Church Supper...Italian Style

So here's an easy Italian word to remember....festa is a festival. One more word to add to my word bank. Anyway, last Sunday was the celebration of San Cresci at the Catholic church up the hill from Capitignano. It was actually an all day affair with church services, an organ recital and then the church supper and raffle. Lynn had arranged for all of us encamped at the villa to be her guests at the festa and we were in for a treat.

San Cresci

We clamored up the hill and tucked the cars away in the haphazard parking lots near the ancient church. It is a beautiful old building that is being lovingly restored.

                                        
It is so picturesque that, although it doesn't have regular weekly mass, many local choose to marry there. There are two Dominican priests on site though I've met only one. Sunday he was wearing a white Polo shirt and racy Italian sun glasses while dispensing delicious local vin rosso and vin sante.

The long tables were set with yellow paper clothes and jars wrapped with raffia twine and filled with lavender that had been cut from the church grounds. Several bottles of water and wine were on each table and you could purchase more wine for 4€ a bottle and many of us did!

Each person was served several courses by the young people supporting the church. We first had salami ( two kinds), cheese and two kinds of breads. Next was a delicious pasta with meat sauce followed by salad. ( Salads are not served with the meal here but as a separate course )

I thought we were through at that point but next came the meat which was small pork ribs, sausages and slices of pork loin.

Rider with Giorgio

Of course, there was bread on the table through the courses and the whole meal was topped off with an assortment of homemade desserts and vin santo. Each course was plated and served by the kids. This was a pretty big operation as, I think, there must have been about 250 people or more.

It was astonishing to see the range of ages of the guests as most of my experience with church suppers, the attendees' average age must be 60! Dinner started at eight o'clock and lasted into the night. Once the spectacular sunset faded into darkness, we were treated to lighted luminaries floating into the night sky.

This definitely seemed dangerous but beautiful. The paper lanterns were a bit like hot air balloons...paper half globes with a base onto which a candle was affixed. The candle was lit and the heated air caused the globe to rise into the sky. The globes set against the illuminated facade of the church was very special.

Next there was a raffle just like the USA type...buy a ticket and hope your number gets pulled out of the jar. The twist was that you could just choose any number you wished and the ticket seller would write it on the ticket. Don't know what the protocol would have been if more than one person chose 744 as their lucky number. We bought a couple of tickets but my luck held- I didn't win again.

Now what was our boy doing throughout all this festivity? Actually he had a ball though it was past his bedtime. He acted like an Italian baby. They are often out in restaurants until after eleven! He crawled on the grass, sat in numerous people's laps, investigated under the table and was strolled up the lane by the church.

He sampled all the various foods and fell happily to sleep in his stroller about 10:45. He(and I) missed the dancing as I drove him down the hill and tucked him into bed!

Betsy and other class members trekked down the hill somewhat later and had an encounter with two sets of wild boars. They escaped unharmed but excited to have met them in the dark! Boar are prevalent in the Tuscan countryside and valued for their delicious meat. Don't think they are exactly domesticated though so people give them a wide berth.

It was a positively delightful evening with friendly people, great food and excellent wine. How special to be here for this event!

American flag flown in honor of Lynn Aeschliman....the church patron