Monday, May 28, 2012
Running in nature
The view from our terrace - Casa Pace
Enjoy the silence and peace of Casa Pace!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Archeology: Villa Cottanello
If you would like to visit the Archeological Site of the Villa Cottanello near Cottanello, then Luigi is your guida. He has the keys to open the gates and can show you around the place.
Picture taken from Panoramio
Avia and Laura at the supermarket in Cottanello
The supermarket in Cottanello is run by Avia and her daughter Laura, both very friendly and nice ladies who like to help you with everything you might need.
One day I asked for Polenta which they hadn't, the next day the shelf was full with packages of Polenta.
Everything you need for your daily life.
Avia
I am a Cottanellesa
Finally!!
After weeks of burocracy, running from one place to the other, collecting a thick pile of papers and documents, and following absurd instructions - I finally became a citizen of Cottanello!!
The steps to get there (if somebody else is interested, it might save some time):
1. Comune (you get a temporarily confirmation that you are applying for the citizenship. For the real one you need to bring a working contract (in Italian), your passport and the health insurance from the ASL)
2. Ufficio di Entrata (You need your passport. That's it. True. You get your Codice Fiscale)
4. ASL (You need copies of your passport, a working contract (in Italian), your Codice Fiscale and a filled out formular. And luck.)
5. Back to the Comune (you think you now have everything needed. Well, wrong. You need a marca di bollo)
6. Tabac shop in the next village Casperia (You can buy the marca di bollo for the residenzia here. It's not available in Cottanello itself)
7. And back to the Comune (You need time. It's not every days business to register a new citizen so it takes lots of papers, stamps and time until you finally hold it in your hand:
You certification that you are able to bear the italian burocracy and deserve to be a Cottanellesa)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Giorgio in Cantalupo
If you get to Cantalupo, another small village in Sabina, be sure to meet Giorgio! He usually sits every day from 7-noon in front of a bar at the market place and reads. You can talk with him (in Italiano or English) about lots of movies and books, he is a walking register.
If you see him, send him saluti di Casa Pace!
Casa Pace - Slow green holiday near Rome
If you love nature and quietness, Casa Pace could be a perfect holiday house for you.
It is situated at the edge of Cottanello, a small medioeval village with lots of friendly charming italian inhabitants. Here you can experience the real Slow Life in Italy.
Around Cottanello are lots of things to see or to be active (hiking, tennis, climbing etc). We can also arrange lots of activities for you, like
- italian cooking classes
- health weeks with raw foods
- yoga
- painting courses
- coaching
- meeting real Italians and enjoying the Slow Life with friends
- Walking Tours
Rome can be reached by car and train in ca. 1 hour - if you want to get out of the peaceful countryside into the cultural busy life of the eternal city. Also Umbria with Orvieto, Todi and Assisi are not far away. If you miss the water, you can go to the beaches of Rome or to on of the lakes in the surrounding, like the Lago Bolsano.
So if you want to experience Slow Green Holiday, we would love to welcome you as our guest here at Casa Pace.
More information can be found on the website www.casapace.nl, on Facebook (Casa Pace) or just contact us via Mail (german, dutch, english or italian).
The St. Cataldo Church in Cottanello
The St. Cataldo Church near Cottanello is a beautiful tiny church build into the rocks. You can go upstairs to have a marvellous view over the green surrounding.
The church is closed most of the time but opens on special dates (for example last Thursday). On Saturday friends of us will marry there, like the mother of the bride has done it there before too.
Romantico romantico, and a beautiful place to visit.
First prey of Tiger
Still though he doesn't walk around much outside. I think the neighbour cat has scared him. Poor kitty.
Ammore e poesia
Last Saturday we were on a very nice concert of our friend Carlo Melodia (that's his real name). He is playing piano, guitar and some other instruments.
The title of the concert was "ammore e poesia" and it was a mixture of poems and songs in napolitano (Therefore ammore with two "m". I had already been worried about the fact that I had been understanding almost nothing). Very nice evening in the small theatre of the biblioteca in Farone.
The title of the concert was "ammore e poesia" and it was a mixture of poems and songs in napolitano (Therefore ammore with two "m". I had already been worried about the fact that I had been understanding almost nothing). Very nice evening in the small theatre of the biblioteca in Farone.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
An italian evening
Another italian life movie this evening... :)
We just wanted to take a short evening walk to the farmacia to get some gluten-free pizza and pasta for me. Afterwards we met one neighbour of us who directly invited us into his house. Together with his wife we sat on their table, drank a limoncello and exchanged in our poco italiano stories about Cottanello and Bali...
