On The Road Again

This time we try to leave the mountainous Campania region but not before being stopped on the narrow dirt road by Antonio's nephew and his big tractor taking up all the road about 300m down the hill from the horse stud. He had stopped for a chat, as you do, so the road is blocked to all traffic.
Antonio says he's not moving for 1/2 an hour or so, so come and have a look around his little farm that he only bought in spring when he moved back for England. He paid € 5,000 so $ 7,150 Aussie for the 5 hectare with the old ruins from his wife's uncle. Cheep he said but it needs a lot of work to be liveable and it is so remote plus the farm in on the side of a steep hill .... Bargain !!

It was so cute, the dilapidated mostly ruined ruins of a ancient roman villa with a metal sign depicting that Venice was the capital of Italy so that makes it at least 600 years old according to Antonio.
He is thinking of making it in to a B & B but with the economy as it is at the moment it will be put on the back burner.

The nephew has now moved on so the road is now open again, but I think it was a ploy to keeps us there a little longer. Antonio and his wife don't want us to leave before they can treat us to lunch down the road at his main house.
We wander his organic garden picking and eating figs so tree ripened that if you pressed the centre the lush pulpy flesh would just ooze out.
It was how they leave them here as eventually they will sundry naturally on the tree ready for winter storage, something we can't do back home are we have too many birds and not the same humidity.
Antonio tells me that they do have a lot of birds in Italy ... but they also have a lot of fig trees. Also a tip you can freeze figs once ripe and they bring them out in the cold of there winter as a treat on Christmas Day

Lunch was around the family old timber table in the main house and before we new it Catarina had whipped up a pasta with lamb ragu, some steamed green weeds, hmmmm interesting .... with fresh bread, cheese and olive oil, a nice simple lunch shared with the family. As it was now 2pm the kids were home from school, the 90 year old mother in-law was in from the garden, the nephew and his girlfriend also showed up to be feed along with Antiono's brother.

So after a long leisurely lunch we try to cut the umbilical cord and leave.
Thankfully the next place is just 100km north as a one night stopover before we hit the beach for 4 nights for the last of the warm sun and have a holiday from our holiday.
So with some pears, figs and grapes in hand we finally make our escape, these Italians are like trying to leave your grandmother house with those sad eyes and pleading please don't go yet looks.