor seating, all rolled into one. We stocked up on all sorts of things, from clothes pins to cat food to hair products to a phone adapter. 

After a brief espresso pit stop we returned to Pico so I could begin my work day. As I was working, Paul went to a nearby furniture store to buy the couch we saw yesterday and arrange for delivery. And yet ten minutes later Paul returned to the house with Tomasso from the store who wanted to look at our home to make sure the couch would fit. And Paul wasn’t able to make the purchase since his POS machine to process the payment was at their store in Rome, and Tomasso’s son will bring the POS system to Pico tomorrow. So tomorrow will be visit #4 to the showroom to finally buy the couch. 

Also in between my work calls, Marino our neighbor, our friend Carlo and Pasquele the plumber came by the house to discuss installing air conditioning. There was a lot of pointing and gesturing and nodding, and Marino graciously invited us into their home to see what Pasquale installed for them last summer.

Miss M has been very interested in the stray kittens who congregate at our front door and fed them out of a crystal bowl we found in the home when we moved in. 

In between more work meetings, Paul, Miss M, and I walked uphill to the Castel Pub for dinner. We had burgers, fries and a pork sandwich and everything was so good. It’s a Wednesday night and when we arrived at 8:30pm there was one other family eating. When we left at 9:30pm, there was a table for 18, table for 12, and multiple other tables filled with families and friends. 

At 10pm I hopped on my final work call of the day while Miss M fed more stray cats. She’s like the pied piper with six of them surrounding her with the tiny bowl of food.

Tonight’s dessert on the terrace: a glass of limoncello for Paul and a cup of amarena gelato for me. Readers of this blog know that I love amarena gelato and it’s very hard to find in the US. Buying mini gelato cups at the supermarket, in amarena flavor, for our home freezer was a great find!

Over the years I’ve shared on this blog how much I love Italian beach life. Today we drove 30 minutes and two traffic lights from Pico to “Raggio di Sole” beach club in Sperlonga. For 42 Euro, parking plus three beach chairs and umbrella three rows away from the pristine water and soft sandy beach. All we brought to the beach was one small bag with towels, sunblock, waters, some Italian crackers, and books. The water is so warm and clean – like a hot tub – with the tiniest waves during high tide. We see the same vendor selling cold coconut year after year, and it’s not crowded; there were maybe 20 people on the segment of beach managed by the club. 

For lunch at the beach club, Miss M and I split clams and mussels with spaghetti and Paul had tiny fluffy gnocchi with a variety of seafood. It’s all so delicious and effortless. The club also serves “crema cafe” which is like a soft serve coffee-flavored ice cream that is only found seaside. 

Around 6pm we left the beach and headed to Sperlonga town center to walk through the town where the four of us stayed in 2022, visited again in 2025 with D, and it was so nice for Miss M to be able to return again. 

For dinner we ate at La Piazzetta in the heart of Sperlonga’s centro storico for we think the third or fourth time. Paul had lasagna, Miss M had spaghetti cacio e pepe, and I I had tagliatelle with mushrooms. The chef brought us glasses of limoncello and biscotti after our meal. 

By 10:30p we were back in Pico, Paul waving to the locals as we drove through town to our door. Yet as life here has taught us, be prepared for the unexpected. We walked in the house and the power was out. We left everything off, and the only things running were the fridge, a laptop and the WiFi router. Maybe the town had an issue with power while we were out? No idea. Thankfully one switch of the main breaker and we were back in business, ready to call it a night after a long day.

Today I spent the day working, doing laundry, and organizing things around the house setting myself up to take time off from work later in the week. 

Tonight we drove 30 minutes to the town of Roccasecca for the “Fritt & Pizza Festival” where the evening street fair featured stands with Italy’s top pizzaiolas. (If you are an instagram user, you can see posts from the festival here.)

We sampled two margherita pizzas in the Roman and Neapolitan style to truly determine our preference, had a suppli (stuffed rice ball) and a pizza fritta which is basically fried dough stuffed with pizza sauce. For what it’s worth, each pizza cost 7 Euro ($8.05) and an equivalent personal size pizza at Fiorella’s in Belmont is $13.

The vendors selling jewelry, sandwiches and pastry did not have the lines as the pizza stands. Honestly who would come to a pizza festival, in Italy, and buy a chicken sandwich?

By 9pm, more than 50 people were in line to buy the fried pizza. Chicken sandwich? Zero. 

A gigantic polar bear and Mickey and Minnie characters wandered around the festival. They obviously are not sanctioned by Disney as they pretended to chug beer to the delight of kids and parents. There was entertainment for the kids – bounce houses and such, and a fire eating magician. 

We liked the pizza so much we got a Neapolitan style to go. It spent 1 minute and 42 seconds cooking in the hot pizza oven — yum!