After that we went on and met our other dear neighbour, Liliane, who is living on her own and is becoming 80 (!) in November. We hardly understand her Italian and she is also half-deaf but we always have such a lovely time sitting in her living room. She prepared us coffee (at 8 pm!) and then she offered us chocolate (a broken Bunny from Easter, definitely not vegan) from which I politely took just a small piece. Because I didn't drank the coffee (I would not have slept until next morning) she offered me something else: a definitely NOT vegan NOT gluten-free piece of cake. Well, in Italy with an old woman like that it is almost IMPOSSIBILE to say no to everything she offers, so I just ate it for the sake of it. All the time it was such funny conversation with us trying to ask questions like "the name of the husband of Angela?" which she responded with a variety of answers like "the name of the daughter of Angela?". After that she showed us her marvellous tidy garden which she all does on herself - and which keeps her young. She cut some beautiful roses for us, talking all the time.
It was lovely.
After saying goodbye we passed our other neighbour (90 years old!) who was just saying hello and auguri, auguri...
What a lovely evening walk. What lovely people living here in Cottanello. What an Italian Life.
I am getting a little more into speaking Italian, and the people are so friendly and helpful.
So if you don't have anything to eat at your home, just take a walk outside. We got a Limoncello, a coffee, chocolate and cake, and above some beautiful flowers.
Italia, ti amo.
We just wanted to take a short evening walk to the farmacia to get some gluten-free pizza and pasta for me. Afterwards we met one neighbour of us who directly invited us into his house. Together with his wife we sat on their table, drank a limoncello and exchanged in our poco italiano stories about Cottanello and Bali...
After that we went on and met our other dear neighbour, Liliane, who is living on her own and is becoming 80 (!) in November. We hardly understand her Italian and she is also half-deaf but we always have such a lovely time sitting in her living room. She prepared us coffee (at 8 pm!) and then she offered us chocolate (a broken Bunny from Easter, definitely not vegan) from which I politely took just a small piece. Because I didn't drank the coffee (I would not have slept until next morning) she offered me something else: a definitely NOT vegan NOT gluten-free piece of cake. Well, in Italy with an old woman like that it is almost IMPOSSIBILE to say no to everything she offers, so I just ate it for the sake of it. All the time it was such funny conversation with us trying to ask questions like "the name of the husband of Angela?" which she responded with a variety of answers like "the name of the daughter of Angela?". After that she showed us her marvellous tidy garden which she all does on herself - and which keeps her young. She cut some beautiful roses for us, talking all the time.
It was lovely.
After saying goodbye we passed our other neighbour (90 years old!) who was just saying hello and auguri, auguri...
What a lovely evening walk. What lovely people living here in Cottanello. What an Italian Life.
I am getting a little more into speaking Italian, and the people are so friendly and helpful.
Italia, ti amo.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Greeeeeeeeeeeeen Sabina
Coming from 2 years in Andalusia, Spain where everything is dry and brown, Sabina is a green paradise.
And with a rich water reservoir it also stays this way in the hot summer time.... Lovely.
And with a rich water reservoir it also stays this way in the hot summer time.... Lovely.
Our dear friend Adele
Another divina commedia italiana is our dear friend Adele who is officially 77 but 30 in her heart.
She is a kind of herself.
She is living in Rome but has a property in the campagna near to our place, with a small "house" on it which is rather 4 stone walls with some windows. Nevertheless she is living there from time to time and enjoying it so much. She is a messy and unorganised person but also extremely positive, kind, giving and intelligent. She had a life full of work and living in different places which has not always been easy but she is the kind of person thanking God when she fell out of the cherry tree because she has only broken her leg and nothing worse.
She is just lovely.
So one day last week we went to Rome to bring her tomato plants that she has grown on her balcony to the campagna. She would drive with a friend of her. When we arrived she was everything but ready, collecting things she needed in different sorts of bags, heating water for tea which she later forgot and talking all the time. She overturned her drying rack full of clothes and put her food from the fridge and freezer in different backs. Then she missed the keys. Where are the keys? We searched everywhere and couldn't find. Until she finally grabbed into her bra and found them there, telling me it would be a good place for me too to store things.
So we put all the plants into our car, followed by some bags and even more stuff Adele pulled out of her cellar, being watched by an old neighbour who was standing on his balcony with a facial expression that could only mean disgust for this scenery. Finally we could start, following the car of her friend Antonietta who was driving Adele.
Instead of taking the shortest way to the highway of of Rome, she drove directly into the center of the city which is even for experienced driver not an easy cup of coffee. Seemingly arbitrary they drove through the city until they finally picked up a woman standing at the street and waving.
