War and Peace in Abruzzo

The third day of the cruise was a day of dramatic contrasts within the Abruzzo region, a mountainous area whose economy is based on agriculture (wine, olives, saffron) and food-related industries (DeCecco pasta, Coca Cola). Like all of southern Italy, its GDP is relatively low. The morning was devoted to a visit to Ortona, a large town on the Adriatic coast that suffered devastation during World War 2. After our visit to Ortona, we headed a few miles inland to the idyllic countryside outside the much smaller town of Orsogna. The names of the places are similar, but our two experiences couldn’t have been more different. 

 

Upon arrival in Ortona, we viewed the remains of a 15^th century Aragonese castle standing on the coast. It was used to defend the Venetian Empire from the Turks.

On the morning of our visit, we walked along bright, clean streets lined with cafes and shops. On the seaside promenade, we saw several older people (certainly not us!) sitting on benches, soaking up the sun and gazing out across the calm waters of the Adriatic. The scene was quite tranquil, but that certainly wasn’t the case 80 years ago. 

 

In the piazza San Tommaso, across from the Cathedral Basilica of San Tommaso, which holds the remains of St. Thomas the Apostle (“doubting Thomas”), Marco introduced us to a local man named Nuncio, who recounted the events that took place during his childhood. (Thanks to Marco for translating.)

It was December 1943, World War 2 was still raging, but the tide of the war in Europe was beginning to turn. Allied armies were advancing northward up the Italian peninsula. Fascist Italy had surrendered on September 8, 1943. The German army had retreated behind the Gustav Line, which ran from coast to coast, east-west, across Italy. It split the country in half, with the Germans in control to the north and the Allies in control to the south. The Germans built up their defenses along with their determination not to give up an inch of territory. The Allies were equally determined to break through the Gustav Line in order to reach Rome. 

 

Ortona had the geographic misfortune to be located just within the Gustav Line. In early December of 1943, fierce fighting between German and British forces began along the Moro River in the area of Ortona. By the end of the month, the Allies were closing in on the city itself. In anticipation of the upcoming fighting, the Germans turned much of the city into rubble to clog the side streets and limit the route available to the Allied forces. 

 

The city center, already in ruins, was occupied by German forces in defensive positions when the two battalions of Canadian infantry and one tank regiment approached on December 20. Now there was only one way into the city center, where the Germans had booby trapped most of the buildings. The fighting took place in close quarters over a period of eight days. According to some sources, the Germans had been ordered to fight for every last house and tree. The Canadians could only advance house by house. Casualties were high. Even when the Canadians took a house, they would often trigger an explosion by turning on a water faucet for a drink. 

 

On December 28, the Canadians found that the Germans had retreated overnight. The Allies had taken Ortona, but the cost, in lives lost, was high. In addition, since the city had not been evacuated, over a thousand civilians had been killed and many more wounded. The city itself was in ruins, and it would take many years to rebuild. 

 

Like most of my fellow travelers, I had never heard of the battle that took place in Ortona. It’s not nearly as well-known as many other World War 2 battles. For that reason, it’s sometimes called the “forgotten Stalingrad,” a reference to the brutal street fighting that occurred in the Russian city on the Eastern Front. 

 

We spent about an hour walking around Ortona, admiring the new buildings and pausing in the Piazza of the Canadian Heroes to study the memorial to those killed in the battle to liberate the city. 

 

Of course, we also found time for a coffee and restroom break. The crostatina (little jam tart) went so well with the espresso macchiato, my new favorite coffee drink.

Fifteen or twenty minutes after our visit to Ortona, we were in the countryside for our Day in the Life experience at Le Mignole, an agriturismo (a farm that welcomes overnight guests). Green hillsides covered with vineyards and olive groves stretched out around us. One special feature of this particular farm was the presence of a small herd of alpaca who were nonchalantly scampering through the fields. 

After we watched a demonstration of how to make elderberry syrup (see elderberry flowers in the basket below), we got to work preparing our lunch. 

 

Under the direction of the farm’s expert cooks, we made ferratella, an ancestor of the waffle, from a batter of semolina (a hard grain), farina (a soft grain), and equal amounts of olive oil and white wine. The patterned pans we used reminded me of Elliott’s Norwegian krumkake iron. 

We also made fresh cheese from milk and rennet, a process I was already familiar with from recent visits to farms in Spain and Portugal.

 

In addition, we took turns forming pallotte cacio e uovo, balls made of cheese and the soft part of bread. These pallotte were then fried and served with a sauce of tomatoes and peppers. 

