Here’s one of the final posts from my old blog, in which I took my leave of Capena, Lazio, which had been my part-time home for decades.
Yesterday I loaded up the car with everything I wanted to salvage from Casa Marconi that I haven’t given away. All the basic furniture will be sold with the house. In the end there wasn’t much, though I couldn’t bear to leave my Beanie Baby collection behind. Jack’s guitar survived the cull too.
Nicky stayed on for a couple of days after arriving in Capena. We had a pleasant couple of days mooching around trying to keep cool in 40 degree heat.
No sooner had Nicky left, than Cammy arrived for more delicious wining and dining in the heat.
Once Cammy had left, I started clearing out Casa Marconi as I’ve decided to sell. The Polish couple who were renting it before I arrived have already agreed to buy it.
The temperature was hovering around the 40 degree mark every day of the month I spent in Capena this year – or it was so humid that it felt like it. Any exertion brought buckets of sweat and the need to lie down near a fan. Lottie hardly moved most of the time.
No trip to Puglia this year since Wenche and Jan sold Masseria Coccioli, but I drove 4 hours down to Caggiano in Campania to see Geoff and Lucy and buy some of Lucy’s mum’s olive oil.
I stayed at the wonderful Grotticelle, where all the food is grown and made on site and the views over Caggiano are amazing. It was a few degrees cooler than Capena and even rained at one point.
I found a dog-friendly beach an hour’s drive away in Paestum and whiled away a couple of days there.
Caggiano’s Percorso Culinario (first post-Covid edition) was the evening entertainment.
Lottie enjoyed catching up with her half-sister Truffle. Same dad, so does that make her a ‘sista from another motha’ in rapspeak?
Once back in Capena, preparations were under way for the 2022 Incontro – also the first post-Covid edition.
So it’s arrivederci to Capena, not farewell. But next time I’ll be renting.
Originally posted on August 20, 2022.
