Blogs from Calitri, Campania, Italy, Europe

Lying in bed. The shuttered door to the terrace is open admitting the warm morning sun and the summoning knell of the church bells. House-martins criss-cross the sky, wheeling and swooping as they carefully bring small gobbets of mud to make their nests under the eaves. Like so many miniature fighter planes they tip their wings and perform a fly past, a flash of a swallow's chestnut breast as it skims the open window. Cockerels crow from the allotments as chickens cackle their achievements. Just another Sunday in Italy. 'Did you put water in the coffee?' An oft repeated phrase denoting the week's holiday. . The pervading aroma of percolating coffee from the 'Verletta' on the hob had been replaced by a distinct smell of burning. The coffee was well and truly roasted, unfortunately not the ... read more

After completing auditions for the remake of the Italian Job we dropped down into a mist-laden valley hiding the ski and summer resort of Lago di Laceno. Between seasons, a ghost resort with nary an animal grazing to break the eerie silence. In Summer it is hard to find a picnic spot, competing with vast family groups bar-be-queing, spit-roasting, pasta boiling and generally cavorting. Snaking down through more heavily wooded forests once favoured by Neapolitan mafia in days gone by, we hit the cobbled streets of Bagnoli Irpino. Even through driving rain its picturesque qualities shone through. It should be, said my cousin, the amount of EU money that has been thrown at it. Narrowing into a lane we turned a corner more suited to pedestrians than motor vehicles. The strange purpose built town of Conza ... read more