Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-03-20
A Pleasing Picture of Peasant Life in
Italy,

The little mountain town OF Monte
catinialto is situated on a height of the
mountain about q mile distant. 1t is
the seat of an old fortress and mOnas-
cry of the tenth century, and we hear
the chimes ringing out from its towers
every hour of the day and night. On
the nights of numerous feast days its
old walls, as well as those of the Moor
ish convent of Monsulmano and of Bug
giano situated on steep heights couple
of miles on either side. are brilliantly
illuminated, giving them a strange,
wild and wierd appearance. The sur
face of the vallevs and terraces all up
the mountain sides are cultivated in
vines interspersed with fig and olive
trees, with small patches of wheat,
barley and oats between the rows. The
people are very poor but industrious,
honest, and well disposed, though ex-
tremely ignorant except in regard to
their religious duties, in which they are
very exact and devout. p
Not long ago 1 made a visit to an old
town away up in the mountains and
overlooking the Mediterranean. called
'sLa Serra," or the lock, because it
was a fortress on point which con-
trolled the whole country south of it. 1
6Ocki UCo Ou a 0DAhOJ, CAC 1OOAo hoO 1o-
mitting of wheeled vehicles, and finish
ed by scrambling on foot up to the little
town, some 5000 feet above the sea,
and was entertained at the palace of
the padrone, the only building with
any pretension to style or comfort in
the village. The young proprietor in
l-herits some twenty miles square of ter
ritory, including dozen other villages,
which furnish him the magnificent in
| come for this country, of $4,000 lire
($1O,000) per annum. Here is village
of 500 people without municipal gov
erpment of any kind; no hotel, post
Office or school; no lawyer or
| physician; no shops of any kind,
not even a beer "saloon;'' in
fact, quite devoid of all the adjuncts Of
our modern civilization. Its one only
beggar does not deign to ask aims at
home, but &c changes work !" with some
stalwart resident of an adjoining ham,
let. He complained that his last trip
of five days netted him but fifteen CEN
tesimi (three cents Verify, mendicacy
even in this land of beggars. is but q
poor road to riches. Situated above
/ the region of vines and olive and fig
trees, the people exist upon berries and
nuts and the flesh of kids and sheep.
| Their principal food is bread made
from the flour of the chestnut. The
1 place was well known four hundred
years before Christ, and is much the
same as then, the old heather temple
being transformed into q Christian
church, the statues of their deities useo
as saints, and their affairs as shrines O
the Blessed Virgin. The habits, Ian
guage, and even dress of the people art
much the same as in medieval times
The town is built on the point of bold
sharp promonitory. and was originall,
surrounded by massive stone walls
which have given way in places to ac
commodate the crowding population
and provide garden spots on the slopes
OF the hills. The only water for tn,
use of the inhabitants is brought from
two springs on either side of the cliff
and about a quarter of mile distant
One spring furnishes a cool, pure waite
for drinking and cooking purposes, an,
; the other for washing, watering goat
!, and sheep, etc. Every morning ant
evening the young women of the villag
, proceed to the drinking fountain witt
| their quaint buckets of clay or copper
i which they carry on their heads
sometimes, also, in both their hands
The elder women bring the water from
: the other spring, sometimes bearing
= on their heads in small, fat-shaped bar
/ rels containing about ten gallons. Thi
, practice of bearing heavy weights upo
the head has given the females of tn
country an extremely fine carriage an
,, figure, the admiration of all who ar
accustomed only to soft and effemin
ate manner in the women of their coun
I try. On Sunday afternoons and O
{ their numerous fete days the girls pre-
e ceed to the spring, dressed in thei
{ quaint holiday attire, provided wit
0 their buckets for the purpose {
: bringing water, but to meet their beaus
who are also dressed in their best; an