PANE, PROSCIUTTO E FANTASIA: A SUNNY AFTERNOON IN PRECI

by Silvia Matricardi

Two days ago, in a beautiful, cool but sunny Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a trip to one of the most charming hamlets in Umbria, where an interesting “Festa” is taking place: Preci.
The name comes from the Latin word preces, which means prayer; in fact in the Middle Age this land was the home of a Benedictine oratory and many were the hermits who chose to settle in this area, as they considered it particularly suitable to follow their spiritual and monastic vocation. The most important pre-Benedictine hermitage is the Abbazia di Sant’Eutizio, which was very famous until the 13th century, when Preci passed under Norcia rule.

The fame of Preci is mainly linked to the so called empirical surgeons (chirurghi empirici), people who learned the art of surgery not in the specific schools but “in action”, in the Abbey of Sant’Eutizio. It is likely that the ability monks acquired in the slaughtering and castration of sheep and swine helped them to acquire the difficult expertise of surgeons.

Preci inhabitants became experts “norcini” (pork-butchers) and surgeons and they used to hand on these crafts from fathers to sons, which turned them into models renowned all around Italy and Europe in both fields. That’s why the ancient art of “norcineria” started at the beginning of the Middle Age, at the same time of the foundation of the Scuola Chirurgica (School of Surgery) in the close Abbazia di Sant’Eutizio.

Nestled in the Val Castoriana, inside the Monti Sibillini Natinal Park, Preci is a protected area and appears to the visitors like a small and charming village, full of narrow streets and staircases which lead up to the main square. Every year during the first weekend of July the City of Preci organizes “Pane, prosciutto e fantasia” an aeno-gastronomic event dedicated to the production of the famous IGP Prosciutto (ham) of Preci.

This ham is prepared and seasoned according to a sctrict code of production rules and is characterized by a “pear” shape, by a tasty but not salty flavor, by a rosy or red color and by a typical scent, slightly spiced. The production area is limited to thos villages in Valnerina placed higher than 500 meters on the sea level, that is Preci, Norcia, Cascia, Monteleone di Spoleto and Poggiodomo.

In all the streets and beautiful squares of the historical center, where stands have been set and the castle’s cantine have been opened, you can taste and buy the local products while admiring the pearls of an evocative and intact place, so rich in important traces of Middle Age and Renaissence times.

We had a lot of fun climbing uphill in the many narrow streets, filling our stomacs and eyes with many different and delicious colors and flavors, sitting here and there to rest once in a while and watch local inhabitants repeat the gestures and actions they have been performing for ages. In fact we could also witness the performance of ancient “crafts” which have been handed on from father to son, according to old customs, like the making of bread, cheese and pork, and see the old artisans at work: the farmer, the basket-maker, the horseshoer, the miller, the ceramist, the weaver.
This is a great place also to practice fishing and during the summer it can be a very relaxing and “green” place to spend a few hours or one day at leisure.

Anyway, last Sunday the protagonist was the panino col prosciutto (ham panino): tender, tasty and fresh. With a glass of red wine or of the locally produced beer it made the perfect dinner of a cool and sunny afternoon IN Umbria.

The cemetery of Spoleto: a peaceful place

by Silvia Matricardi

Umbria is a region of peace. It is not a place of silence, but a land where the sounds of nature are loud and soft at the same time and we really enjoy listening to them.

One of the most peaceful places I know, one that I really love, is the cemetery of Spoleto.

It must be the architectural structure that makes it so charming, with its surrounding walls, the many paths that climb up the hill, with their rows of cypresses and bushes and wild roses, and also the great view of the city center.

Or, very likely, my love for this place comes from the fact that I have been coming here since a was a child, with my Mum and Dad, to visit the people I love who are no longer with us. I was never scared when I came here; on the contrary, it seemed to me as if I were entering a fairy land, full of small churches, ancient tombs, narrow paths, flowers, old pictures that tell stories of past lives, silence. I often used to sing while walking there with my parents...

I know Umbria is full of old cemeteries but I am sure none of them is like this one.

It is placed right besides the city center and yet in a secluded spot, amongst fields of olive trees, from where you can enjoy a great view of the Rocca and of the sweet hills that surround the town. It goes uphill, gently, creating different terraces of tombs which are always well kept and full of flowers and "lumini" (small lights).

On top you can find the beautiful San Salvatore Basilica, the most ancient church in Spoleto, dating back to the 4th - 5th century, with a nave and two side aisles and a semicircular apse, which still retains its early Christian atmosphere and charm.

Though a cemetery is not the first place you think of visiting when you go to a town, this one might be worth peeping in, just to get a glimpse and to taste an old-times atmosphere.

Last time I went to the cemetery it was four days ago, before All Souls' Day (Il Giorno dei Morti), in a warm sunny day, at lunch break; there were a few people working on their family tombs, preparing them for the celebration of their beloved departed. Every path, narrow street and place was neat and colourful and I could really enjoy a special moment of meditation and prayer, and love for the mankind.

Being close to the people you lost and you still love makes you feel the strength of your roots, the indissoluble bonds in your life and the joy and warmth that accompany life's promises and plans for the future.