In the end we got to Sabina and to her place which was full of weeds since she hadn't been there since March.
We promised to help her later with the cleaning of the land and returned in the afternoon. We made a place for the plants and then sat down. She offered us her special chocolate cake and cookies which I could not eat because it was neither vegan nor gluten free. So she just opened the cookies, scratched out the (vegan and gluten free) inside and gave it to me, forcing me to eat like only an italian woman can (Mangia, MANGIA!).
A few days later we went there again, seeing that no plant has been planted so far. So we put on our working clothes, said hello to the neighbours who - knowing Adele - congratulated us for our corraggio and started planting.
Adele later prepared us food on a dangerous hotplate (because she has run out of gas) which she told us NOT to touch under no circumstances. A table was set in the sun, covered with an old-fashioned tablecloth, we heard old italian music from a cassette recorder, she collected forks and spoons from everywhere in the house, and - when we were already sitting to eat a lovely soup out of rice and potatoes - she cut some roses to put them on the table. Telling stories all the time of course.
The simple food, the music, the sunshine and the light, the garden around us in the middle of the countryside, and this old but so lively italian woman telling stories - it's a scene you have to experience yourself. It's Italy at it's best.
The pomodori waiting to be planted...
Finished:
Lovely Adele:
She is a kind of herself.
She is living in Rome but has a property in the campagna near to our place, with a small "house" on it which is rather 4 stone walls with some windows. Nevertheless she is living there from time to time and enjoying it so much. She is a messy and unorganised person but also extremely positive, kind, giving and intelligent. She had a life full of work and living in different places which has not always been easy but she is the kind of person thanking God when she fell out of the cherry tree because she has only broken her leg and nothing worse.
She is just lovely.
So one day last week we went to Rome to bring her tomato plants that she has grown on her balcony to the campagna. She would drive with a friend of her. When we arrived she was everything but ready, collecting things she needed in different sorts of bags, heating water for tea which she later forgot and talking all the time. She overturned her drying rack full of clothes and put her food from the fridge and freezer in different backs. Then she missed the keys. Where are the keys? We searched everywhere and couldn't find. Until she finally grabbed into her bra and found them there, telling me it would be a good place for me too to store things.
So we put all the plants into our car, followed by some bags and even more stuff Adele pulled out of her cellar, being watched by an old neighbour who was standing on his balcony with a facial expression that could only mean disgust for this scenery. Finally we could start, following the car of her friend Antonietta who was driving Adele.
Instead of taking the shortest way to the highway of of Rome, she drove directly into the center of the city which is even for experienced driver not an easy cup of coffee. Seemingly arbitrary they drove through the city until they finally picked up a woman standing at the street and waving.
In the end we got to Sabina and to her place which was full of weeds since she hadn't been there since March.
A few days later we went there again, seeing that no plant has been planted so far. So we put on our working clothes, said hello to the neighbours who - knowing Adele - congratulated us for our corraggio and started planting.
The simple food, the music, the sunshine and the light, the garden around us in the middle of the countryside, and this old but so lively italian woman telling stories - it's a scene you have to experience yourself. It's Italy at it's best.
The pomodori waiting to be planted...
Lovely Adele:
Italian Burocracy - la divina commedia
So last week I started my trial to become a resident of Cottanello. Already knowing the italian burocracy I knew already that it won't become easy so I was prepared.
The first step went surprisingly well. I went to the Comune of Cottanello and declared my wish to become a Cottanellesa. Considering the number of inhabitants (a little less than 600) the man was quite happy and helped me filling out a big paper. I just needed to add my ASL (the health insurance) and an working contract.
The next day the italian movie began... We went to the ASL which is in another town to get my health insurance. After waiting in a row the two women in there told me I needed my Codice fiscale (the tax number), a copy of my pass, a working contract and a filled out formular. The Codice fiscale I would get at the Comune of this town. So we went there, waited at the counter where an already very angry couple was arguing with the woman behind. When it was our turn the woman told us that we would get the Codice Fiscale at the police. So we went to the police station where a nicely dressed carabiniere (I love these uniforms!) told us that we were absolutely wrong and how could somebody think you could get a Codice Fiscale at the police. You would get it at the ASL Centre. So we went there again, asked the man at the first counter, and he sent us straight back to the first woman we have seen that morning telling us we needed to go to the Comune.
We waited awfully long in a row of irritated italians. Just before us two asian women went into the room having an at least 15 cm thick folder full of documents. After them I told the woman at the counter as politely as I could in my best italian about our odyssee. Well, she then sent us to another place in the town.....
