The Madonna of Genzano story.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, The Madonna story.

Religious beliefs makes people do strange things, see above. Devotees of the Madonna of Genzano, at the Madonna feast buy this large candles, then they walk in the procession holding this large weight in their arms for hours. so, they give money to buy the candela and work hard carrying it around, because they believe that this Madonna can help them.   

The Madonna story

The Madonna of Genzano story.   

Welcome to our article, The Madonna story.  

Dear readers, this will be a long article, we will write about the history of the Madonna of Genzano. Anyhow, here is a link about what sometime happens in the church of this Madonna of Genzano.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPrg1ucmsQ

Now, in our last article the heritage chapter, we have explained that in Genzano there were Greek people living in one of the chasms. Anyhow, I want to talk about the Greek people; because we believe that this Madonna story that we are writing here, could not have happened if the Greek people were not there. You see, before those Greek people left the chasm for the last time, they hid this Madonna effigy that has made history in the town of Genzano.

Anyhow, we must assume this imaginary story, because when we look, it seems that the Greek people were forced to move away from their living place in the chasm, and when they did, they hid their Madonna effigy at the lower end of the chasm. Here we are talking about the Greek people of the early Christian community that lived in the chasm of Genzano; we have to admit that there is no written evidence, so, what we are telling here is folklore stories and logic human explanations, when we put together of what is known today. 

Anyhow, what follows here is guess work, because nobody knows what happened to the Greek people, it is known that they were there in the chasm and then they were not there anymore, perhaps the Greek people were persecuted and had to run away, and when they left, they had to hide away their most precious religious things. So, they left behind buried in a secret spot in a little-known cave, an effigy of a Madonna, which was to be found later by the people of Genzano.

How they found this Madonna icon, everybody in Genzano seems to know the story, because it is a story that has been told from generation to generation, since they found this Madonna, so, just about everybody in Genzano can tell you the story. Therefore, I had only to find a few names and a few dates to write my own version down, which I want to tell you now.

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Telling the Madonna story. 

One day in the year of our Lord 1619 there was a fourteen years old youth grazing oxen in the fields of Genzano, in the zone that we call Sterpara; his parents were of a good and honorable family, the youth name was; Pietro di Giovanni Filippo, and he was minding some oxen in the fields, at the beginning of the chasm ‘Del Monte’ when this event happened. While he was browsing his oxen; a Lady all dressed in white appeared to him; and she told him that he should go and tell the people of Genzano that, they should go into the chasm near the fountain of Capo d’aqua, and dig in the cave that was once known as the vineyard of ‘Don Fabio’ and they would find her there. 

The youth went to town and told the people and the priest of the apparition of this great Lady, but they were not sure whether to believe him or not; so, nothing was done. But after a few days or a week or two, the Lady in white appeared to the youth again; but this time she asked the youth to open his hand, and she wrote in his hand a message to the priest, she closed the youth hand and told him to go to the priest and show him that writing. The youth now with his closed fist that he could not or would not open for fear ran into the town and found the priest, and told him about the second apparition of the Lady in white, and that the Lady had written on his hand in his closed fist something; the priest took his hand to see and there in front of the priest he could open his hand again; and in his hand the priest could see the message which read (I am Maria Santissima Delle Grazie, and come to find me).

So, now the priest had no doubt in his mind from where that message was coming from, and he assembled the people of Genzano and told them the facts. A search was organized, and they dug in and around the said cave for a very long time, and not knowing where else to dig, they also dug farther up the mountain, where they found some human remains and other object as evidence that eremites had been living there, a long time ago.

The search went on for about two years. So, they thought that there was not a real Madonna image to be found, because the only image of a Madonna that they had found, it was a Madonna traced over the sand which was slowly disappearing. And thinking that this was all they would find, they decided to give up the search, but at the same time they wanted to build a small chapel in honor of this Madonna. But while they were digging the foundation for this chapel, a whole heap of hard rocks fell from the chasm’s wall above, which showed them that there was a smaller cave near the old cave higher up in the chasm’s wall, and in this small cave they found a few religious items, including a small image of St. Peter on a brick, but there was no Madonna image or icon to be found.

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This is how the Madonna chapel looks today, so, they never have built a church there, and there are less people visiting this place, accept in summer times when it is hot, then some people will go there for an outside picnic or something. The cave you see above the chapel, I believe it is where they found this sprig of water that today feeds the fountain.   

The Madonna is found. 

