Volturara Irpina, four days of immersion in Italian culture.
Last few days we stayed in a small village just above Naples where we enjoyed it wonderfully. We noticed that there are few tourists there, which made the locals very curious about us.
Castello di Volturara Irpina
We arrived in the village on Thursday afternoon and the weather was still very gray and gloomy. However, the next day we saw how beautiful this place is; the sun broke through and the green on the mountains was beautiful to see. We wanted to walk through this area and decided to walk to the castle which we could see from our camper place. We hardly met anyone along the way, only some farmers who had to go to their land. After about 50 minutes of steep climbing, we reached the top and had beautiful views. The castle is not open and is abandoned. Yet many young people use this place; Because it is located on top of a mountain where it is not easy to reach, young people can party here undisturbed. There were a lot of beer bottles (a bit of a shame). From the top we had a beautiful view over the village and we could see the camper.
Curious locals
Once back in the village we were approached by an old gentleman who asked where we came from. He was sitting on a terrace with his sunglasses on (but of course wearing a thick coat...) and asked if we were here with our parents. We explained that we were here with the camper and he told us that he liked us being here. (Note that we think he said this. He spoke some English, we were able to pick up some Italian). In any case, super nice and when we met him again two days later, he waved cheerfully at us!
Because few tourists come here, we notice that people look at us strangely. Mainly because we wear a t-shirt and shorts in 25 degrees and the Italians wear long trousers and a winter coat... We don't find it annoying and everyone is very friendly towards us.
Time for ourselves
The next day we both went for another walk, separately. People sometimes ask us if we sometimes drive each other crazy because we live in such a small space. Our answer is: no. We know very well when we need a moment for ourselves and also give each other space (literally and figuratively). This prevents us from driving each other crazy. Fortunately, so far we've only been crazy about each other :).
Piana del Dragone
Afterwards it turned out that we both walked to the same location, to Piana del Dragone. This is a small lake surrounded by pasture with cows. Beautiful area for walking and you are surrounded by nature.
"Possiamo prendere le pizze da asporto?"
We are practicing our Italian a bit, because in such a small village no one speaks English. After pounding this sentence into my head, we walked to the local pizzeria. Fortunately, the friendly man already understood us at 'to-go' and after 5 minutes we had two delicious pizzas in our hands. These were truly the tastiest pizzas we have ever had and they were only €6! Real Italian quality.
Siesta
In Italy they are also taking a siesta. On Sunday there was a large market in the village that attracted many people and it was very busy in the village. We went for a walk and when we walked back to the camper around 1:00 PM, the entire village was deserted. Around 5 p.m. everyone is back in the village and the shops open again until about 8 p.m. It takes some getting used to for us, but it is actually quite nice. We had temperatures of around 26 degrees every day. Then it is logical that everyone withdraws from the heat.
Right now we are in another small village near Melfi, where we finally bought an Italian SIM card! (Now we can use our own WiFi router.) We are on our way to Matera, Alberobello and Polignano a Mare. These also seem to be beautiful places, so we don't want to miss them!
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