Welcome to the place that taught Nonna how to cook!
You're looking at a picture of Cocolino, my great-uncle's dog, on the road leading from the farm into town. Like the true Italian that he is, Cocolino loves pasta.
From the family farm to the world
Violante Ranaudo, my Nonna, grew up on the farm with her four siblings: Gerardo, Giuseppe, Arcangelo, and Carmela. Their parents, Angelo Ranaudo and Giovanna Cogliano, were hard working farmers, faithful Catholics, and loving parents.
The village center of Gesualdo sits on top of a mountain. A winding dirt road with no guard rails and barely enough room for one tractor leads down the farms in the countryside. Even now, the standard cars often stall going up the mountain on the newly paved, slightly wider road. A market that travels all the small towns comes to Gesualdo on Tuesdays. Everyone goes to the Church of San Nicola on Sundays. Every year on the feast of Volo dell' Angelo (Flight of the Angel), a child dressed as an angel zip lines from the castle in town across the square. On the Feast of the Assumption, a number of oxen pull a large straw tower with a straw sculpture of Mary on the top through the town. It's a town steeped in tradition.
A few years ago, standing on a ledge beside the Church of San Nicola, I looked out over the rolling farmland of Gesualdo. I tried to imagine it in even more glory prior to the bombings during World War II. Yet it's hard to picture anything more beautiful.
The Church I was next to was the very one in which my Nonna and Papa were married. It has been under reconstruction since it was destroyed in the Irpinia Earthquake of 1980. It is for that reason that there are few to no records in Gesualdo.
The castle in town had a number of uses dating back to the 6th century. It was redesigned in the 15th century like a Renaissance mansion, but an earthquake in 1694 collapsed the third floor. More damage from the 1980 Earthquake ended all public visits to the castle and put it into a constant state of reconstruction. However, you can still walk the courtyard and climb the walls. (Prolorogesualdo.jimdofree.com)
Today, the family farm is owned by Gerardo Ranaudo, my great-uncle and Nonna's brother. The original farmhouse was broken in half by the 1980 Earthquake, but the salvageable half was restored and a new house was built beside it.
As for the rest of the siblings, they are scattered around the world. Giuseppe lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Arcangelo passed away a few years ago in Empoli, Italy, just outside of Florence. The youngest daughter, Carmela, lives in Switzerland. Violante, my own Nonna, immigrated to Ivoryton with Papa's family.
Comments