Anyhow, they decided to remove the fallen rocks, they could use the rocks to build the chapel. While they were doing that this happened; it happened the 25^th day of March 1621 late in the afternoon, it was about the time when in the church they say this afternoon Vespers’ prayers, at this time of the day most people that are in the country pack up to go home. But there was a worker working at the fallen stone heap, he was tired, but he wanted to do a little bit more, so, he kept working: His name was ‘Giovanni Malatesta’ and he was digging with a pick to get the stones loose from the fallen heap of rocks, when he hit a very hard rock, and a beautiful aroma filled the air: he had struck with his pick the sculpture of the ‘Madonna with Child’. What a shock to this man must have been, when he realized that he struck with his pick the icon of the Madonna over the eye. They say that he never was the same man again, and he died early in life, after this event.

As soon as they realized that they had found the Madonna, somebody ran up the road to town, to let the people of Genzano know that they had found the Madonna icon.

All the religious authorities were in due time advised about the finding of the Madonna icon, and they took part in the prescribed religious events that followed. A Chapel was built on the spot where they had found the Madonna, with the intention that one day they would build a church there. After they found the icon of the Madonna with Child many people came to adore this Madonna, they came from the surrounding towns and from far away towns and they received many miracles from this Madonna that would be hard to count them. Of course, today’s people don’t believe in miracles, therefore, they will not believe what we are saying here, but this is the Madonna folklore story that goes around Genzano town even these days.

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Taking the Madonna to town. 

But there is another folklore story to tell about this Madonna, today most people may not believe it, but you see, here we are talking about Madonna's and miracles, we have to keep in mind that the old people believed that it happened the way that they have been told, so, let us tell you the story, the way it has been told and retold many times from the elders of the town.

The story is, that while they were taking the Madonna effigy to town, to the church of Maria SS Della Platea, which was the main church of Genzano then, when they reached the entrance of the town, the Madonna effigy became heavy, (In those times every town had their entrance doors that were shut at night), the effigy was so heavy that the bears had to stop and set the devise they were carrying the Madonna with on the ground.

Then when they tried to lift her off the ground they could not lift her; so, the priest and the town authorities started to think, why this was happening and what they could do to overcome this unseen problem, some wise man started saying that perhaps the Madonna wanted to be recognized that she was a powerful spiritual being, and to recognize her the best thing to do was to give her the keys of the town, and hope that this was what the Madonna wanted, so, they went to fetch the keys and placed the keys beside her effigy, and soon the effigy became light again and they were able to take her through the entrance of the town and into the church. This is one of the folklore stories of this Madonna; now it is up to us, if we want to believe it or not.

We need to say that believer believe any religious thing that are being told; I am saying this because of the following event, I remember when I was young that at this same entrance where the Madonna came into Genzano town the first time; there were times when some peregrines would come to adore this Madonna with child, and they were bringing with them a little statue of a child, I don’t know exactly what all this meant, but there is a phrase in the town dialect “U bambnid d Frenz” meaning the little baby Jesus of Forenza; Forenza is a town that take several hours of walking to reach Genzano, and those peregrines did all this walking to come and adore this Madonna in Genzano, there were really religious believers in those old days.

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Building the Madonna church.  

A few years after they found the Madonna icon at Capodacqua, somebody dreamed that the Madonna wanted a church of her own, built on a hill called ‘Montefreddo’. When the dreamer dreamed that the Madonna wanted her church built, that night was snowing, but in the morning the snow had melted away everywhere except where the dreamer had dreamed that the Madonna wanted her church built. The dreamer told her dream to the people of Genzano, which then they understood and took notice of the strange event of the snow. Therefore, it was decided that the new church had to be built where that large patch of snow was left. And this is the reason why the church of this Madonna with child was built on this hill called, Montefreddo.

With the building of the Madonna church many devotees came to adore this Madonna, and they prayed to her for graces and miracles; and many graces and miracles they received in return, so, this Madonna sanctuary grew and became well known all around the country for a few centuries.

Today, this Madonna church has been damaged badly twice by earthquake and once by fire, it has been rebuilt and restored and it is still popular, but not quite as much as it used to be, I suppose it is the sign of the times, because people nowadays don’t believe in religion as much as they used to believe in the old times, when they found this Madonna.

Anyhow, in the town of Genzano, we still celebrate a great feast for this Madonna, the yearly festivity for this Madonna are held for three days the first weekend in August. We will come back to tell you about these festivities later; because now I want to tell you what else the people of Genzano did after they found the Madonna Icon at Capo D’acqua.

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Madonna chapel and fountain.

The Madonna chapel and Capo D'acqua fountain

Let us go back to the site where they found the Madonna Icon; as we have said they were going to build a chapel, and they did build the chapel; but at the same time, they built a larger fountain, because when they were digging to find the Madonna icon, they also found a large spring of water, so, they channeled this water to make a larger fountain at Capo d’acqua, because on the abundance of this spring waters.