Finally, we made spaghetti from rolled out sheets of freshly made egg pasta dough. To make two different widths of spaghetti, we used both sides of a wooden frame strung with thin wires. It’s called a guitarra and it was quite a clever contraption.  

 

I was starving by the time we sat down in the rustic dining room to enjoy the fruits of our labor. 

We started with a plate of pizzapane (bread made from pizza dough), capicola (a cured and well-seasoned ham), pecorino affinato (cheese soaked in red wine), and the ferrotella we had made. We also helped ourselves to giuncata (the soft fresh white cheese). 

The spaghetti we made, pasta all’uovo alla guitarra, was served with a 3-meat sauce (beef, pork, mutton/lamb) along with the luscious pallotte di cacio e uovo. Nearly everyone took seconds, or thirds. 

The last course was ice cream and diced apples. Afterwards, we staggered back to bus.

 

The day’s activities ended with a solemn visit to the Moro River Cemetery where 1375 Canadian soldiers are buried. To show their appreciation for the Canadian soldiers who liberated their city, the people of Ortona built the cemetery, which they continue to maintain. I don’t often seek out cemeteries during my travels, but I found this one very moving since I had just learned about the battle that took so many young lives. 

I felt exhausted physically and emotionally drained by the time we returned to our ship in the late afternoon. I didn’t have the patience to sit through a long meal and was relieved to see that dinner would be served buffet style. Chef Alex did a super job. I was able to compose a relatively light dinner from the salad bar and a few samples from the multiple main course and dessert offerings. 

Once again, I skipped the evening activity and returned to my cabin to restore my energy for the next day when we’d be visiting the Tremiti Islands. You’ll learn about this delightful group of islands in my next post.  

Another Day, Another Country

On my second morning aboard the MV Athena, I pushed my curtains aside at 5:45am and watched the sun rising over the water. I had settled easily into the routines of cruising and shipboard life. I’d be up early, take a quick shower, slather on sun screen and dress for warm sunny weather. By 6:30, I’d be in the lounge making a cup of green tea before the breakfast buffet opened. I’d fuel up at breakfast to ensure that I had sufficient energy for morning sightseeing.

This morning, we were docked alongside yachts and sailboats in the port of Pesaro in the Marche region. Right after breakfast, we boarded buses and set out for the Republic of San Marino – passports optional. The only reason to bring one was if you wanted an official tourist visa stamped into your passport, for a cost of five Euros.

 

On the hour-long drive to the country’s capital city, also called San Marino, Marco told us a bit about the Marche. It’s is one of Italy’s most prosperous regions, known for furniture making and leather goods. The area also produces olives, olive oil, and a white wine called Verdicchio. The Marche doesn't attract many American tourists but its landscape of gentle rolling hills is quite lovely. 

Marco noted that since we were still in northern Italy, the roads were in excellent condition. By contrast, in southern Italy, roads are not well-maintained by the government. I’d always thought of northern Italy as wealthy and southern Italy as poor, and Marco confirmed that assessment. However, he explained that prior to the unification of Italy in 1861, the South had resources that made it much wealthier than the North. Consequently, the South felt that there would be no advantage to unification and resisted it. The North, under the military leadership of Garibaldi, pushed to unify the country and essentially conquered the South in order to achieve its goal. 

Starting in 1861, the new Italian government began to transfer wealth and resources from the South to the North and embarked on a long-term program to industrialize the North. There was no similar investment in industry or infrastructure in the South. As the economy of the North flourished, the South went into a severe economic decline from which it has never recovered. 

 

When Italy became a unified country in 1861, landlocked San Marino, surrounded by the regions of Emilia-Romagna and the Marche, managed to remain independent. It has been a republic since the year 301CE, making it the world’s longest surviving republic. It’s also one of the world’s smallest countries, with an area of only 24 square miles. The population is about 34,000, with citizenship being passed down matrilineally. The people, called San Marinese, are culturally Italian and Italian is the official language. The currency is the Euro. 

 

The Republic of San Marino is one of Europe’s wealthiest countries. In fact, its per capita GDP is one of the highest in the world. Marco told us that because of San Marino’s tax laws, banking has long been one of its major economic activities. Also, it is known a tax haven for celebrities and the wealthy. One example he mentioned is Luciano Pavarotti, who made San Marino his official residence in order to avoid higher income tax rates in Italy. That situation is changing but San Marino still has no VAT (value added tax), which is quite high in other European countries. In Italy, it’s currently 22%. 

