things to make you smile from a Sunday in southern Lazio (Italy)
campari bottles full of olive oil, funny curse words, & a kilo of mozzarella
Regional Train 21065. Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale. Stop: Minturno-Scauri. Duration: 1 hour and 41 minutes.
The land before you cross the Campanian border is magic. Or, at least to me…and Filippo.
Exhibit A: Within 20 seconds after getting off the train, my cousin’s husband Filippo is telling me about the magical spring waters near their home that people travel kilometers to bathe in, a blessing from some extinct ancient volcano. A caloroso welcome I’d call it.
Did I catch the name of these mystical waters? Of course, I didn’t. It always takes me at least 5-10 minutes to calibrate my brain with the accent/dialect here. It’s a quirky one. It sounds sorta Neapolitan but it’s not Neapolitan. And, not Roman either. It’s certainly some form of ciociaro. Google generalizes it as ‘dialetto Lazio Meridionale.’ Long story short: it’s just its own thing…
(for me to continue learning and to rant about in another newsletter hehe!)
Wait, so where are we again?
When you’re Italian American, everyone always asks you where your family is from. And, they usually assume it’s Sicily or Calabria. Sometimes Napoli. My family is actually from an area many speed past on trains or in rental cars, a land with an ultra-rich history in the shadows of Napoli and Rome. It’s Basso Lazio or southern Lazio, more particularly the comuni / municipalities Castelnuovo Parano and Esperia.
Last Sunday, I visited my cousin Enrica and her husband. I could find no better way to spend a Sunday during a heatwave than eating calamarata allo scoglio while listening to Enrica’s stories about my grandma and Filippo talking about provola and poetry for hours. I never thought I’d know someone who loves cheese and prose as much as me.
On that note, I wanted to share all the little things that made me smile that Sunday I think will make you smile, too.
A Campari bottle full of extra virgin olive oil
This was one of the best things I’ve ever seen, ever. My first thought was - how did they manage to really clean all the sticky Campari out? Who knows. All I know is I will never find a better way to serve olive oil. Not even those cute little tin pots pizzamakers use can match this.
P.S. This is olive oil my cousins make! Here you see the live EVOO drizzle action.
The easiest summer dinner: freselle with tomatoes (& sides of salame)
Freselle are also known as friselle. A fresella is simply a piece of bread baked again to dry it out and preserve it. It’s sustained people in southern Italy through so many wars and invasions, since as far back as probably Jesus’ times (full seriousness here). To serve fresella, you revive it with a bit of water and olive oil. For this meal, we also had the juice of the fresh cherry tomatoes Filippo picked up from the local farmer.
Pardon the interruption of delicious food for a little language lesson!
Caspita!
If I had a euro for every time Filippo said this, I could finally buy my palazzo and hide from all my problems.
In Italian, caspita is a term to express marvel or mild resentment (meraviglia o risentimento). It’s also a euphemism for a more well-known Italian curse word…
This makes caspita the ‘fudge’ to the F word in English if you catch my drift. Back in the 19th century, caspita evolved to replace the cazzo in Italian. Today, caspita is pretty common, particularly in central and southern Italy. I never heard it in Verona. Think of it as a way to say 'oh man’, ‘what the heck’, or ‘geez’ in a positive or negative context.
Ancient Roman frantoio under my cousin’s living room floor
Just, you know, casual ancient Roman millstones underneath my cousin’s floor. That’s normal.
What many don’t realize is that Lazio is also home to excellent extra virgin olive just like Umbria and Campania. And, it has been for centuries! I mean, look at these slabs of volcanic rock that are used to mill olives and extract their oil. Definitely out of commission, these stones aren’t used to make oil anymore as cold extraction is the smarter, more advanced method. The millstones produced too much warmth, which tainted the oil’s flavor and nutrient profile.
My cousins make their own oil (as seen with that beautiful Campari bottle), but of course not with these milestones. They send it to a local frantoio, or olive mill. Here, the most common olive cultivars are Leccino and Frantoio. Technically we are in the protected olive oil production zone of the Colline Pontine DOP, though my family does not commercially produce oil, making it extra special.
Eating and tasting the oil makes me feel closer to my grandma, who actually left Italy around my age.
Mysterious labelless wine
There is nothing that makes me happier than a labelless bottle of wine on the table. Usually, it’s a random vino sfuso. But, not this time. This wine was a super refreshing Aglianico rosato from Porto di Mola winery. It’s Filippo’s favorite spot, and he brings his own bottles there to be refilled (see his hands moving above as he explained everything in major detail). A ‘vino’ circular economy done right.
Dessert that proves the Campania border is not far at all…
If the Aglianico didn’t hint at how close we are to Campania, these sfogliatell’ do. These are riccia (although I am a weirdo that loves frolla). There is no greater bliss than a golden bakery tray filled with dolci napoletani. What else is there to live for in life?
For more on these pastries, you can dive into my most recent sluttiest eats for all the gluttonous baked goodness (and more!)
Before I bid you a buon giornata, I’d like to say thank you to my cousins Filippo and Enrica for being so hospitable and kind, and for always sharing memories of my grandma and family. Also, for the kilo of mozzarella di bufala from Fattoria Santa Lucia they sent me back to Rome.
Do you know how much happiness a kilo of freshly made mozzarella brings? Infinite amounts. I’m still in heaven after my final bite last week, when I brought the rest to my friend Annie’s house for a little ‘let’s battle this 37 C / 98 F degree heat with a little rosé & mozzarella’ festa.