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S. Pasquale is the patron saint of fertility, wealth and abundance.  The citizens of Airola are particularly devoted to him as he is considered the protector of  women and animals!   

Born in Spain in 1540 the saint’s surname, Baylon, means a person who likes dancing and is derived from the Spanish word bailar.  The story narrates that a childless couple met a man who told them to take part in the dance rituals of Obando, Bulacan. When the husband and wife arrived at the church, they were stunned to find that the face of the man they had met was identical to the church’s image of St. Paschal.

The procession of Airola lasts three days. A group of seven collatori (from the verb accollare: to saddle or take upon one’s shoulders) carry the 18th century wooden statue of the saint on their shoulders.  They are preceded by the town’s marching band and followed by barefoot men and women chanting hymns to S. Pasquale. They cover the entire town and its outskirts on foot, stopping in front of every household.  Outside, a table is set with the finest hand-embroidered tablecloths.  (Apartment dwellers hang their most beautiful crocheted and hand-made cloths from their balconies)  The statue then is lowered so that the saint is almost at eye level.  (In the past, this was done so that the worshippers could pin money to the statue, a practice now considered ‘pagan’ and prohibited by the Church)  Then the collatori, with a single movement, launch the statue (weighing 130kg) above their heads and bring it back to rest on to their shoulders.  This movement is repeated hundreds of times each day.  

Back at the church of S. Pasquale, packages of  incense and blessed bread are handed out to the farmers who will feed it to their animals and to the townfolk who will give it to their unwed daughters as a help in their search for a husband. At around 10,00 pm the statue is returned to the church where it is anxiously awaited by the townspeople and lavished with golden confetti before being put to rest for the night. 

Two thousand three hundred years age, the Via Appia (or Appian Way)  was built to connect Rome with the city of Capua - now S. Maria Capua Vetere - (’vetere’= vecchio=old). The road started at Porta Capena, one of the rare cases where the gate bears the name of the place it was headed to - an indication of Capua’s wealth and strategic importance to the Roman Republic.

Due to its wealth Capua was also home to one of the most important gladiator schools, made famous by Spartacus, who excercised and fought here and from which he organized the slave rebellion of 73 B.C.  The current arena, second biggest after the Colosseum in Rome, was built in the 2nd century A.D. by the Emperor Hadrian.

Stairways and ramps run throughout what remains of the original tiers, similar to the Colosseum, while below the arena floor ie vast subterranean passages with vaulted ceilings and a network of tunnels 170 meters long and 140 meters wide. Here the scenery and props, gladiators and animals waited to be lifted by elevators into the arena… (literally “sand” in Latin, as in the sand which covered the floor of the fighting area).

The amphitheater is both spectacular and evocative, not only for its beauty and magnificence, but because there are so few visitors.  One can’t help but feel like an 18th century traveller, rediscovering long forgotten ruins under a warm, clear blue sky. Nowadays you can wander here for hours without seeing more than 4 or 5 people, a far cry from the 50,000 spectators that would regularly fill the amphitheater 2000 years ago.

Our tour of the Roccamonfina Regional Park starts at the Sanctuary of St. Mary of the Lattani which houses a 15th century church, a Franciscan monastery, magnificent cloisters and a hermitage overlooking the vast and luscious Campanian landscape and poised on the edge of the Roccamonfina volcano.

The religious complex was founded in 1430 when a statue of the Virgin Mary was miraculously discovered in a nearby grotto where a shepherd kept his sheep. The news spread and pilgrims soon began to appear. The location was visited by S. Giacomo and S. Bernardino of Siena who decided to help erect a temple worthy of the event. A small chapel was built next to the grotto which became the site of subsequent miracles and as pilgrimages increased, this was incorporated into a small Romanesque church. Later this too became part of a larger gothic plan in the late 16^th century when the hermitage was added. The beautifully carved wooden doors with their original locks are some of the oldest and finest examples of its kind in Italy.

Not to forget: the waters of the tiled fountain in the main square are said to ensure the birth of male children if imbibed by pregnant women.

Certainly the best parts of the building complex are its cloisters and dining hall which were built in the early 1600’s. The peaceful and serene cloisters are frescoed with beautiful floral designs delightfully juxtaposed with macabre images of martyred saints. The splendid dining hall boasts Renaissance frescoes and fantastic walls covered with hand-painted and hand-fired tiles.

During World War II American bombs caused serious damage to the portico and the convent but these were fortunately restored in 1966.

Testo in italiano

Il nostro tour del Parco Regionale di Roccamonfina inizia con il Santuario dei Lattani, composto dalla chiesa, monastero Francescano completo di un magnifico chiostro ed il romitaggio, dominante dal fianco del vulcano Roccamonfina il verde paesaggio campano.

Il complesso fu fondato nel 1430, dove un giovane pastore di capre scoprì una bella ed antica statua lignea della Madonna con Bambino evidentemente sopravvissuta alle vicende Longobarde. Questo ed altri eventi in odore di miracolo attirarono grandi flussi di pellegrini e tra loro S. Bernardino da Siena e S. Giacomo della Marca che si adoperarono per la costruzione di una prima cappella vicina alla grotta del ritrovamento.

Visto il grande seguito di fedeli, nei secoli successivi le autorità feudali e religiose continuarono ad ampliare il complesso, costruendo una prima chiesa romanica, poi divenuta gotica, e poi il chiostro, completato nel 1600.

Questo ed il refettorio sono tra gli ambienti più belli, grazie agli affreschi ispirati alla vita di S. Francesco ed altri, e le fini ceramiche decorate a mano. Notevole il portone della chiesa in massiccio castagno, del 1500, ancora completo del suo meccanismo originale. Il Santuario subì bombardamenti durante la II Guerra Mondiale, ma fu restaurato negli anni ‘60 e nuovamente a fine anni ‘90.