Since then this fountain has been rebuilt and enlarged several times, one of this was about the year 1800, to serve the people of Genzano as the population was growing larger. The fountain has inscribed in a corner the name of a certain ‘Lepore’, perhaps he was the mayor of the town at the time when they built or rebuilt the fountain. As I said it is a large and abundant spring fountain situated downstream from where they had found the Madonna, and where the chasm Del’monte and the Greek chasm meet, but well before they merge with St. Antony chasm.

The fountain was built as a simple country fountain, and it had five or six large troughs of about three-metre-long and one-metre-wide, all built of solid and simple masonry. We believe that the people of Genzano have used this fountain outside the town a lot, because there was no reticulated water in town in those days.

So, this fountain was used in various ways, as there are two troughs which have three and four water sprouts each, which are fed from the spring and are constantly pouring water into the troughs. The two troughs with the sprouts are reserved for the animals to drink, and for those people that want to fill some vessels straight from the sprouts. From these two troughs then the water runs out into the rest of the troughs, and these secondary troughs were used to do the town’s washing, since there was no reticulated water in town in those times.

Capo d’acqua fountain was very popular in the old times, there was even a song that a young girl used to sing happily, she would sing about the time when she would go to Capo d’acqua fountain to do the washing. I can still remember a few of the dialect verses, and they go like this:

My Italian dialect verses.

Me chiam Rosa e teng vent’ann

E a Capodacqua ije lav li pann

Kess eij la dota ca me dai mam

na strecatora e na cest pei pann.

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English version

My name is Rose and I am twenty

And a Capo D’acqua I wash the clothes

This is the dowry that my mother gives me,

A scrubbing board and a basket for clothes.

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There is a longer version of the washing lady written from the writer 'Angelo Valente' which must be a lot closer to the original; I am going to post it in my blog, http://genzanoit.blogspot.com/, once you open this link on the left side find a list of pages and click on, Poem the washing lady.

I believe that I have said enough about the Madonna story, So, see you next time with, Our life observations. 

To see more click on this link,  The Madonna story.  

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The Greek Heritage Chapters.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, The heritage chapter. 

This is the ancient town fountain that we call Cavallina. Perhaps what we see today is not what it was like in the beginning when the town was born. But we must assume that the water sprigs that feed the fountain have been their since the beginning of time, and the fountain must have been built and rebuilt several time, and this is how it looks like today. 

Welcome to my article, The heritage chapter. 

Dear readers, in this article we want to talk about the history of Genzano di Lucania, and the heritage that the ancient people that lived there left us. Like all old towns Genzano has its own fountain called La'cavallina, and this is where a lot of things happened in the past, so, let us tell the story.    

In Genzano di Lucania, there is a chasm called the Greek chasm, this Greek chasm, is the other chasm on the western side of the old town of Genzano; you see, the old town of Genzano was built between two chasms and in our last article we have talked about Saint Antony chasm, this is a chasm on the eastern side of the old town of Genzano where most of the inhabitant of Genzano make wine in the caves dug in the walls of the chasm below the town, but today we are going to talk about what the local call the Greek chasm, which is on the other side of the town below the fountain called LA Cavallina.

Anyhow, some writers that have written about Genzano history believe that a long time ago the Greek were living here in this part of southern Italy, in the chasm that even today is called the Greek chasm. 

There are reasons to believe that it is so, if one keeps in mind how the human race migrated from the Middle East to Europe; and also history tells us that 700 BC or there about Greece had colonies in southern Italy, which have lasted until the Romans took over. So, let us assume that the Greeks were there, because what is going to follow, is going to reinforce this assumption. We are going to tell you about, The Madonna story in our future articles, we can only say here that this Madonna effigy is very much like the effigies that the Greek people were making about the Roman times.

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The town history and heritage. 

Looking at old history books, there is not much written about Genzano di Lucania town history. However the myth says that Genzano is very old and it was named from a legend that tells us that a young guy called Jens (yens) fell in love and eloped with a young princes called San, they went to live in the caves in the chasm, which today are below the town of Genzano, and then, they started to build a small castle, where the old town of Genzano is now, the name is virtually the two name of the lovers put together Jens-san (yensan, or jenzan) I am saying this because I know that in strict dialect of the town even today it is pronounced Yenzan with no G at the beginning and no O at the end.

(For those people that can read Italian, I am pasting here a couple of links that modern writers have written about the history of Genzano di Lucania: One of this is Ettore Lorito, and here is a link that may get you to see his writing works,Scrittori e poeti, another writer has these two link, here,Arch. Pietrapertosa - Storia e dintorni - Genzano di Lucania, this writer has two links and both are very interesting,

http://ass-gentius.blogspot.it/ , let us hope they work)

Now let us talk about some history discovered in the archive of Potenza; this writer is Ettore Lorito and he said; the first time that Genzano is mentioned in the archives is that of two brothers Secondo and Donato who were Christian martyr in the year 258 AD, as they were beheaded in Genzano ordered from council Valeriano, which I guess was a Roman council for that part of Italy. This seems to be the oldest written record found written about Genzano history and not much else; so, let us go back to the Greek chasm story.

