Bolsena - The Muscolo Home

A bright and early good morning to Bolsena and the Muscolo farm. We all got up early to start the grape harvesting and were all out in the vineyard by 7:30am with shears in hand and lots of energy to spear.  Well maybe not so much energy but as you can see from the pre-harvesting pictures of Rossella and Luisa and then Rossella and me, we are certainly all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

The vineyard is not huge but for us it was still a lot of work to accomplish by the afternoon. Mauro, Rossella and Luisa's brother, Leda, their mother and a man, Carlo from nearby who Leda hired to help with the grapes and me, of course, started by cutting off the white grapes and piling them up in bright orange plastic bins and then those bins were brought about an hour later to the wine cellar where Mauro and Carlo mashed the grapes and then did all the mechanical preparations.

We girls began on the red grape harvest which took considerably longer because there were so much more. We worked another 3 and half hours straight and amazingly completed everything around noon.  The guys still had mashing and transferring the liquid to vats to accomplish in the afternoon but we women were free to relax after lunch.

Lunch, only after we all showered, was delightful and Leda prepared a wonderful broiled fish that was caught in Lake Bolsena just yesterday as well as string beans, a green leafy veggie (both from her garden) and veal.

Everything was delicious as you can see from the picture of the set table and even more wonderful because we ate outside on the veranda overlooking the lake.

You can see the lake in the picture of the view from their back garden/veranda area as well as a view of the back of the house.

Leda has 4 dogs, all German shepherds and all beautiful, 5 sheep, one with a black circle around his eye and who they call Pirate but in Italian, of course. She also has chickens and geese. It's a small but fully functioning farm and we ate fresh figs from her garden as well.

Leda is a real animal lover and Luisa was telling me how when her former boyfriend, Angelo was visiting and suggested to Leda they kill one of the Chicken's for dinner Leda responded with okay if you can catch one, knowing full well her chickens where not so easy to catch. But much to her surprise Angelo caught one and when asked by Luisa if they could kill it and have it for dinner, Leda asked which one. Their response was an old one because it had not feather around its neck and Leda said no that's a young one. Of course it clearly wasn't by all the missing feathers and its general appearance so Angelo tried again to convince her and Leda said its Sunday, you can't kill an animal on Sunday. So needless to say they didn't have chicken that night and basically none of Leda's animals ever get killed or eaten which I think is so sweet. And since Domenico passed away she has contemplated selling the sheep because they are so much work but she's had only two interested buyers, one who wanted to eat them (and you can imagine how quickly she said no to him) and one that was going to tie the up so that they only ate the grass he wanted them to eat and again, no sale. She really loves them and they even respond enthusiastically when they hear her voice.

Last night before bed they showed me lots of great pictures of when Domenico and Leda got married and even when Domenico was a child in Calabria. He really was such a remarkable man and truly has one of the most loving families.  Luisa had me laughing because she told me her father, I think like most farmers (certainly my cousin Lena's husband Virgenio), had particular rules that you must follow not matter what. Well last weekend when she was here to help her mom they had to empty out the wine vats of the finished white wine that had been in them, I guess for a year. But there was a certain strong wind I think she said from the North and Domenico had always lectured her that under no circumstances do you ever drain the vats and fill the bottles when this kind of wind was present. Luisa said her mother, once a nurse, is very pragmatic and her practical nature over ruled Domenico's farming wisdom and they joked about how upset he must be in Heaven right now. She needed those vats for today's harvest and that's all there was too it. I'm sure my grandmother and grandfather had lots of these rules or superstitions or just practical gardening wisdom as well.

Leda and Luisa also showed me pictures of their trip to Medjugorje, in Croatia a place for Catholic pilgrimage. There was a sighting many years ago by a group of children who still, as men, today hear the Virgin Mary's words of inspiration. They said it was incredibly inspiring and a very quiet place to contemplate life. Leda, who has bad circulation now, was so moved by the experience (a place Domenico had also wanted to visit) that she climbed both hills, one being a rocky two-hour decent. And she is so sweet, Leda, she gave me one of the smaller rocks she had picked up while she was there, just beautiful.

