Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Campania FREE”
For the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of my PBS travel series, I returned to my ancestral hometown 22 years after my mother and I had first laid eyes on it and more than 100 years after my great-grandfather left Castelvetere for America. That day my mother and I arrived in July 1995, we met our distant cousin Livio Nargi, historian, …
I always knew I wanted to tell the story of Castelvetere sul Calore, my ancestral hometown in the Avellino province of Campania. When my mother and I first rediscovered the town 23 years ago, who could have imagined that our story would turn into an episode of my own PBS travel series Dream of Italy! If you haven’t seen the …
Editor’s Note: Castelvetere sul Calore is my ancestral hometown in the Irpinia area of Campania, about an hour from Naples, and the focus of a very special episode of the PBS series Dream of Italy. We visited this special town to celebrate Madonna delle Grazie on July 2nd. The main celebration for Santa Maria delle Grazie is April 28th. But there …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy learns how to bake a special pastry baked in honor of the Madonna. A statue of the patron saint of Castelvetere sul Calore, Madonna delle Grazie, is taken out of her sanctuary and carried throughout the town on two days per year: April …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy tastes “Castelvetere in a glass” – fortified cherry wine. The De Beaumonts are French barons who bought the feudal land of Castelvetere sul Calore in 1675. They continue to make wine here, including a special family recipe called Don Fa. Their special fortified …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy learns about the legalities and possibility of obtaining her Italian citizenship. Italy recognizes citizens “Jure Sanguinis,” by blood. No matter where someone is born, if at least one parent is an Italian citizen at the time of the birth, their child is Italian …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy is introduced to her closest living relative in Italy. Built in 1714, Castelvetere’s cemetery is one of the oldest in Italy, built before laws required bodies be interred outside towns in order to stop the spread of disease. Because of limited space in …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy visits the mayor’s office to search for records of her family’s ancestry. Gaetano Petrillo, a local genealogist, brought Kathy and her mom to the office of the mayor of Castelvetere to look for the municipal records of their ancestors. Towns throughout southern Italy …
In the Castelvetere sul Calore episode of the second season of Dream of Italy on PBS, Kathy’s cousin, poet Livio Nargi, opens the episode with an excerpt from this poem. Castelvetere, you are the glory of beloved poems. Scenes of enchantment and dreams, divine in the spirit. You are the precious treasure of the people, the magical splendor upon the …
Update: My beautiful mother passed away on April 16, 2018. You can see her with me in the Castelvetere episode of Dream of Italy on PBS. My dream of Italy started here… Castelvetere sul Calore For my family, Castelvetere has always been a place of miracles and mystery Those are the first three lines of the upcoming Dream of Italy …