Because we want to describe to you the chasm that we call the Greek chasm, we have to say that this chasm starts about fifty meter from the fountain Cavallina, or perhaps I should say that at the beginning of the Greek chasm is where the fountain Cavallina is, then suddenly the chasm becomes very deep and a real chasm that is hard to go in it, and nobody goes there, unless you have to go there and know the long way; anyhow this part of Genzano is called the Greek chasm, so, by this name it is understood that a very long time ago there must have been a colony of Greek people living there.

About the Greek people and what happened to them nobody knows today, as there is no trace of them and there are no records to check with. So, we are forced to assume that there was a war, or something like that and they were driven out. Or perhaps they mixed with the rest of the inhabitants of Genzano and nobody remembers, or perhaps, as time went by lots of other things happened that changed the shape of the chasm; so, it became impossible for them to live in the chasm.

Recent history of Genzano’s Greek chasm. 

We know that how time passes lots of things change, this has also happened to the Greek people and their chasm; so, nowadays the Greek chasm has been deserted from the people of Genzano for a long while, because most of the people are afraid to go into this chasm the way it is today; you see, today there is only a small part that can still be used and a track or road that can take you around to the other chasm.

This Greek chasm, apart that it is dangerous because of the abrupt drops in the level of the land, it can also be unsanitary as lots of rubbish used to be dumped into this chasm, and this includes also the human excrement that used to come out at the bottom of the chasm, when there was no proper sewer laid in town; and plus most of the men that lived in the old town when they had to go, they used to go and squat on the shoulders of the chasm and do it there, to save their women folks the extra sanitary work that they had to carry out: And this unpleasant task I am going to write later, how it was done from the young women that lived in those times.  

In the Greek chasm today there are a few caves that can be used, and most of the rest have been abandoned because it is impossible to get at them, since the erosion has made the chasm deeper, so, now some caves are left exposed halfway up the vertical cliff of the chasm. 

I believe that the erosion became worse in this chasm because: there is the fountain Cavallina upstream at the beginning of the chasm, and because, as the town grew larger most of the town’s storm water drainage was diverted into this chasm, and together with this drainage they built also a simple and effective sewerage system for the town of those days. The dunghill masonry was built underground, except for the opening where they used to drop the dung, and it was connected through a drain which came out at the bottom of the chasm. All this may seem ridiculous today, but I am sure that in those times was seen as a great improvement.

Now at this point I want to point out to you that there are some large masonry works in this chasm, because across the chasm there are two massive masonry walls, and one of them is so massive that seems as if it wants to hold the banks of the chasm apart. These two walls have been built for several purposes in mind, and the most important one would be to prevent any landslide which would endanger this old part of the town, and to stop the erosion that could undermine this part of the town, and also to hide the drainage and sewer system. So, the only thing that can be seen of the sewer system was only a large barred opening about three feet square at ground level, which was situated a short walking distance from the town’s fountain Cavallina; and this archaic but effective old sewer system was still being used when I was young. Not from my family, because we were lucky enough, as we were connected to the modern sewer system long before I was born. But it still was used from those less fortunate people in the community, which for some reasons of their own had not been able to connect to the modern town’s sewer yet, so, they had to use the old system as it was done in the old days, this must have been the most hated job of them all that the young less fortunate women had to do during their lives, so, let me write about it even though I hate doing it, because it is so hateful and at the same time necessary, in order to explain how the people were living in the past. After all we are trying to write about Genzano history, so, let us see how the most hated job of them all was done, in those times.

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Now, if you look at the wall in the background, you can see an opening, it is near this opening in the background where the old sewer was. In this opening is where human excrement were thrown in, then the container was washed and taken back home.   

This must be the most hated job. 

This must have been the most hated job of them all, that the women folks of Genzano had to do, as there were no other ways available.

Now looking back at the time when I was young, I still remember how the unspeakable job was done, from the women folks of those unfortunate families that were using the old sewer system; they had to do this horrible job two or three times a week, and they would be ashamed while they were doing it, because this would expose them in a mental way about lack of privacy, so, they felt ashamed and what a shame it was compared to today privacy and living standard.

