Adventures and Other Happenings

Despite the many ways in which we're connected and plugged in these days, I think we're also a closed-off society, with an over-emphasis on privacy, space, security, and the like. We don't keep the same open-door policies that our older generations once kept. We don't pop in for visits without first scheduling and announcing, and reconfirming, our arrival. I had a great uncle, rest his soul, who was notorious for showing up at relatives' homes unannounced, sometimes hundreds of miles away in other states. Most of the time, he was welcomed gracefully, but not without the element of utter surprise... "Oh, well, we were just leaving to go on our family vacation for a week, but sure, come on in!!" Sometimes he was greeted with disdain. Nonetheless, that was how he was brought up, in a society where it was socially acceptable to make impromptu visits. In fact, it was sometimes the only way you could build and maintain relationships--other than the occasional ...

Perhaps my favorite experience on my second visit to Italy was being a witness to the winemaking ritual. Small batch, local grapes grown on my family's vineyard. The evening prior to this act of divine agricultural magic, I was conversing with my cousin, Nicola, whose English is no better than my Italian. He told me of his plans to make wine the next morning, and I think was surprised that I asked to participate. Perhaps to an Italian native, this is no special occasion, because in Abruzzo, it appears, everyone makes their own wine. If you're American however, you can understand why I was so intrigued and eager to break out the camera. On winemaking day, it was a gorgeous sunny morning on the coast of the Adriatic, where my DiRisio family's B&B is located. Il Tremolar della Marina (translation = The Trembling of the Navy) sits up on a hill facing the sea, and behind it an ascending maze of grapes of many varieties. Nicola and his two friends would be making white w...