Page 21 - Italian American Herald - September 2022

ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
PER I BAMBINI
Sagra del bico: Paying tribute to an ancient bread
SEPTEMBER2022 | ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM 21
By Melissa Cannavo-Marino and Sara
Mamma and nonna are always on the lookout for a local sagra (sa-gra) food festival when they are searching for a new experience in Italia. Many small towns across Italy celebrate sagre, an event which is dedicated to a local delicacy, ingredient or agricultural activity and allows visitors to experience a taste of local life.
One year, on the last weekend of June, they decided to drive to la regione di Toscana (la ray-gee-oh-nay d Toe-sca-na) the region of Tuscany to attend La Sagra del Bico in
the town of Cetona. They had no clue as to what a bico was but told me we would all go together and find out.
To get there we took a beautiful drive from
Frosinone over mountains and countryside until we arrived nel pomeriggio (nel po-mair- ree-joe) in the afternoon. Cetona is a comune (town) in the southern province of Siena, Tuscany, in an area where Umbria and Lazio meet. When we arrived, we parked in the main piazza, and walked towards the sagra grounds to explore.
Bico (Bee-ko) is a local, traditional flat bread, a mix of Umbrian testo (tes-toe) consistency and the piadina romagnola (pea-ah-dee-no rome-an-yola) from Emilia- Romagna, which splits naturally when baked. A pane povero (pah-nay po-vair-oh) poor bread made of water and flour; it was originally baked under a bed of ashes inside the oven. Nowadays, it is cooked like a pizza, yet still retains is mouthwatering aroma from baking in wood fired ovens.
As a pane povero it is unlikely that it tradi- tionally received the fillings that were available on the sagra menu, but we certainly did not complain. We ordered one with verdure e rigatino (vair-door-a a ree-ga-tee-no) greens and little striped slices of pancetta (pan-chet-ah), and another with prosciutto e stracchino (pro-shoot-o a stra-key-no) a runny, soft
Bico, a traditional flat bread cheese, both delicious.
The sagra took place over two weekends, the last in June and the following at the beginning of July. There are activities for all the days, music, and dancing and of course vendors selling their wares. There was a dance floor for dancing later that evening and concerts each night.
Era molto affollato (Air-a mole-to ah-foe-
lato) It was very crowded, so Mamma carried me. She didn’t want to stay overnight so we missed the concert, but we did walk around the piazza and best of all had some gelato before we headed out. I wasn’t allowed to eat any formaggio (for-ma-joe) cheese or verdure, but I did get some of the outer crust. It was delicious! IAH
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Belcastro in Calabria, close to the Ionian Sea and the mountains of the Little Sila, is one of many ancient towns offering homes for 1 euro.
By Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo
to become homeowners in various locations across the country. The trend began in 2008 as an initiative by the government, mostly in rural towns and villages, to give new life to areas, which were experiencing sharp declines in population.
have lost so much of their population that they offered homes for free and even financial incentives for people to move there.
you will need the permit. Finally, you will need to open an account in an Italian bank. Well, this almost sounds too good to
The sale of thousands of Italian homes
for the paltry sum of just 1 euro has sparked international interest in recent years. Italy has long been a top tourist destination, ranking in the top five visited countries worldwide and in the top three for those who live in Europe. Each year millions travel to Italy to experience its fascinating culture, its beautiful landscapes and artistic sites and delectable cuisine. Some visitors return numerous times because of their heritage and familial ties
and other because they fall in love with the country and its lifestyle.
The aging population and the large exodus of younger inhabitants in search of better jobs in larger cities or in other parts
of Europe, led to thousands of uninhabited houses which began to fall into ruin. The mayor of Salemi, a small town in Sicily, was the first to propose the initiative when he introduced the idea of selling homes that
had lain in ruin since a 1968 earthquake to anyone who would agree to renovate them for just 1 euro. Since then, hundreds of towns have set up these initiatives. Some towns
Of course, there are some regulations you must meet to purchase property. First you will need a passport just to look at properties and you will need to establish residency if you do not have Italian citizenship and plan to spend more than 183 days a year in your home. You also need to apply for a Codice Fiscal, which is comparable to a national insurance number and required to make any transactions and pay taxes. If you are buying a permanent residence, you do not have to worry about applying for a Codice Fiscale because the estate agent will get you one that does not also need a residency permit. However, if you are buying a holiday home
be true and in a way it is. The payment of 1 euro is a good faith offer but the caveat
is that whoever purchases one of these houses must submit plans for renovation to the town council and complete the work within a specific period. Some towns, such as Sambuca in Sicily, specify a minimum
Now Italy is giving many of these tourists an opportunity to become an integral part of the country’s charm with the opportunity
of 15,000 euros for renovations and others may require insurance deposits of up to 5,000 euros. Each municipality has different requirements so that could make a difference in where a buyer might purchase a house. The cost will also depend on the size of the
How to buy an Italian home for 1 euro T Tr r e e n n d d t t o o r r e e v v i i t t a a l l i i z z e e r r u u r r a a l l s s i i t t e e s s p p r r e e s s e e n n t t s s u u n n i i q q u u e e o o p p p p o o r r t t u u n n i i t t y y
JANUARY 2022
continued on page 5
Vol. 9 / No. 1