Now, there is more to tell about this happening, because in those times young people sometimes were cruel, so, they would enjoy to see the funny part of it, without thinking that their actions would upset the other party; now that I am older and wiser I would have felt sorry for those women that had to use the old sewer system: But then as a young man; I and my teenager male friends thought that it was funny, when we would see in the evening before dusk, a couple of women per household come out of their houses with their own dung balanced on their head so to speak. One of them would carry this round and wide rimmed ceramic container balanced on her head, the other would be carrying a bucket and a little broom which was a sort of brush with a long handle.

They would be coming out of their houses, and they would try to go the back ways as much as they could, and try to be invisible if they could as they didn’t want to be seen. Can you imagine some teenager girls doing this low and unspeakable service, while some teenager boys were prying on them from a distance? What a shame! Those girls must have felt terrible to say the least, only because they were doing the most hated job of them all, which was to dispose of their own human excrement; but, it was necessary and inevitable.

Anyhow, when they reached the square opening of the sewer, they would help each other to bring the contains down from their heads and would throw the dung down the square hole; and then the one with the bucket would go to the fountain and bring a bucket of water to wash the ceramic container. And finally return to their homes relieved that their dirty job was done, and they would be all right for a few days.

Can you imagine any young girls that are living today to do such a shameful job, I have nothing else to say but just compare it? So, when old people say that today generations are better off and lucky to be born now and not then, they are telling us the truth, because I am pretty sure that there is no one that would volunteer to do that hateful job. Here we can say a lot more and compare the youths of today with the youths of the past and see what has changed since then, but we will refrain from doing that, as it is not my life story and I intend to continue with my life story and the history of my native town.

So, see you next time, where we are going to tell you about, The Madonna story. 

To see more click on this link, The heritage chapter. 

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My November 2021 diary.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link,  November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..

In early November there were two important meeting that have talked about, the photo above shows the main leaders of the 20G meeting in Rome, after that another meeting will take place in Glasgow, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson, where they hope to come up with an agreement, how the world can overcome the climatic change. 

Welcome to our article, November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..

Dear readers, this blog is a shortened version of my diary, and we talk about only about the climatic change, and a kidnapping of a child in Australia. So, let us look at how the internet reported these events.  

About the climatic change. 

• The G20 summit wraps up in Rome with few commitments on combatting climate change.
• In a joint statement, the member countries recognized, however, the importance of all countries taking action.
• Many member states now head off to Glasgow for the COP26 summit, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson.

The G20 summit wrapped up in Rome with few commitments on combatting climate change. In a joint statement, the member countries recognized, however, the importance of all countries taking action. Many member states, including Australia, now head off to Glasgow for the COP26 summit, hosted by UK PM Boris Johnson. 

So, after the summit meeting in Rome, they continue to talk in Glasgow. 

Okay, now they have this COP26 meeting, but I wonder if they are going to achieve anything, because they are not publishing anything, the only thing that I know is that the prime minister of Australia has promised zero emission by 2050.

Now 2050 is so far away, that I wonder why they did not think of a closer date that would indicate, how this is going to be achieved, I believe that they do not know what to do. In fact, sometimes I think that there is not a clear way to follow, even the scientists do not know what to do, they know there is a problem, but they do not have a plan how to solve it. What I mean here it that so far nobody has found a way that states clearly what to do, so, we are supposed to do this and that, and hope for the best outcome. I hope that one day, somebody can show the world a clear plan, how to achieve what now seem so hard to achieve.

But let us talk about the Glasgow meeting, anyhow, the climatic change has ended, now there is a sort of an agreement that most countries want to reach zero emissions by 2050, but how they are going to achieve that is difficult to say. You see, nothing seems to be clear, because while they want to do something about it, they are not sure what to do, as you can see from the following paragraph, and I quote.  

A COAL NEW WORLD

COP26 is all wrapped up, and the results are … predictably mixed. President Alok Sharma broke down during the last day of the conference, reports the ABC, apologizing over after a last minute alteration to the text of the agreement: “May I just say to all delegates, I apologize for the way this process has unfolded and I am deeply sorry,” he said. “I also understand the deep disappointment but, I think as you have noted, it’s also vital that we protect this package.” (End of quote)

MY VIEWS.

Anyhow, it seems to me that what needs to be done is not going to be easy, because there is no clear way how to achieve that. The politicians know that it needs to be done, but they are worried about the economy, so, they are trying to delay the change. Then they want to take it slow, because nobody has planned how to achieve zero emission and its affect, because whatever we do, we may solve a problem, but it might create a different problem.

For instance, to build a wind power station that will produce one million wats of power for 30 years. But to build this wind power station, you need to use existing power that uses coal. So, the question here is how much we gain by building this wind power station, and if it is not a lot, then are there other ways that will give a better outcome?

