Pago Veiano, Italia

My journey through vacationing in Italy to studying in London began with visiting family in Pago Veiano, Italy. My mom's grandfather and grandmother were born in Pago Veiano and left for America, where all of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have stayed for good. My mom's aunt was the first to make the connection back to family in Pago Veiano when she visited over forty years ago. We are the first to journey to Pago since her, and our experience was amazing.

We were instantly welcomed into the lives and the homes of our family. It felt as though we had known them forever. Here's what we did each day:

Day 1 // Family

View from the front porch

We were greeted at the airport in Napoli by Giuseppe (father) and Chiara (daughter) Gagliarde. Giuseppe is my mom's second cousin, and Chiara is twelve years old. They only speak Italian, so at first my mom and I weren't quite sure how to communicate. Only one person in the whole extended family in Pago of at least 30 people spoke any English. What's amazing is that language never felt like a barrier because they immediately welcomed us and made us feel at home, just with their actions.

First, Giuseppe drove us to a fish restaurant in Pago. This was our first experience with the usual Italian meal: we had about 8 or 9 different plates of fish, one after the other. In Italy (or at least in Pago / Campania region), meals can last up to about 3 hours because there are so many courses, and people stay around and talk and hang out in between. The fish was amazing - I've never had anything like it. Giuseppe also drove us to his store in Pietrelcina (a neighboring small town).

Some family visiting us at the house

Next, we went to their house and met the rest of their immediate family, Giuseppina (mother), and Nicolangelo (son). They have a gorgeous pool that overlooks the Pago Veiano countryside, full of agriculture. They put us up in a little bed and breakfast close by, and we were able to take a nap to sleep off some of the jet lag...

Espresso at Midnight: Chiara, Giuseppina,
Giuseppe Gagliarde, Giuseppe de Girolamo
(another cousin), and mom.

When we returned to their house around 8:30pm, the entire extended family had come to greet us. Each person welcomed us and treated us like long-lost friends. There were probably about 30 people that came. We ate amazing food, learned some Italian, and laughed a lot. 

Perhaps the most moving experience for me was when Zia Grazia arrived. She is the same generation as my mom's parents at 85 years old. When she came, both her and my mom embraced and immediately started crying. Both were so happy to see each other, even though they've never met.

After meeting lots of family and having a great time, we went out for espresso. Let's just say I kind of like espresso a lot now...

Day 2 // Pago Veiano & Pietrelcina

On the morning of our second day, we were picked up by Francesca de Girolamo (cousin about my age) and Chiara. They toured us through Pago Veiano and Pietrelcina. First, we went to see one of the many places dedicated to Padre Pio, a saint that used to live in Pietrelcina. A chapel sat on the top of a hill overlooking much of Pietrelcina.

Padre Pio's Chapel overlooking Pago

We saw "the eye of Pago Veiano" - some ruins that used to be a palace. It had amazing carvings in the rock/marble walls and ceilings. For lunch, Francesca took us to her family's house in Pago. Her father, Luigi, and her mother, Anna Maria, prepared wonderful food for us (everyone throughout the whole trip was incredibly accommodating for me as a vegetarian).

The Eye of Pago Veiano:
Francesca (our cousin & tour
guide for the day), me, and Chiara

Later, we went back to Giuseppe and Giuseppina's house to go swimming, and to eat another delicious (and three hour long) dinner they had prepared. My mom and I now have a new way of making pasta sauce - we're ditching tomato paste/marinara that you buy in the store for just sautéed tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. So much better, and probably healthier for you. And of course with every meal, there was never-ending vino (the white wine in Pago Veiano is wonderful) and Strega (an Italian liquor made in Benevento).

At one point during the day, they also took us to tour Giuseppina's family's biscotti factory and store. They make tons of Italian cookies at her factory in Pago and export their product internationally - to even Australia! We sat out on the porch with Giuseppina's sister and parents, where her father serenaded my mom with Italian songs.

That night, they took me on both a four-wheeler and a vespa through the rugged, dark, one-lane streets of Pago. With no helmet. Probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, but fun :)

Day 3 // Benevento

Benevento: Martina, me, Graziana

On our third day, my mom and I toured around Benevento and a little bit more of Pietrelcina with Chiara, Graziana (cousin), Martina (cousin ...and possibly my twin), and Donata (aunt).