L’immancabile tradizione locale riguarda la fontana nel lato a monte del cortile: le future mamme bevendone l’acqua avranno un bel maschietto.

Savour the Sannio is happy to announce the inauguration of a new regional park in the Sannio: Il Parco Regionale di Roccamonfina. The area of the park is delimited by the sloping hills of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina and incorporates the towns of Sessa Aurunca, Teano, Conca della Campania, Galluccio, Tora, Piccilli, Marzano Appio and Roccamonfina itself. The park highlights a little-known treasure trove of nature, history, art, culture, agriculture and culinary traditions.

The park’s president Raffaele Aveta writes, “This is a first step towards giving the territory of Roccamonfina the visibility it deserves. Visitors from all over the world are invited to embark on a journey through our medieval towns and hamlets, our soaring chestnut groves and the collective memories of our people as well as to taste the extraordinary food and wines that are typical to this territory. This is the best way to safeguard the fertile yet fragile ecosystem of this volcano”

The next step will be the establishment of a farmer’s market where people can come on weekends to buy the local varieties of fruits and vegetables directly from the producers. This initiative is hosted by Eco-chef Berardino Lombardo on his beautiful estate of Terre di Conca. “In an age of globalization and massification, it is important for both consumers and producers to have a place where the unique heirloom varietes that are indigenous to this area can be seen, tasted…and saved from extinction. “

Ann Jacobs from Hawaii wrote this review of our wine tour on the Slow Travel website

“When Barbara Goldfield popped up on the Slow Travel Message Board, I couldn’t contain my excitement. We would be visiting our son-in-law’s relatives in Bucciano, and I was thrilled to find someone who knew about Campania inland, not just the Campania of Naples and the Amalfi Coast. After a spirited email correspondence, I arranged for a one-day wine tour for the five of us plus the Italian cousin. We spent a very full and delightful day with Barbara and Federico. They live in Sant’Agata dei Goti (Saint Agatha of the Goths) a picturesque medieval town in the hills about 45 kilometers from Naples.
Barbara and Federico picked us up at our hotel in Paolisi at 9:30am in a very comfortable mini-bus. Our first stop was the town of Sant’Agata. An early Christian martyr, Agatha was the remarkably beautiful daughter of a distinguished family. She spurned the proposals of the Roman Senator Quintianus, vowing to dedicate her life to Christ. He promptly subjected her to torture, including cutting off her breasts. She was miraculously healed by St. Peter that night, but then was further tortured and eventually succumbed.
Gruesome as the story is, the town is lovely. We walked all over, Federico relating the history and legends, Barbara stopping to chat with the various townspeople who all welcomed us warmly.
The town is built on a rocky outcrop of volcanic stone. It has wonderful views over the surrounding countryside from the battlements all round, and its narrow streets are crammed with churches and historical sites with NO TOURISTS! The bridge over a small river provided an incredible view of the “apartment” houses. Each floor added as a family grew.
The countryside is stunning with 3,000 to 4,000 foot mountains, some terraced hillsides, and many vineyards with olive and grape vineyards. It’s green, lush, and with small towns with clustered homes and Byzantine towered churches. The climate was sunny with a good breeze, a welcome relief from the 100+ (F) degrees in Florence. We toured a cheese factory - too late for the daily making of the cheese, but we saw the finished product and all the equipment, and Federico translated the process as related by the owner’s teen-age daughter.
Before lunch at L’Antro di Alarico, we visited the restaurant’s cellar, dug deep into the tufa rock, full of old wine-making implements.
Lunch was delicious and even included humus since the restaurateur is Jordanian. We posed for a group picture in front of the statue of Sant’Alfonso de’ Liguori, and then on to the wine!
Our driver got a little bit lost on the way to our first vineyard, Corte Normanna, but Federico had a talking GPS and the scenery was drop dead gorgeous so we didn’t mind. The vineyard is about 20 hectares and the tour was unlike anything we’ve experienced in California. First of all, the grapes are ancient; this is what the Romans drank! The owner, Alfredo Falluto took us out to the grapes and spent almost an hour explaining how the grapes were grown; one bunch per vine, rows far apart with no cross rows, harvested by hand, then gently pressed, and the rest of the process. From vine to grape refrigeration in three hours. Federico did a marvelous job translating for us, and it was obvious Alfredo was extremely proud of the work he was doing. Then a wine tasting of two Falanghinas and two Aglianicos. We had promised ourselves that we wouldn’t buy any wine this trip as we didn’t want to schlep it home, but oh, the wine! Couldn’t resist, both the wine and wanting to help this young man make a go of his endeavor.
Then on to a second vineyard, bigger and more professionally run, Masseria Venditti. It has been in the owner’s family since 1595 except for a few years around the turn of the 20th century when they sold the vineyard and went to the States for a few years, but then returned and bought the farm back.
Later we asked Federico why so many Italians left at the turn of the 20th century. His explanation, which sounds reasonable: before the Unification of Italy, the local nobility cared for the land/people because it was in their own best interest to have the land self-sustaining. After unification in 1868, the south came under control of the House of Savoia who imposed such incredibly high taxes that the population became pauperized and the social structure annihilated. Many people emigrated, others rebelled and became “freedom fighters” or “brigands” as they were labeled by the nobles of the north.
Back to the wine. This owner gave a tasting lecture, describing the characteristics that made his vintage unique. Again, obviously a man who was passionate about his work. So of course, we bought some more wine.
We returned to our hotel, happy that we had a chance to appreciate local culture and discover some REALLY good wines. Barbara and Federico were extremely gracious and knowledgable; we couldn’t have had a better tour.”