What I have said above applies also to solar power and any other existing systems. So far, I do not know which one can the best way be. So, I hope that one day they find the best way, and everybody is willing to do it. I know that these things are going to take time, but here we do not have a lot of time left, so, we need to do something soon. Anyhow, perhaps it is better that we start with whatever we believe can improve the situation, at the same time hope that one day, we discover a new way how to solve this problem for good.

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News about what happened in Australia.

Dear readers, let us share the good news first, this time.

For weeks we have been following this child kidnapping event fearing for the worst, but thanks to the police work it turned out alright. 

The 3rd of November 2021, the good news, (most of it is just what I found on the news.)

A missing four-year-old girl has been found alive 18 days after vanishing from her family's tent in a remote campsite in Western Australia.

Cleo Smith, who was dubbed 'Australia's Madeline McCann', was last seen in her family's tent at the vast campsite in Carnarvon, which lies north of Perth, at about 1.30am on October 16.

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With her tender voice quivering, the four-year old girl,

who’s smiling image captured the heart of a nation uttered the memorable words: “M-my name is Cleo.”

It was the moment everyone had hoped and prayed for — that Cleo Smith would be found alive after vanishing from her family’s tent while camping at Quobba Blowholes in Western Australia’s north on October 16.

Just before 1am on Wednesday — 18 days after she went missing — Cleo was rescued from a rundown-looking house in nearby Carnarvon by a team of four detectives.

Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine was at the center of the mission and described feeling shocked when he first saw the girl playing with toys in a room.

That shock quickly wore off to a feeling of elation.

The weight of the nation’s anxiety had been lifted off the shoulders of the WA Police Force — Cleo was finally safe.

Anyhow, today the man that kidnapped her has been apprehended and he is in jail waiting for judgment, when he appears in court. 

This is all I want to say in this blog, see you next time.  

To see more click on this link, November 2021, My Diary of What Is Happening..  

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Wine making the old way.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, Wine making the old ways. 

Grapes ready to be harvested, There are many types of grapes in the world, we eat some of them the way they are like we eat fruit, but a large portion of grapes are grown and harvested to make wine. Now there are many types of wines, and wines are made in different ways, in different places. Anyhow in this article, we are going to talk about, how we made our wine when I was young.  

 

Welcome to our article, Wine making the old ways. 

Dear readers, in this chapter of my life story, we want to point out that life was different in those days. People made their own wine, and got drunk on wine and not bear. Anyhow, in this article we are going to talk about wine making the old ways. Now apart from wine making, wherever you go in the old continent, there are local things that are unique to that place only. In our previous articles we have mentioned that the first inhabitant of Genzano di Lucania lived in the caves in the chasms below the town. It must be true, because this is the only possible explanation that the caves were dug out in the chasm, so that they could have a shelter and live in them. But in my young days the caves were used to make wine in them.

Anyhow, I want to tell you my life story, and take you to see another place at another time, especially when it was wine making time. We know that this is an old way of doing things and making wine. But I can suggest to our readers that they can compare the ways of living of those times with the ways of living that we have today, anyhow, I believe that everywhere you go, there are unique things in their own ways, so, let us talk about Genzano and its wine caves, the way I saw it happening when I was young.

 

Genzano history and its wine caves. 

Today when I think about the town of Genzano di Lucania, I cannot help thinking about the chasms and their caves at the time of wine making; because I found that interesting, you see, we were involved in wine making, since we had some vineyards and a large share of a cave, so, we made our wine in this cave.

Nowadays, when I think about wine making I mentally recall what was going on in this chasm, where we had our cave and we made our wine, so, let me tell you how I feel about it. You see, I feel that there was something unusual and scenic about this chasm in this town, which I believe that people from outside would be amazed to see, if they could see it happening the same way I saw it happen when I was young. Because at the time of wine making the whole chasm seems to become alive in its unique ways; with so many people going around in this archaic place, and you can feel as if you were living in another era; or you would thing that you are dreaming.

If you imagine what’s going on at this upper end of the chasm, which is the beginning of the chasm situated next to the old town and this is where most of the caves are and therefore the busiest place at this time of the year. This chasm doesn’t seem to have a name nowadays, but I think that it was called Vallone St. Antony.

During most of the year this wild and dangerous place has been almost deserted, except for a few people passing in the ancient and steep stone paved main road, which was once very busy for centuries, because the town’s people used to go to the fountain of ‘Capodaqua’ to do their washing, and also to fetch good drinkable water for their own needs in their houses: this fountain of Capodaqua is fed from a natural spring and it is good to drink; it has existed for centuries, it was enlarged in the sixteenth century after they found the Madonna, see, The Madonna story. Anyhow, this fountain was used from the town people and has been rebuilt in the early part of the 1800 for this use.