After all the wine harvesting, mashing, transferring was accomplished around 5pm (amazing it was done so quickly) Rossella took me with her on some errands and showed me the town of Bolsena which is an ancient Roman town but also a great example of Medieval architecture that is still inhabited today. There is a lovely small church on the top of the hill across the street from a castle that is used now as a museum and it even had a sign for Bolsena Aquarium. As I walked the small cobbled stoned passages to the bottom of the town I gazed at the charming old buildings and listened to Bolsena's residents going about daily life.

I made it to the bottom, to the main piazza which was small but charming and then made my way a few blocks to the lake which is simply gorgeous. There is a tiny beach so I walked a bit near the water's edge and picked up a volcanic rock and admired who there were actual waves, pretty large in fact, going to and fro along the shoreline.  There is also a small marine and some nice restaurants along the path and lots of people out with dogs, just strolling or in groups getting gelato (mostly kids.)

I met Rossella at the hair dressers where she was getting a wash and dry and Mauro and Luisa where there as well to get their hair done. I relaxed and listened to the hairdresser’s husband, amazingly it was Carlo, the man who did the grapes in the morning, tell of how he and his wife moved from Florence to Bolsena so he could open a restaurant on the lake which was successful until he and the landlord had a disagreement and the landlord broke the lease. So he helped his wife set up her own hairdressing business. They rented the space but he did all the interior design and built all the shelves, desks, cabinets, etc. and it's really fantastic. It's elegant and clean and a wonderful space and his wife is lovely.  Rossella, Luisa and Mauro hope to get Carlo to work for their mom and help her with the animals and farm which would be great for them both. He's clearly a very handy guy and so nice. He, even after hours of hard labor with the grape mashing machine he came to the shop to sweep and clean for his wife. Not exactly what you'd expect from a typical Italian man.

We had a nice dinner and even drank the first product produced when you mash the wine and before it sits for a year to ferment, called musto which is basically a very sweet grape juice. And then off to bed early because we were all beat!

Day 2 on the Farm:

Up early because we had to be out of the house by 7:50am to be at Sunday mass by 8:00am. I followed Leda around as she fed the chickens, geese and sheep. It's so nice to see all the animals but those two geese are mean and bossy. They pretty much rule.

They even have a manmade pond with rain water (think to water the orchid when it doesn't rain) and in the pond are some coy fish and two large turtles. I saw the fish the turtles where hiding or sleeping, who knows.

The girls went to church while Mauro, who wasn't feeling well, rested at home. We went to St. Christina which is a beautifully preserved medieval cathedral with some exquisite art. It's not covered in works but the ones they have are really great and there is porcelain alter to the right side that is white, blue and yellow and a good example of a porcelain that is apparently made in this area of Italy. Just as a side note, I didn't realize until we were driving around that Capodimonte, the well known porcelain maker of objet de Arte, named after its town was located on Bolsena lake.

St. Christina is very special and known for several miracles. The first being in the 12th century when a priest who questioned whether the Eucharist was really the body and blood of Jesus was presiding over mass and when he broke the Eucharist several drops of blood came out and stained the marble alter below.  The marble has been carved in those places and placed on display in a chapel next to the main church.

And the churches name sake, St. Christina, encountered 10 miracles of her own when her father, for reasons I don't remember, tried to kill her but each time she survived. Even when he tied a heavy rock to her and threw her in Lake Bolsena the rock floated to the top and she survived. Many centuries later parishioners of the church were relocating one of the smaller alters and discovered St. Christina's remains buried beneath in catacombs. It's a shrine now and people can go visit.

The priest spoke during the homely about being open and welcoming to all people of all faiths and that people who aren't Catholic but are good people are simply good people and to be respected as much as a Catholic  person. I didn't understand it while he was saying it but Rossella interpreted later on.

