Vacanza, Ginosa

The third evening of vacation we went to Ginosa, where Vitopaolo grew up. Its a 15 minute drive from Marina di Ginosa and feels totally different world. Ginosa is famous for its Gravina, this ravine had been inhabited from the paleolithic days up until the 1950's, when the last inhabitants  moved into the city. In the Gravina you can see ancient caves and pieces of old houses, its quite amazing. Ginosa, like most of Puglia, has white stone buildings and streets. In recent years the government has been funding restoration in the oldest part of Ginosa, so a lot of it has been restored and is being restored. We stopped in two of the churches in town. The first one Chiesa dei Santi Medici houses statues of the patron saints of Ginosa, Cosimo and Damiano Medici. The second, Chiesa Matrice, has a statue of Madonna that was carried from America. The story goes something like this: in the early 1900's there were a large number of people who immigrated from Ginosa to America and were working in a mine. There was an accident in the mine and they heard the bells of the Chiesa Matrice and then they were saved. They made the statue and brought back to the church as a thanks.

Chiesa dei Santi Medici

Inside Chiesa dei Santi Medici 

Patron saints of Ginosa

Veggies on a plate signify that they sell them here

A building for sale

A fat cat  on a leash, we saw a man walking him but I couldn't get a good picture

The Gravina

Houses in the Gravina

Caves in the Gravina

Herd of goats in the gravina

Bonnie, Vitopaolo and me

Chiesa Matrice

Frescoes inside Chiesa Matrice

A funny man who showed us around Chiesa Matrice, he has an stricking resemblance to his dog in the picture above

Vacanza, First Night Party

After cooling off a little in the water and relaxing on the beach for a few hours, we all got ready for a party that Vitopaolo and some of his friends had organized. We had a quick dinner at Rocco's where they specialize in panzerotti (similar to a fried calzone), pizza and wraps. Vitopaolo left early to set up the party and we went to a wine bar to kill a few hours before the party started.

The party was at an outdoor bar close to the beach. Vitopaolo and his friend Vincenzo (also lives in Orvieto) set up this party every year. Vincenzo (DJEnzo) DJ's and Vitopaolo (Paolino) VJ's as side jobs. There were a couple hundred people there, dancing and of course drinking. We had a lot of fun, but by the end of the night we needed a snack. David and I left to find food on the way home. There was only one place open in town at 5am. After our snack we got lost, in all fairness it was our first night there. We watched the sun come up as we finally found our way back to the apartment. Bonnie and Vitopaolo who had stayed behind to clean up, arrived by car at the same time as us.

Vitopaolo went out an picked us up giant focaccia sandwiches when we woke up the next morning. Puglia is famous for its focaccia bread, its very thick and usually has tomatoes on top, more similar to pizza than bread. This turned out to be an amazing hangover cure.

Vitopaolo and Vincenzo

Vitopaolo and friends

Fantastic T-shirt a guy at the party was wearing

Me and Bonnie

Me, David and Bonnie in rare form as the night went on

David making a traditional funny camera face

  The sunrise as we were walking home

Vacanza!

Finally I can tell you about our fabulous vacation! We visited a lot of places so I will spread it out over several blogs.

We spent 9 days in the region of Puglia which is the heal of the boot. Our friends Bonnie and Vitopaolo kindly invited us to stay with them at an apartment they rented in Marina di Ginosa. We left on Saturday August 20, it was about a 6 hour drive from Orvieto. The drive went by quickly, we watched the landscape changing from region to region, becoming flatter and more desert like the further south we drove. We arrived in Marina di Ginosa around 4pm, dropped our bags in the apartment and headed straight to the beach. Marina di Ginosa is a beach town full of apartments to rent during the summer. In the winter it has a population of about 3,000 and in the summer it is closer to 100,000.

It was about 105, humid with a clear skies all week. The only way to get relief from the heat was jumping into the Ionic sea. The big difference between the heat in Italy and the heat in the southern U.S. is that the U.S. has air conditioning in every building and house. It's rare to find air conditioning in Italy, so you constantly feel the heat. We had to buy a fan for our bedroom after the first night.

Very cool custom bike we passed on the road

Dining area and porch

kitchen

Our bedroom

Bathroom 

Bonnie & Vitopaolo's bedroom

Zanzibar beach club, where we rented an umbrella everyday

The beautiful white sand beach

Santa Perduta festival

My first mobile blog. I had to share. Italians love an excuse to party. In Orvieto they made up Santa Perduta, non-saint festival.

Bartender gig, August 19 2011

Bartender played a gig the night before we left for vacation. It was at the same restaurant they played at a month before, Ristorante Sala della Comitissa. Like the last time it was a special fixed price 5 course meal paired with wines. The theme for dinner was balsamic vinegar, so each course was cooked with balsamic vinegar in ages ranging from 6-25 years old. I included a video of Svedonio and David having fun with Pincio. He doesn't like to be introduced while playing, so they made a big deal of it. There were also a few of their friends who came from Bologna, and my mothers Italian teacher Sabrina was visiting us for a few days, so she came to the show as well. It was a delicious dinner and amazing show!!!

Pincio, Gab & Chiara

Beef carpaccio in parmesan shell with 20 year old balsamic

Beef tartare with pineapple, croutons and 12 year old balsamic

Risotto with dove and 16 & 25 year old balsamics

Veal steaks with acacia honey, beans and 25 year old balsamic

3 desserts, fig, chocolate mousse and strawberries