The reason why this fountain was so popular, it is because the water of the fountain Cavallina which is the fountain situated in the town was not much good to drink, and in the old days it was not as it is today; it is said that this fountain Cavallina was rebuilt in 1860 or there about. It was rebuilt, because the spring that feeds the fountain has been there from the beginning of the world. Anyhow, before the reticulated water supply came to town, this fountain Cavallina wasn’t big enough to supply the whole town.

But after they brought in the reticulated water supply to Genzano, early in the 1900, or soon after that, the town’s people installed running water in their own houses as soon as they could afford it. And so, the custom of going to the fountain of Capodaqua to wash and bring water to town slowly died down. Nowadays the people of Genzano don’t go to the fountain of Capodaqua as much as they used to go, that is except at the time of wine making, because it is easier to fetch water from the fountain to the caves, than it would be to bring down the water through the steep road from town.

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This is a corner of the chasm with several caves, some of which have become useless, but some of them can still be used to make wine. Anyhow, we have to say that today some of these caves need to repair their entrance, but that is the way they have become today. 

Life and sounds in chasms. 

Anyhow, this is a personal life story, where I want to describe this scene in this chasm, in the same way that I have experienced it when I was young. So, let me go back in time, starting from the time when I was a teenager and helping to carry the harvested grapes from the vineyards to the caves: Perhaps this is the best way to describe what it was like in the chasm then, which was how it had been for centuries before my time; but today this scene can be different since things are changing, because they have made those narrow paths wider, so that they can go down the chasm with a tractor, instead of carrying those heavy weights on horseback.

Now, at the time when I was a teenager, I helped at grapes harvest time, my job was that of a donkey-boy, while I was helping to carry grapes to our cave to make wine. So, I would have an ass with me to help me carry the grapes to the cave, in the morning I would go to the stable to get the donkey ready, then I would go to the vineyard to load the donkey with grapes, and then I would drive the donkey to the cave unload the grapes and crush them with the crushing machine. To load the grapes onto the donkey back, the donkey had a special heavy saddle fixed on its back, so that we could tie two large watertight wooden bins on her back, one on each side.

Those wooden bins would hold about two bushels each, so, the donkey would be carrying about 80 to 100 Kg. of grapes per load, depending on how packed down the grapes was in the bins. In my early youth there was no other way to carry the grapes down (or up) the chasm, to get to your cave and make your wine.

On the way down to the caves we had to be very careful with our donkey or horse, as a fall could end in a major disaster, and as we went down the steep main road and turned into the paths of the chasm to reach our cave, the paths would become smaller, so small that we had to find and wait in a wider bay, if somebody else was coming the opposite way, and also we had to be extremely careful when we were approaching some places where there were sheer drops of up to ten meter below us.

But not withstanding all the dangers of this wild place, the chasm was crowded with people at this time of the year. People were everywhere, and they were busy doing different tasks, depending on how advanced their grapes harvest was, because in this geographic position on the hills of southern Italy, the altitude varies a great deal, so, the grapes would not ripen all at the same time, but they would ripen according to the amount of sun the vineyards receive and the altitude.

Therefore, while some people, who had their vineyards in a lower sunny altitude had harvested their grapes and made their wine, there were others that were only starting, and they would be going out with a saddled donkey to Capodaqua fountain to fetch water. Here the donkey had a pair of small casks tied on its special saddle, which the owners would take to the fountain and fill them with water, and then take the water to their caves for washing their vats and casks, so, they would be ready to start the harvest of their grapes. While others were harvesting their grapes and bring them in, as soon as the grapes would reach their caves, they would be crushed with a Crushing Machine which was sitting on a large vat. The crushing machine was a new devise that was being used when I was young, before then the grapes were crushed by foot, and it was hard work. 

 

Vats are huge watertight timber containers used to make wine. Anyhow, at grape harvest time on a vat like this we would set up the crushing machine, to crush the grapes that we brought in from the vineyards.   

The grapes crushing machine, would be set on a vat and by turning the handle the grapes would be crushed.

Crushing Machine and sounds in the chasm.   

The Crushing Machine was a useful devise for wine making, it became affordable to the small wine maker when I was young. It was useful because it saved a lot of hard work; because before the grapes that were brought in from the vineyards had to be thrown in a vat first, then when the vat was full, the grapes juice had to be drained out of the vat and transferred to other containers, while a man or two would go into the vat with clean bare feet, to tread over the grapes until they were all crushed, and then the grapes juice had to be transferred back into the vat to become wine, you see, the type of wine we made over there needed to be together with the husks and stems to ferment, so, all that work needed to be done.

Anyhow, when the Vat was full of crushed grapes juice together with the husks and stems, it was left to ferment for a week or so, during that time somebody would check on the progress of the wine, and once a day would be pushing down into the new wine the husks and stems that have arisen to the top, so that they will all ferment together until the new wine is ready.

