Travel

The Journey Home — Day 9 — Montebello/Fossato Calabria

The drive from Scilla to Montebello is about an hour and on the way we stopped to view the mountain “ghost town” Pentedattilo, which is derived from the Greek language and means five fingers.

You can read the interesting story of two barons here.

Our day in Montebello and Fossato turned out to be one of the more special days. Mostly due to my cousin Cinzia Piromallo ( she and I on the second floor balcony of Palazzo Piromallo in Montebello. Originally I just planned to have a little side trip to Montebello just to see one of the ancestral homes. Instead, Cinzia, with the help of the leaders of several local associations made this one very special and memorable day. We were greeted by Mayor Maria Foti and welcomed by the association executives, Baron Cordopatri and other very special people that we will never forget.

We were then brought to the first of my ancestors homes in Montebello, which is still occupied. In the piazza outside the residence we were met and entertained by Gino Neri, Angelo Roda and Pasquale Federico. Check the videos below to see how how they got everyone singing and dancing.

Much to my surprise the current owner presented me with the key to open the door and allowed us upstairs to see the residence.

Before leaving, the local florist presented my wife with a beautiful bouquet of roses colored blue and gold for the stemma of the Piromallo barons.

Our next stop was Fossato, a place up until a short while ago I did not know was part of the Piromallo history. It was only a short ride, and everyone followed from Montebello. We arrived to renditions of the US and Italian National anthems and were led up a hill to the second Palazzo Piromallo. There we found a spread of home made eggplant parmigiana ( courtesy of cousin Cinzia ), cheese, ham, olives, bread and olive oil, cookies and of course wine.

After a bit, we were treated to a fashion show highlighted by my daughter Nicole, who was announced as the Contessa escorted by the Baron. Even Mayor Foti took part. After that there was more singing, dancing and games. One game was the predecessor to bowling, where pins are set up in a diamond shape and you throw a type of bocce ball to knock them down. The secret, bounce, don’t roll the ball. Another game, which is Internationally known, is to spin a top, then pick it up and place it on the palm of another and time how long it spins. We were told that one of the group has had it continue to spin for almost four minutes. No easy task.

What was truly special is that the wonderful people of Montebello and Fossato spent the entire day with us and treated as if we were their family. One resident even gave us a huge bottle of olive that she pressed herself.

Towards the end of the day the current owner of the palazzo asked us if we would like to enter. He does not live in the building but in another home on the property.

We were told that the lower level was once used for silkworm cultivation and the silk industry. It was nice to be able to go inside and one can only imagine the palazzo in its glory days.