The Many Faces of Casperia: Captured through the Lens of Paolo Pitoni

 

I have written in previous installments about how photographs posted on the Internet changed our life... how a random image of Casperia, the result of a Google search for hill towns in Lazio, struck a chord and lead us to discover the wonderful world of the Sabina. The power of that first random photo propelled us to visit Casperia and tour a number of Sabine hill towns for the first time in the Spring of 2009. That first visit we stayed only for a week but in 2012 and in 2013 we returned to stay for a month.

Prior to our second visit, I made a number of contacts with people living in the Sabina, or who had their roots there, through Facebook.  The first of these was the result of a random posting of this next picture that I took in Casperia of a doorway of a house on a little street called Vicolo Serpenti. 

A lady who spent her childhood in a house on that little side street responded to my posting, admired the photo and asked me to be her Facebook friend. The rest, as they say, is history.

I continue to stay in touch with our Italian friends through Facebook and Skype. I am a member of a number of Facebook groups interested in raising the profile of the Sabina. Through this and through my posts on this blog I have connected with more people who love the Sabina. 

Every morning, one of the first things I do after waking up, even sometimes before making coffee, I go to my computer, open Facebook, and while I respond to posts and messages from friends here in Canada and elsewhere I look eagerly for new photos of my beloved Sabina.

A few days ago I noticed a number of pictures of Casperia taken by Paolo Pitoni. I have admired Paolo's photographs of the Sabina for quite a while... but these beautiful photos of Casperia truly blew me away... Scrolling through Paolo's photos took me on a virtual tour of Casperia. With each click of the mouse I saw another and yet another of my favourite places, and many pleasant memories of our time in Casperia... special times spent with our friends there began to flood my mind.

Nicoleta, is that you smoking a cigarette there up on the wall outside Friends Cafe there, or someone else? I wondered what Stefano was cooking in the restaurant kitchen at the time the photo was being taken. "Ciao ragazzi!"

When I looked at Paolo's photo of Santa Maria Assunta Church I could almost hear the bells of the evening Angelus... "Ave... Ave... Ave Maria..."  
                                                                     Memories...

In the bottom left hand of the picture you can see a piece of the roof of Petrocchi Bar. The spirited women who work behind the counter were the first people we met in Casperia. "Posso si prega di avere tre bicchieri di prosecco?" 

Across the piazzale, out of view is Massimo and Irene's alimentari where Letizia serves at the beautifully stocked deli counter and Maria stands guard over the fruit. 

I followed Paolo's photos up and into the borgo past the flower shop through the Porta Romana...

  

...up the stone stairs, past the vespasiano up to Piazza Umberto I, a little stone paved square that holds so many of my happiest memories.

I half expected to see Boh or Cicciopalla, two of the town's resident cats, strolling along the stone wall keeping a watch over who comes and goes...

How many times have I looked over these walls and marvelled at the view?...

How many times have I walked through this second gate after a happy Negroni (or two) or a delicious menu of bruschette drizzled with fragrant Sabina D.O.P. followed by a steaming plate of hearty, beautifully sauced Stringozzi thinking 'I am the luckiest man in the world to be able to be here in this special place'? 
   

Paolo's pictures invite me deeper into Casperia's centro storico. I wander up the cobbled steps past the old Locanda or Inn...

Stone archways on either side of the main street beckon. I explore with Paolo the winding vie and vicoli of Casperia, old Aspra in Sabina... past centuries old doorways each guarding their own stories... 

The old stone and brick textured walls themselves seem to whisper... "Anch'io ho storie da raccontare... Rimane un po', e mi ascolti..."
   

Casperia's narrow medieval streets are a maze. In its heyday, old Aspra truly must have been un castello inespugnabile... an impregnable fortress town...

What once were defensive walls are now decorated with geraniums and other flowers in hanging terracotta pots...

Every now and then the road turns and there is a vista of the Tiber Valley with Mount Soratte in the distance. 

We arrive at Casperia's beautiful Piazza Comunale where the town hall stands with its poignant war memorial. Today the Piazza is quiet... sleepy.... 

The stores and businesses that used to operate inside the centro storico have moved outside the town walls.
  

We leave the piazza and climb higher... past Johnny Madge's Wine Bar... past my favourite intersection where basalt cobbled Via Garibaldi intersects with lighter stone surfaced Via Mazzini... up past Roberto and Maureen's LaTorretta B&B... Is that Boh the cat escaping down Via Garibaldi? "Boh! Dove vai?"

Past more mysterious vicoli...

...past Il Sogno, Chris and Meg Phillips' apartment which we have rented these past three visits...

...past the 1000 year old square watchtower... the town's oldest structure... Most visitors who pass by it probably don't even know what it is... Every now and then the raw rock of the ancient hill the town is built on will explode out one side of a house... this too decorated with potted flowers.

 

And then we round a corner...  
 

...and the Romanesque tower of San Giovanni Battista Church, the highest point in the borgo, comes into view.

In front of the town's second church, dedicated to Casperia's Patron Saint, is another pretty little piazza.

Inside the church in an old oratorio behind the high altar is a monumental Nativity Scene, or Presepe Monumentale. This wonder is the result of ten years of loving labour my a man named Giannicola Mariani. The scale model of Bethlehem replicates medieval Casperia, street by street, building by building. It is truly a sight to be seen.
  

Having reached the highest point within the town walls we leave the Church and its shady piazza...

...and make our way down by another route...

...past Vicolo Serpenti, where our friend Clelia lived, and where Maria who works at the alimentari now lives.
 

Enroute we see a sign "Vicolo degli Orti" and go down to steps to see old stone walled gardens brimming with green...

Cats, lazing on the sun-warmed stone steps of the street, blink at us as we walk by...

We continue down through another ancient stone arch, past more tower houses garlanded with jasmine and geraniums. 

Finally we find the road that leads down to the town's second gate...

The Porta Rieti, or Porta Santa Maria as it is also called...

 In a couple of wondrous hours we have explored the streets and alleys of Casperia from one end to another... But we know we have only scratched the surface... Inside the walls there are other streets and alleys waiting to be discovered... each twist of the road, every corner is another adventure...

When I saw Paolo's photos on Facebook I knew right away that I wanted to use them in a blog post... that I wanted to share the Casperia that he saw and captured with his lens. And I would like to thank Paolo for his kindness in allowing me, a stranger, to use them here. It was a great priviledge and an honour to be allowed to showcase his work.  Grazie di cuore.

Paolo Pitoni was born in Rieti on New Year's Day 1978. He is a professor of humanities specializing in support at the Passo Corese First Degree Secondary School. Over the past nine years he has spent teaching school in the hill towns around the Sabina he has developed a profound appreciation of the history and beauty of the Sabine landscape. His special joy is to share the beauty of his native Sabina with school children through photo labs.

I leave you with one last spectacular photo taken by Paolo. 

I hope you have enjoyed this virtual tour of Casperia as seen through the lens of Paolo Pitoni.