When the fermentation stops, then the new wine is ready to be transferred into a clean sealed wine-cask. The large and cleaned wine casks, which is a must to open and clean them up as soon as they become empty during the year, at this time they must be rinsed out and resealed to take in the new wine. It takes an expert to reseal them properly, as they must be watertight to keep to new wine in without leaking. Now the Cooper who is the expert to do this job is called to reseal the wine-casks, and he is very busy indeed at this time of the year. Of course, there are owners who are confident enough to reseal the wine-casks themselves, if they are in good conditions, since they have seen the Cooper doing it many times before.

Now, I want to point out that at this time of the year, the Cooper who is the expert that builds and fixes wine-casks is very busy indeed; but the poor guy during the whole year has not been doing much work, if he was lucky he could have done some work at a steady pace with his skew-axe during the year, like carving seasoned oak-tree-wood to make some new casks, or to fix and replace a rotten peace to the old wine-casks or vats, or doing odd jobs to earn a living: but now being grapes harvest and wine making time he is very busy indeed, because there are a lot of people that require his expertise.

The resealing of the wine-casks is a very noisy job; and since at this time of the year there are several people doing it at the same time, because it is grapes harvest time; as a child I felt that the sound that they made was very peculiar but pleasant to me, so, I would even stop playing and listen to it for a while, since the acoustic of the chasm made the sound interesting to me: The noise that they made when they struck with the hammer on the cask iron-hoops to tighten and reseal the casks run like this: The hammer would start the echo going when it hits the iron-hoop, and that sound will reverberate within the wine-cask itself, then within the cave and within the chasm in a very close chain reaction, which sounds like a long continuous sound very much like a large bell, which starts with a high steel sound and ends with a low wooden sound.

It is nice to be in the chasm at this time of the year, because there are lots of people coming and going all day long, while they are wine making, now most of these people know each other, and being a friendly country place they greet each other’s and exchange a few friendly words, most likely about their progress of their grapes harvest and wine making, as we all know country towns are usually very friendly people.

Anyhow, we have made our wine, drained it from the vat and filled the wine casks, and last thing to do was to call the winepress to extract the remaining juice from the grapes.

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The wine-press and its crew. 

The wine press and its crew were a very interesting lot.

In those times, the winepress could be hired complete with the crew, and the crew of the wine-press was a very noisy lot, as they were five or six strong men, which were moving the wine-press from one cave to another wherever they were required. They were a sight to see and to hear, as they were very vociferous while they were moving the winepress through the narrow paths of the chasm, and they were shouting at each other to overcome their difficult task: Heave! Heave! Pull! Push! Heave! They were shouting at each other. I suppose they were already a bit drunk, even though it is still early in the morning, since they are usually offered a drink of the new wine, from the owners when they complete a pressing job, so, they are affected from the last drink of wine that they have had. Anyhow, they would come to your cave when you were ready, and they would set their press in front of your cave, then one or two of them would go into the Vat to fill up containers with the dregs, and they would pass these filled containers to the others to fill up the press, and once that the press was full, they would press the dregs through a system of livers, they would go around the press pushing these levers that would be attached to a huge steel nut on a long stem, and through these devises they would press the dregs dry.

Then they would release the pressure and open the press to empty it of the dry pressed dregs, and they would refill the wine press again and repeat the operation until all the grapes remains would be squeezed dry.

Once they had finished a job, they would pack the wine-press ready to move to the next cave, they would leave the dregs of the pressed grapes in front of your cave to do whatever the owner’s wanted to do with them. So, now there was the smell of the fresh grapes’ dregs. By now the owner would have offered them a drink of the new wine that they had pressed. He would be almost praying them to drink, or at least to have a taste of the new wine. So, after having a drink they are ready to go.

And off they go again shouting at each other: Heave! Heave! Pull! Push! Heave! As they move away from one cave to another cave. And so, the chasm resounds with their voices above all other people voices, and the acoustic of the chasm helps the scene and makes it even greater.

And this is the way that I remember the chasm and the wine-caves at the time when I was young. And this is the place that the inhabitant of Genzano used to live a very long time ago, but today they all live in the town; of course, there are farmers that live outside town in their own farms, because they have farm animals to look after and work in the farm’s fields, but even these farmers don’t live in the caves any-more. Today this wine making does not happen as much, but it is always good to remember.

Now we have to say that in the history of the places, every time that something happens it leaves its sign of those times, and this is our heritage, so, in our next article we will be talking about one of these heritage chapters of the town of Genzano, The heritage chapter. 

To see more click on this link, Wine making the old ways. 

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