It was around this time that I discovered the term "Jure Sanguinis" which means by Right of Blood. According to Italian law, I can become an Italian citizen so long as my family did not renounce their Italian citizenship. Essentially, I am already an Italian citizen but have not yet claimed my rights. From there I took another look at the immigration documents I had and found that just south of Pavullo sits a tiny village named Renno and is likely the place where my ancestors were baptized.
I had 3 responses from my 30 letters. One of them was from a teenager who's uncle received my letter. Martina and I have been writing since November and it was with her family that I stayed in Northern Italy at the start of my trip. As I've stated before, the Pecchini's felt like close family and were incredibly kind and welcoming. I had dreamed that we'd visit Pavullo (renting a car was pretty costly so I had crossed that off my list of potential outings) but never thought I would. That was until my 3rd day in Italy when the Pecchini's and I got in one car and the Poggioli's in another and headed southwest into the hills and valleys of Emilia-Romagna towards Pavullo.
As with every other drive we'd been on over the last 2 days, I sat in the front passenger seat. The dictionaries were still out and we shared a lot of stories and vocabulary. Watermelon was a new term I had taught Martina and Maria Teresa among many others. I also was teased about being "il camello" which was a story I had shared the day before at lunch.
Pavullo is like central Illinois only its not flat as far as the eye can see. The farmland rolls in a variety of earthy shades among the hills and while barely an hour away from Modena, seems like it is a completely different country. Just like the difference between Chicago the "big city" and central Illinois where my Italian family settled. I always wondered, "Why central Illinois?" Seeing the landscape here answered this question.
(This photo was taken from the castle overlooking Pavullo...more on that in a second).
Breakfast that morning had been pretty fun and a great start to the day yet again. Ivan was up early and had the tv on next to the breakfast table. He was watching some sort of car race. As we munched on pineapple, plums, a juliana torta and nutella we also watched part of an episode of "Joey" the Friends spin off and a children's program that taught the exploration of Magellean and Vespucci. I don't think I understood much of the show but the graphics and weird space theme gave me the gist.
Anyway, we left at 9am and around 10am arrived in Pavullo. There was a huge market in town with a lot of knock-off and local goods being sold. It was a quaint village with brick streets, most of them closed to traffic due to the market. We walked through the town for about 35 minutes, stopping in the tourist information building (which we did in every town). The Pavullo folks had no brochures I could take for free but they were really friendly and told us to head up to the Castle that overlooked the town. We had a little trouble relocating our cars after walking but a few extra steps never hurt, especially when you are walking streets your ancestors once probably walked. Amazing!
Castello Montecucculo was once home to a prominent general, Count Raimondo Montecuccolo. Raimondo served in the Austrian army (national borders were fluid still in the 17th century, especially in northern Italy which wasn't unified until the 19th century) but was born at this castle and also fought for the state of Modena. His achievements eventually gained him the title of prince of the Holy Roman Empire. His former home is now an art and natural history museum. It had gorgeous vistas from its windows. I took several contraband photos here. I've never seen something so out of place! (This is an image of various rocks and stones found in the region. The stuffed taxidermy animals were really eerie).
Just outside the castle we took a few photos. Ivan found a few baby figs that were not ripe. I was warned not to eat them (I didn't know what they were at first. I've never seen an unripe fig!). We left them by a little waterpump fountain and a tiny Marlboro club car. I also posed for a photo next to a metal sculpture of Raimondo on his horse near the castello entrance. What a tourist!
We drove just a few miles further south to find a place to picnic for lunch. We stopped in an incredibly cute deli/store and purchased some meats, cheese, beer, dessert and BREAD! We continued the drive another few minutes down the road when I saw the sign: Renno. In my wildest dreams Renno was a destination. I hadn't told the Pecchini's that I had a connection to Renno. They had picnicked at a little picnic table that sits behind the church in Renno. There was a child's playground there, too. I think I was speechless for a few minutes.
We laid out the food and sat at the table. Ivan used the edge of the table to crack open the Heineken and everyone ate, chatting happily about all sorts of topics. The bells were ringing which seemed to me like a perfect sign of "this is where I should be."
When the minutes went buy and the # of times the bells tolled were beyond 12 we started to wonder if the bells were broken or if it was just a special day in Renno (turns out there was a funeral). We laughed a lot, mostly because the bells were getting a bit annoying. When done with lunch we played on the playground. What else are carefree adults to do?
We arrived back to Modena around 4pm. Of course, we had a detour first in Maranello, home to Ferrari. I bought a few gifts in the Ferrari store (when else is anyone I know going to be here?) and took some photos of Ferrari's zooming by on the street in red and yellow (Ferrari's most famous colors. The yellow is called Modena yellow). I took some photos at the Ferrari factory and again with some cars at the Ferrari museum/test area. Ivan climbed a fence to get some photos of the test track (made me nervous!). Again, I knew this was near Modena but didn't expect to see it!
The rest of the evening I sat chatting with the family in the garden. Ivan watered the plants while I showed Marty and Maria Teresa photos from my facebook page and images of Park Church back home to show them how different some of the churches in the USA can be. We snacked on more fruit and gas water. Dinner at 8:30 was spaghetti, something that the family doesn't normally make in the summer when it is hot. Apparently most meals in the summer are cold meals since turning on the oven makes things hotter. What a great idea! It was a lovely act for Maria Teresa to cook that night.
We watched the USA v Ghana World Cup match at 9pm (I said USA would lose since we hadn't been playing our strongest and they did). Ivan gave me some gifts including a soccer scarf and some books. Have I mentioned how nice these folks are? Maria Teresa gave me some Barilla pasta. In Italy, Barilla makes specialty noodle shapes for different areas of the country. I'm saving it for something special. Bed was at 11pm and I didn't sleep well that night (much like this late night I'm spending writing this!)
I'm blessed to have met (and am somehow related to) the Pecchinis. We're lifelong family now. I'm going to improve my Italian someday and definitely will go visit them again. It was tough to say good-by the next day. I had booked this trip looking forward to the tour and seeing so many wonderful places and revisiting sites I had seen 3 years previously. The days I spent in and around Modena were so unique and special that it would be hard to top them. If I had wanted a unique experience of Italy I had it. I hope I can return the favor someday for them! Grazie Pecchinis!
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