Side note: In Italy, anyone that is a cousin in your generation is called a cousin, and anyone that is a cousin in the generations above you is called an aunt/uncle.

Pietrelcina: me, Martina, mom

Benevento is a very cool city. We saw churches, schools, shops, and of course had gelato. After we finished with Benevento, we drove to Zia Grazia's house for lunch where I had probably the most food I've ever had in one sitting - and it was DELICIOUS!

Benevento: me, mom, Martina,
Chiara, Zia Donata

At Zia Grazia's, Martina and Rita (Martina's friend) taught me conjugations for Italian regular verbs. Neither of them speak English, but they know a few words, and I learned the value of hand and body signals for communication. Zia Grazia also gave me a huge Italian-English dictionary because she said she wants to be able to communicate with me. It was a very sweet and thoughtful gesture - and for the rest of the trip, my nose was glued to that dictionary.

Giuseppe de Girolamo's house: where
my great-grandfather was born

For dinner, we went to Giuseppe de Girolamo's home in Pago Veiano, which is the house in which my mom's grandfather was born and grew up.

For dinner, lots of family came over. The young adults my age were very patient and taught me lots of Italian that night. By this point, we were exhausted, but so excited to share all of our experiences with our family (who were 9 hours behind us in the states), so we stayed up until about 3am.

Day 4 // Avellino

View from the top of Avellino

For our last full day in Pago Veiano, Giuseppe took my mom and I to see Avellino. By itself, Avellino is a beautiful town. But we also went and toured the Torrone factory. Torrone is a nougat that is sold under a few different brand names. Guiseppe owns a store in Pietrelcina, and he buys Torrone in bulk to sell.

Monastery in Avellino

At the top of Avellino was a monastery that overlooked Avellino and surrounding towns. Giuseppe kept teasing me that he was going to leave me to be a nun at the monastery. Later on, we went to his store in Pietrelcina to unload the goods from Torrone, and there happened to be Dominicans going into a Padre Pio gift shop next door. Of course, Giuseppe stopped them and made them take a picture with me, calling me "suora (nun) Marilena."

Final dinner with the Gagliardes: Nicolangelo, mom
Chiara, Giuseppe, me, Giuseppina

For dinner, we went to a pizzeria with Giuseppe, Giuseppina, Chiara, and Nicolangelo. After, we went to Zia Grazia and Zia Donata's house and then Giuseppe's to say goodbye to members of the family. It was incredibly difficult. Zia Grazia reminded us not to forget her in her slow, deliberate Italian, through tears running down her face.

The following morning, Giuseppe and Chiara drove us all the way to our hotel in Sorrento, but they had to get going since it was a busy weekend at their store. It was so hard to say goodbye...I have a feeling I will be back in Pago Veiano soon...hopefully while I'm studying in London I can take a trip there on a weekend.

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I learned a lot from our Pago Veiano trip. It was my first experience in another country (besides Canada), so there's a lot of new feelings/thoughts that come from that alone.

Specifically, one of my observations pertains to public health. People in Italy don't wear seat belts very often. Chiara told me it's not a law to wear a seat belt in the backseat of a car. Every time we got in their car, they would discourage me to wear my seat belt - and in fact they didn't even have a buckle for it! On top of that, Italians drive very fast, and lane lines are just guidelines, not fixed lanes. Throughout the whole trip, I was thinking to myself, "wow, they must have a lot of road injuries/fatalities." So I looked this up with the IHME Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 visualization, comparing Italy to the U.S. I found that across the board, Italians have fewer road injuries/fatalities per 100,000 than the U.S... this confuses me so much.

The main thing I took away from my trip is the importance of family and language. I learned that family is family no matter the distance, and those instant connections that we made are so valuable and must be preserved. I also found that I am fascinated by language. I was interested in Spanish early on and took it for about eight years. It helped me quite a bit in understanding Italian, but now I really want to learn Italian. I'm hoping that I can learn a lot more before I return to Pago Veiano :)

Ciao for now!