Carovilli and Castiglione

Saturday morning we gathered again at the town square in front of the Chiesa Nova (new church) to watch a wedding procession. First the groom Ricci Pietro, escorting his mother, left his house and walked to the church accompanied by various relatives. Next, the bride Rossi Daniela and her father led a procession of relatives from her house to the church. The American visitors joined with the townspeople in applauding the young couple and wishing them well.

Walking north of the church, we found the remains of the di Domenico house and barn. (Seeing the large house made me wonder about the accuracy/truth of Aunt Ern’s story about the rugged condition of the first house the family lived in near the Platte River. If it was in fact the “shack” she spoke about, what Nicola and Lucia had in Italy was a much more substantial place to live in and raise a family.) The house had two stories, with a family living on each floor. Time had taken its toll on this building where the floors and interior walls were no longer in tact. The roof was replaced recently by Pierino and his brother Giovanni Rossi, a native and current resident of Castiglione. Old kitchen utensils and pottery were found in the rubble. The land immediately surrounding the house was likely used to grow vegetables for the family.

The barn was a much larger building just steps away from the house. Again there were two levels, with the animals: pigs, chickens, sheeps, horses, dunkeys ,caws and goats occupying the bottom floor and hay and straw stored above. The original stone arches were still in tact on the interior of the lower level. On the outside west-facing wall were the remains of a fresco of the Madonna that had been painted and framed. How many times must someone from the di Domenico clan passed by the watchful eyes of the Madonna on their way to church, going out to the fields to work or returning with season’s harvest to store inside the barn? Every person walking in front of the Madonna was compelled to make the signe of the cross and say “ Gesu’ Maria”.

Next we drove about one mile north to the top of a hill to Vallefredda and saw the large expanse of land where the di Domenico’s and the rest of the town used to carry on the greatest part of their dayly activities. Beyond were a colorful rolling hills and valleys with alternating green bushes and gold dried up grass. Sadly, agriculture is a thing of the past in present day Castigilione.

It was lunch time so we drove to a new restaurant Quattro Archi (Four Arches) designed by Pierino’s nephew Carlo Rossi and owned and run by Remo di Giacomo – relatives of Frank James and Madeliene Maginn. ( Note the new businesses taking off in the Molise region.) We filled the dining room and again were treated to the joy of a leisurely meal consisting of regional dishes (potato and bean soup, and pork rind shared in an atmosphere of amazement. Just few meters from this restaurant, on the west side of the road, there is plot that belonged to the Di Domenico’s, and an other one is about 100 meters north. We marveled at the house and the land we’d just seen and were amazed to think of how many years our ancestors had worked there. At the end the meal the dolce was a cup of fresh fruit (a/k/a Macedonia fruit salad) topped with a scoop of vanilla gelato. Are we in heaven yet? Pretty close!

Still more to see of Molise, so we drove across a large bridge to the town of Agnone. Here we visited the foundry where the Marinelli family has been making bells for more than 1000 years. We tried to conduct choir practice in anticipation of our song for Sunday mass, but there were not enough bells to provide all the notes we needed. Whenever we see a large bell, we’ll know to check and see if it was made by the Marinelli’s whose bells are all over the world. We returned to our temporary homes – Jeanne and Bob Fricke, Jeanne James and family and Mary Mollicone and Dwight Taylor to Colle Panetta. Frank and Donna James, Bob and Gwen Domenico, Jim and Burma Domenico and Madeliene and Dick Maginn, Karen Maginn and her two sons to Il Parco. The rest of the day we spent visiting among ourselves, sharing stories of our recent adventures in Italy before coming to Castiglione.

American Cousins Visit Castiglione – Day 1
American Cousins Visit Castiglione – Day 3

This article by Mary Mollicone was published in the ANDIAMO magazine in Denver, Co., October 2006 edition, just 2 months after returning from a trip to Castiglione. It is such a good description of the events, and it was such a succesfull trip for all people involved, that it is a great read!