Maybe our Italian friends can share with us how they are spending today, Pasquetta (Easter Monday). I hear a picnic is traditional.

Yes! Great idea.

I wish we did that here in the states. I'd much rather be outside instead of sitting in front of a computer today

Sicuramente è tradizione fare dei picnic ... ma con il tempo che c'è stato durante l'ultima settimana in Italia è bene stare in casa vicino ad un "consolante" camino




Ciao
Luca

That looks very cozy Luca and very comforting!
ingraziarsi e confortare Luca

Ciao

Roughly translated, Luca says that it is surely a tradition to have a picnic but with the way the temperature was this last week in Italy, it is better to say at home close to a comforting fire.

Luca, dove abita? Non mi recordo. Qui, in Connecticut, fa freddo, 25 gradi Farenheit.

Poipu04 wrote:

Maybe our Italian friends can share with us how they are spending today, Pasquetta (Easter Monday). I hear a picnic is traditional.

Today ? Well as little as possible personally - although there is a bit of sunshine around it is still cold up here in the Alp's... This is the webcam for the small valley (Valgerola) just to the east of where I live....
>Webcam Valgerola<

But the Northern Italians usually profit by going away for the first 'long weekend' of the year. Many seek a bit of sun and sand - which is fine when there is a 'high (late) Easter'. But when it is in March then the seaside is quite likely to be as cold - if not colder - than the mountains. In fact central and southern Italy are having quite a hard winter this year. Many Provinces and regions have had more snow than the alpine and dolomitic regions!

But the northern Italians who don't head for the beaches will seek snow and mountain pastimes like skiing. Many have their own small'holiday places' in mountain and lake towns and villages. My area - the Valtellina - is a nightmare to travel to on holiday weekends. Lake Como has one fast road on the southern side of the lake and another winding, slower road on the northern side. On the fast road on 'normal' days it is possible to travel from Lecco to Morbegno (55.0 km – 34 miles) in about 30 mins. Get to holiday weekends and you can forget that. Last Friday evening the tail back from Morbegno back down the fast road was 17 miles long (3 and 4 lanes) and so that same 34 mile journey was taking upwards of FOUR HOURS!

It's often the same on motorways leading to the sea...so when it's cold many decide to stay at home in the warm - I did, and so it seems did Luca!

Poipu04 wrote:

Luca, dove abita? Non mi recordo. Qui, in Connecticut, fa freddo, 25 gradi Farenheit

This is where I live (in the heart of Italy)
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terni

Carole wrote:

It's often the same on motorways leading to the sea...so when it's cold many decide to stay at home in the warm - I did, and so it seems did Luca!

Well, I was in Italy this time of year in 1988. It was Palm Sunday on the 23 of March that year, and my Nonno turned 93 that day. It was amazing. My first memory of him when I arrived in Locri was him, sitting on a chair by the window, waiting for me to get there. He said, "What took you so long" and I didn't know if he meant that day, or the time it took for me to visit again. Its a memory I will never forget... I never saw him again....he died 6 months later. But I know he waited for me since it had been 17 years since I last saw him before that day.


The temperatures in Calabria and in Rome hit 20. People were swimming in the Sea...

In my grandfathers house though, the walls were wet from the moisture and it was cool and damp but the fire kept us warm at night. That only lasted the first two days and then sunshine.

We spent Pasquetta outside, on a piece of land with about thirty people, cooking and laughing. We ate Fava Beans (I know, I know...but my grandfather loved them) and I introduced them to bacon and eggs.

I have some great pictures of that year, and it will always be my favourite holiday now.

Two of my favourite pictures from that day are these..