At dawn on Easter Sunday, when the bells summon the faithful to the first Mass, the stoves in Teramo kitchens have already been lit for hours, and aromas fill domestic spaces. The mazzarelle — small rolls of lamb offal wrapped in endive leaves and tied with the thin intestines of the same animal — rest … Read more
In mid-August, when the peppers in the vegetable garden have reached full ripeness and begin turning from green to red, households in Ornano, among the countryside of the territory of Colledara, begin preparing the first large preserve of late summer. Harvested and left for a few days to wilt slightly in the darkness of the … Read more
In the broadleaf woods rising from the Valle Siciliana towards the slopes of the Gran Sasso massif, at the beginning of spring, the shoots of wild asparagus emerge from the ground: slender, dark, slightly bitter spears launched upwards by the mother plant, the mammara. Their gathering is an engaging activity involving solitary foragers or entire … Read more
In Poggio Cancelli, in the Upper Aterno Valley, for a few summer hours, the village becomes the living setting of a marriage from the past. It is the Sposa pojana: with the procession of dowry baskets, the barrozza, the traditional two-wheeled wedding cart, pulled by a pair of festively decorated cows carrying the mattress, embroidered … Read more
In Macchie di Farindola, on the eastern slope of the Gran Sasso descending into the Tavo Valley, Cristoforo Lanesi creates pastoral sound objects through the practised experience of hands, sight and listening. With a single precise movement, the folding knife opens the river reed, lifting from the plant body a small, thin tongue destined to … Read more
In his workshop in San Massimo di Isola del Gran Sasso, among ash-tree hoops, goat skins and hemp cords, Roberto Vantini shapes with inherited skillfulness the percussion instruments of the local tradition, li tamurrë. His hands work the skins, soaked for days, stretching them into tension; the braces tighten them until, as they dry, they … Read more
At the exit of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Lumi (Holy Mary of Lights), after the celebrations, the faithful gather holding red glass lanterns with candles, which punctuate the procession with their evocative, swaying lights in the landscape as dusk gradually falls. As the Marian effigy is carried in solemn procession to the rhythm … Read more
In Sant’Eurosia, in the countryside of Civitella del Tronto, an unusual craft preserves the trench of an embodied knowledge that brings every celebration dedicated to the patron saints to its close. Its raw material is gunpowder, its setting is the family, its clock follows that of the saints. On the day of the feast, on … Read more
In the countryside of Civitella del Tronto, between the hamlet of Rocche and the Sanctuary of Santa Maria dei Lumi (Holy Mary of Lights), a processional cortege moves in the spring, carrying a votive candle decorated at its top with flowers and ribbons and laden with offerings, in thanksgiving for the miraculous rain that fell … Read more
They are called ceppe, after the small polished wooden stick that once gave them shape, and they are among the most difficult and fragile handmade pastas in the Teramo repertoire. Shaped over long working days through a methodical and repetitive gesture, in Civitella del Tronto they are the dish of Sundays and festive occasions, prepared … Read more