Last week Charlie and I were delighted and blessed by a visit with my sister Sarah and niece Nora who flitted over to Potenza from Paris on their jaunty trip around Europe. This was a high point of our time in Italy this year. It was also kind of funny because the weather was terribly cold and rainy for most of the two days they were here. But we were unfazed and entertained ourselves with many trips to restaurants and cafes, a visit to the local museum, a tour of the famous scale mobili (longest escalator in Europe), the Giro d’Italia bike race which zipped right through the middle of town, and a truly memorable dinner party with our friends Sergio and Gianfranco and their amazing families (and a pet puppy dog named Russel). Below are a few highlights from Sarah and Nora’s excellent adventure in Potenza.
Dorsey girls and Charlie, doing the centro storico.Nora and Sarah relaxing in our kitchen.Beautiful works of Greek art and ceramics from the 5th century B.C. Deep connections to ancient Greek cultural heritage are still present and alive in modern-day southern Italy.
At about the end of the 5th century B.C., groups of Osco-Samnitic descent from central Italy left the mountains for the coastal plains and occupied the Greek cities of Poseidonia and Cuma (present day Campania). Moving from the Tyrrhenian Sea in subsequent waves, they occupied the inland territories of Basilicata during the 4th century B.C., giving birth to what the ancient sources describe as ‘great Lucania’. Lucanians organized their territory while constantly fighting against the Greek colonies, in a system of fortified settlements on high grounds and a network of farms in the valleys.Hamming it up at the entrance to the longest escalator in Europe.
A puppy named Russel is the star of this photo. You can see that Roberto is fully in control as Sergio, Gaia, Aurora, Alice, Marta, and Valeria look on in amusement.The Giro d’Italia came to town, this was a big event! Roads were closed, restaurants were packed, and there was a ginormous extremely loud music and dance party right outside our apartment the night before the race.A large crowd had waited for close to an hour for this moment, and then the racers whizzed by in about 10 seconds. We went back to our apartment and watched the rest of the race on my laptop while eating Italian bread with French cheese from Paris. The peliton ended up in Naples after a crash in the rain that took down half the pack, which apparently is common.
Looks like a great family visit!