Having walked there, asking lots of (very friendly) Italians for the way we finally found the right place for the Codice Fiscale which is only opened on Tuesdays. One man was waiting in front of the door so we stood there too and waited until suddenly a friend of us (you always meet someone you know in these small places) showed up and explained to us that those other people around the corner were also waiting.
To sum it up, we spent hours just to find out where I can get my Codice fiscale next Tuesday which I need for my ASL which I need for my registration at the Comune.
WAAAAH!
The first step went surprisingly well. I went to the Comune of Cottanello and declared my wish to become a Cottanellesa. Considering the number of inhabitants (a little less than 600) the man was quite happy and helped me filling out a big paper. I just needed to add my ASL (the health insurance) and an working contract.
The next day the italian movie began... We went to the ASL which is in another town to get my health insurance. After waiting in a row the two women in there told me I needed my Codice fiscale (the tax number), a copy of my pass, a working contract and a filled out formular. The Codice fiscale I would get at the Comune of this town. So we went there, waited at the counter where an already very angry couple was arguing with the woman behind. When it was our turn the woman told us that we would get the Codice Fiscale at the police. So we went to the police station where a nicely dressed carabiniere (I love these uniforms!) told us that we were absolutely wrong and how could somebody think you could get a Codice Fiscale at the police. You would get it at the ASL Centre. So we went there again, asked the man at the first counter, and he sent us straight back to the first woman we have seen that morning telling us we needed to go to the Comune.
We waited awfully long in a row of irritated italians. Just before us two asian women went into the room having an at least 15 cm thick folder full of documents. After them I told the woman at the counter as politely as I could in my best italian about our odyssee. Well, she then sent us to another place in the town.....
Having walked there, asking lots of (very friendly) Italians for the way we finally found the right place for the Codice Fiscale which is only opened on Tuesdays. One man was waiting in front of the door so we stood there too and waited until suddenly a friend of us (you always meet someone you know in these small places) showed up and explained to us that those other people around the corner were also waiting.
To sum it up, we spent hours just to find out where I can get my Codice fiscale next Tuesday which I need for my ASL which I need for my registration at the Comune.
WAAAAH!
Casperia - Johnny's Bar
Okay, so here comes the first from lots of place you should go when being in Sabina:
Johnny's bar in Casperia
Johnny is an Englishman in Bella Italia, who has a passion for good food and wine. He is a member of Slow Food and serves the best organic wines and olive oils in a lovely place named The Gecko Bar in Casperia.
We are always having lots of fun there with English humour, excellent wine and good music.
Johnny also offers olive oil tasting tours:
Johnny's bar in Casperia
Johnny is an Englishman in Bella Italia, who has a passion for good food and wine. He is a member of Slow Food and serves the best organic wines and olive oils in a lovely place named The Gecko Bar in Casperia.
Johnny also offers olive oil tasting tours:
Last but not least don't miss a chance to hear him sing as the only man in the Zenzerei Choir:
More about Johnny here:
Johnny Madge
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Vita nuova a Cottanello
Adios Finca loca El Morisco (http://lafincaloca.blogspot.com)! Adios Benajarafe!
Benvenuti a Cottanello!
Last Sunday Tiger and I finally went on a plane to ROMA!
Phew, I think I have a jet lag....
From Rome we went straight into the green heart of Italy: Cottanello, a small village at the border of Umbria and Latio.
Not only in sunny Spain: FIGS!! Yum :)
But what about Tiger? Will he like it?
Where are my friends of the Finca now? All the rabbits I could hunt? And I don't speak the language here...
And when can I finally get out again??? The sun is shining!!!
But in the end he got along quite well, also because of Feliway (cat pheromones spray), and because of his loved Teddy of course. And soon we could let him go out a bit. Our lovely neighbour Liliane (who gets 80 in November!) has a cute white cat named Ciccio so maybe he will find a new friend soon.
Everything so green here...
In the meantime I have been around quite a bit, met LOTS of people and could talk a little italiano.
Our drinking water we get from a well where the liter is 5 Cents. The best water and a meeting place for the people here around. LO-VE-LI :)
So far: we fell in love with Sabina and its people :)
Benvenuti a Cottanello!
Phew, I think I have a jet lag....
From Rome we went straight into the green heart of Italy: Cottanello, a small village at the border of Umbria and Latio.
Where are my friends of the Finca now? All the rabbits I could hunt? And I don't speak the language here...
Everything so green here...
Our drinking water we get from a well where the liter is 5 Cents. The best water and a meeting place for the people here around. LO-VE-LI :)
So far: we fell in love with Sabina and its people :)
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