After mass we went to see St. Christina and the marble alter pieces with the visible blood stains and we met up with Leda's friends who are a couple that own a gelato shop down the street. Very nice and the man told us how he was saved by Padre Pio when he was a sick boy and how Padre Pio also came to him years later in a dream that his wife had as well and that helped them heal a sick nephew, or at least I think that's what he was saying. Rossella tried to explain but it was a little confusing. But really such nice friendly people here.

We took a quick walk to the pastry shop so Leda could get some treats for the priest. Cute small shop and I behaved and didn't indulge but wow, they looked so good.

We made it back to the house a little late but in plenty of time to head out to Leda's home town, Sorano, which is about 45 minutes away and on a hill top and is a well preserved and beautiful Medieval town. It is also known for its chestnut festival which is going on this week preventing us from going up to the town center as there are just too many people celebrating.  We went to Sorano to visit Domenico's mausoleum. I'm so glad I got to visit him there and it's a beautiful small temple (each family has their own individual) and Leda's mother, father, brother and sister (who was a nun) are there as well and they have a small alter and lots of plants and it's really a lovely place for family to go and visit with loved ones who have passed.

We had our own little miracle you might say and certainly Domenico was controlling things happily from Heaven because had we not gotten pastries for the priest or spoke to Leda's friends we would have arrived earlier and missed two of the Muscolo’s family friends who are from Germany and only visiting the area for the day. We were just about to leave and Rossella turns around and sees Petra and her husband George walking up with a plant. They were all so excited to see each other and Petra's father is the German equivalent to Domenico in the pharmaceutical industry and did the same job the he did in Italy except in Germany and the two were great friends for many, many years.  So Petra and her siblings know the Muscolo family very well and loved Domenico and wanted very much to visit his resting place and pay their respect. They drove about two hours out of their way to come but you could see through all the emotion it evoked in everyone that is was something very important to her to do and was so much appreciated by the Muscolo family. You couldn't help but cry it was such a touching reunion and we all agreed that this was Domenico's doing as we really would not have been there had we not taken so much time earlier in Bolsena and had they not come exactly when they did.

Petra and George had to head back to their hotel as it was a long drive so we all headed back to Bolsena for lunch. They took me to this incredible restaurant, La Fornacella which has an open fire right when you walk in and they are known for their grilled fish and meats. We all shared some delicious mussels and their incredible homemade crusty bread (which is also baked on this open fire) and then I shared some steak with Rossella and I had spaghetti carbonara with clams. I know who makes it with clams, well it's a specialty of the house and it was phenomenal.

So of course one must relax after lunch so for an hour or so we just hung out at the house and then we all headed back to Roma in Mauro's car. And as we approached the turn off to the main road in Bolsena there is a large patch of rocks that jut out and them calling it the Poking Rock as the rocks look like someone poked them and now they are all different sizes protruding out of the main rock face. They say, according to Luisa, that millions of years ago when Lake Bolsena was actually around 7 different active volcano's that one volcano erupted and spit all these rocks so hard from its mouth they embedded themselves in this particular rock face and created this unique work of natural art. Interesting and many tourists on bikes stopped to read the plaque in front of the rocks and take pictures.

It was a long drive back but again we passed some great towns and that ancient Roman town with the amphitheater is called Sutri in case you're in the area doing a hiking tour or biking tour (we saw many of them) it's a good place to stop and great if they have a play going on as well but be sure to wear bug spray as the mosquitoes are out in full force this time of year.

We stopped off at Rossella and Luisa's apartments which is in another area in Rome and they are so lovely. Rossella lives in the three-bedroom condo her dad bought years ago and where they lived when they were kids and Luisa is right next door in a lovely two-bedroom apartment her dad bought later and they share the same large garden which is really nice. And Luisa has a cat, Marta who is adorable and very affectionate and goes in and out but remarkably clean for a kitty who roams around the garden.

Rossella dropped me and Luisa off at the other Rome apartment where we had some light dinner, mozzarella for me with tomatoes and beats and salad for Louisa, she sadly can't eat cheese right now. And then off to bed early!