Lo stradello

Breve storia del lunedì di Pasqua

Lo "stradello", una parola bellissima, che pensavo appartenesse solo al mio dialetto umbro. Invece si trova anche nei dizionari col sinonimo di sentiero, viottolo. Ma stradello è molto di più. Stradello sa di strada di campagna di misura infinitesimale, dove passa un carretto, spesso di collegamento tra case coloniche vicine, legate anche da parentela.

È lo stradello che profuma di erba fresca la mattina presto, in cui il verde è cresciuto dove poteva, al centro, con qualche fiorellino di stagione.

Penso quindi allo stradello che legava le case di una mia zia con quella di mia nonna. Lo stradello è stato poi interrotto in anni recenti da un allargamento del giardino di una civile abitazione, che si trova a metà strada. Lo stradello ora per me non c'è più.

Così ho pensato che quello stradello spezzato sarà unito per sempre, come era in origine, solo nei miei ricordi, pensando a quante volte mia nonna e mia zia ci saranno passate per andare una incontro all'altra.

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RIVE GAUCHE

Ancient Umbrian towns are located east of the river Tiber running along the middle 

of the Umbria region.

Back in 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting a respected Italian history professor who got interested in what I was doing for Cama. He had arts & cooking talents, he was in love with life. He soon became a source of valuable information for me. 

This professor knew everything about our ancient civilizations in Italy. We ended up spending much time together wandering around Umbria. 

That's how I had the opportunity of finding out more about my Italian origins. And that's when I really understood that I am Umbrian by birth and speak Etruscan by heritage. 

I got really interested in knowing more about the Umbrians. 

I feel partial towards ancient Umbrians because I have always been attracted by the people who live east of the river Tiber.  I love their dialects and that's something making the difference to me. Unfortunately, I speak a dialect that comes from the Etruscan heritage despite my growing up east of the Tiber. We cut words and it goes under the name of 'syncopal dialect'.  

View on famous St. Angel castle and bridge over the river Tiber in Rome 

On the contrary, Italians who live in ancient Umbrian towns have a much sweeter and warmer accent. That's what makes me feel close to them:  sweetness & warmth! 

Literature narrates that the Umbrians were the oldest population in Italy. They were originally from the 2nd millennium B.C. and they were famous for being non-belligerent. Umbrians arrived in middle Italy from central-east Europe (the territory that goes from Poland to the Balkans). Their land expanded from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic sea and down from the Po valley to the upper part of the Lazio region. 

Cypress trees are a symbol of the Etruscan supremacy

Around 1200 B.C. the Etruscans arrived in our land and conquered little by little three hundred Umbrian sites. They settled down west of the Tiber. Etruscans were originally from Lydia in Asia Minor (Turkey). They migrated to the Italian peninsula as a result of a famine. Further invasions to central Italy followed in Roman times. 

Nowadays the surviving Umbrian towns can be found east of the river Tiber, a historical Umbrian territory. Towns such as: Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Todi, Trevi, Spoleto and Norcia all have Umbrian origins.  

Last but not least I am learning now how to determine a river's right and left bank. You have to face downstream. The river Tiber rises on Monte Fumaiolo in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, so we look towards southern Italy. And the surprise is that ancient Umbrian towns east of the Tiber are located on the RIVE GAUCHE!  

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B.B.B.

St. Benedict of Norcia, Saint Patron of Europe
(Norcia, circa 480 A.D. Monastery of Montecassino, circa 547 A.D.)
Click the link to check about hospitality, the Monastery is
located in 03043 Cassino (Frosinone, Lazio)

If the motto of St. Francis of Assisi was "Pax et Bonum" (tr.Peace and Good), the motto of St. Benedict was "Ora et Labora" (tr. Pray and Work). St. Benedict was originally from the town of Norcia, located in the Umbria region as well as Assisi. St. Benedict is the Saint Patron of Europe, he is considered the father of the European civilization and celebrated every year on July 11th.

His revolutionary rule was a way of life between oriental and western Irish Monachism. St. Benedict's notions such as: use of time, respect of each other, team work, cooperation, welcoming, prayer, patience have inspired scholars of management studies in Italy and abroad as St. Benedict is referred as the major entrepreneur of the first Italian multinational company in Europe.

"Work and the Rule"
Benedictine spirituality
as a founding element of
perfect business management.

 "Perfect Management"
A book about perfect  business models
inspired by Saint Benedict of Norcia.

In times of darkness St. Benedict managed to preserve Europe's cultural heritage by studying and copying ancient books in the so called "scriptoria" (tr.writing rooms), which in return were the only heated places in monasteries. But St. Benedict's contribution to Italian and European culture is not restricted to this endeavor only. The Benedictines founded schools, helped artisans, hosted homeless people, offered their knowledge in the field of medicine, they established models for agriculture. 

In this regard, I remember reading this writing in the botanical garden of the benedictine Church of Saint Peter in Perugia: "Si tibi deficiunt medici, medici tibi fiant haec tria: mens laeta, requies, moderata diaeta" (tr. if you do not have doctors available, take these three things as your doctors: a joyful heart, rest and a simple diet).  

Much wisdom comes from ancient traditions and I am praying St. Benedict to help me find the perfect management at Cama's reviving the spirit of Cama's as a workers cooperative in the new millennium. 

Assisi and Norcia are located in the region of Umbria, known as "green heart of Italy", the region of the Umbrians,
a population going back to the second millennium B.C., a land of Saints, beautiful Churches and Monasteries.
(credit for the map goes to "Condé Nast Traveller", May 2012  issue, the red highlights are mine)

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- Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

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