 

The landscape was quite rugged by the time we crossed the border from Italy into San Marino. Despite the steep hills, many bicyclists were pedaling alongside our bus on this beautiful Sunday morning. To reach the republic’s capital city, also called San Marino, we took a funicular to the top of Mount Titano. It let us off in a small plaza where the blue and white flags of San Marino were fluttering in the breeze. The plaza was dominated by a bronze statue of Bartolomeo Borghesi (1781-1860), a mathematician, scholar of ancient manuscripts, and a pioneer in the science of numismatics. Born in Italy, he spent the last forty years of his life in San Marino.  

From the plaza, we had wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. 

Our local guide, a young woman named Sara, told us that the city goes back to Roman times (early 4^thcentury) and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Like all San Marinese, she was quite proud of San Marino’s long history of democracy. And here's an interesting bit of trivia that I learned from Sara: Abraham Lincoln was made an honorary citizen of San Marino after he wrote a letter recognizing it as an independent state when Italy was unified in 1861. 

 

During the Middle Ages, San Marino developed a defensive system that included three tall watchtowers, perched on hilltops that overlook the city. All three are still in place. The photo below shows the First Tower, also known as the Guaita or the Rocca. 

We began our walk at the medieval walls that surround the city’s old town. Just outside the walls is an open area called the Crossbowmen’s Quarry. It's a reminder that the crossbow played an important role in defending San Marino during the Middle Ages. Although these weapons are no longer used in warfare, there’s a Crossbow Corps that dresses in traditional clothing and give demonstrations throughout the year at open-air festivals. 

After we looked at the Crossbowmen’s Quarry, we came to one of the most important landmarks in the city - San Marino’s Statue of Liberty, located in the main square, Piazza della Liberta. Liberty is depicted as a woman warrior holding a flag in one hand. San Marino’s three watchtowers are represented on her crown. The building in the background is the Palazzo Publico, the seat of government. 

As we strolled up and down the streets of the old town with Sara, we admired the historic architecture and the views out over the surrounding countryside. This section of the city welcomes tourists with its numerous souvenir shops, jewelry stores, cafés selling piadina (flatbread) sandwiches, and restaurants. I also noticed several stores with prominent displays of weapons. Along with reproductions of medieval weaponry were modern “fake” weapons, such as those used in paint ball. 

 

Inside the neo-classical 19^th century basilica, Sara explained how San Marino is named for the founder of the city, Saint Marinus. He was born on an island in the Adriatic off the coast of Dalmatia (modern day Croatia). Because of his Christian faith, he was persecuted by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He fled to the Italian peninsula where he became a bishop. He founded a chapel on Mount Titano in 301CE and lived there as hermit for the rest of his life. Fiercely independent, Saint Marinus refused to recognize the authority of either the Roman Emperor or the Pope. 

 

I was somewhat surprised, and pleased, to come across a small Holocaust memorial in the center of the old town.

 

We had a great group lunch that began with a salad garnished with walnuts and pomegranate seeds. This was followed by roasted veggies (eggplant, zucchini, potatoes) and delicious cheese ravioli with shaved truffles. We tried two varieties of local cakes – crostata (rustic free-form tart) with jam and ciambella (simple classic ring-shaped cake) – for dessert. Needless to say, this was all accompanied by wine. 

Walking back down to our bus with a pleasantly full stomach, I took my last look at San Marino and the surrounding countryside. 

During our drive back from San Marino, I learned more about the Italian economy from Marco. The industrialized North produces cars, iron, ships, and train parts. The economy of the country’s central region is based on agriculture and tourism, with some industry, primarily paper and art materials. In Rome and the surrounding area, tourism, government, restaurants, hospitality are the main sources of revenue. And the South, also known as the Mezzogiorno, remains a deprived area, with its natural resources still taken to be used in the North. 

 

Once we returned to our ship, the focus was once again on food. The fish option at dinner was called pangasius. Hmm. It’s a good thing the menus were available several hours ahead of time. I had looked it up and discovered alternate names for pangasius were swai or iridescent shark catfish. That seemed safe enough to order. It turned out to be a mild white fish. Served with a tomato and olive topping, it was quite tasty. 

 

But the highlight of the meal was definitely the dessert - a luscious lemon pie served with red fruit sauce and lemon sorbet. 

 

I skipped the post-dinner activity to go back to my cabin, do my laundry, and read up on the following day’s destination, Ortona, the subject of my next post.