#lucito

📸 Lucito – Italy

Lucito is an Italian town of 655 inhabitants in the province of Campobasso, in Molise. The name of the town, Lucito, could derive from the Latin term…

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This is not our first Olive harvest but the first we have managed ourselves.

This year we set to work collecting the olives, a variety from the ten or so trees on our smallholding here in the quiet rural region of Molise tucked away in the south of Italy.

Proud to have gathered enough to make some oil we took the bags up to the local OLEARIO

.. The oil producing plant.

A small enterprise run by the Petrillo family it sits on the hillside just above the village of Civitacampomarano. A tiny village famous for its amazing castle and an incredibly interesting array of wall murals ( covered in another blog.)

Back to making oil.

It is really quite a simple but rather labour intensive process if you include the time it takes to pick them.

Actually making the oil took just over an hour, although this depends of course on the quantity of olives being pressed.

We only had 105 kilos but they produced 22 litres of pure unadulterated oil.

I was really impressed to see how much care they take to ensure that each person has their own oil, even if like us the quantity is small.

It is extremely rewarding to see the green and golden liquid pour into a bright shining can, and taste the fruits of ones own labours.

A big thank you to the PETRILLO family for giving us our first taste of L'Abraccio Del Tratturo Virgin Olive Oil.

We do not produce enough yet to consider marketing it but hope even in a small way we can help this tiny corner of Molise survive and prosper..

They like so many deserve it

Painting plates - old discarded ones in an effort to display just how beautiful it is here in Molise. 

Here at my home I have amazing views literally from the mountains to the sea

Choosing just where you want to be is not always possible and where ever it is one has to make sacrifices trading one thing off against another.

I am not going to lament the problems that have presented themselves here in Molise, but tell you about the amazing things.

One of which is the people, who although almost without exception they all think I am totally mad for having come to live here in Molise, sticking myself on the side of a mountain in a VERY dilapidated old farmhouse.

My daughter refuses to visit until I get what she considers to be a bathroom fit for humans .....

I don't mind living a simple life, and although my house is small, I do have electricity and running water. 

To me now, and perhaps just because of my age or indeed my lifetime of different experiences I am not interested in material things. Just the chance to live a happy life, to live and love, and be loved.

Enough about me, and more about Molise

I live just outside the villages of Castelbottaccio and Lucito. 

Both small villages they are quite different. 

Lucito sits on the side of the side of the mountain, its main street forming the hub of the village, with a small grocery store, bakery, chemist, and tobacconist. The picture is completed by two bars, both of which are frequented by a large number of local people, which of course here it is mostly men, as it is still not the THING for women to “hang around in bars” although this is changing a little.

Like so many villages here in the region a few steps away from the main street will take you into a different world that has changed little over time. 

Tiny little houses crumbling sadly with years of neglect, many of which are empty as people move away to find work in the towns further afield.

There is a small amount of industry although not a lot, so the future for the younger people here is bleak unless the region can buck up its ideas to invest in local projects which will sustain it.

In Lucito the churches like so many, indeed most in the region are stunning, painted inside with frescoes, and littered with paintings, relics and sculptures.

An old castle too sits in the centre and is being restored although with private funds.

The village is also home to a small private museum too set up a couple of years ago, which pays homage to the local farming community.

To put Lucito on the map though certainly to boost its ailing economy more must be done, so along with a group of local people, I am working to do that. We are forming an association which we hope will kickstart both the village and other places in the region into gear.

On my smallholding, I am building FAIRY KINGDOM where I hope people of all ages will come along to enjoy mucking about in nature, using their imaginations to LIVE, LOVE and LAUGH... and HAVE FUN.

It is a project in its infancy but something which will grow and over the next couple of years offer something for local people as well as those further afield.

Castelbottaccio the other village which is only a short distance from me it working hard to develop all it has to offer. Although a very small place the people there are being led now by a Mayor full of energy and new ideas. They have recently formed a new PRO LOCO  a community club which runs events for the village..They are even starting a theatre group next month.

The inspiration brought to them by a group of Americans choosing the village to gain their citizenship has no doubt made a difference too.

Molise is a beautiful region which offers so much, albeit mostly hidden and virtually undiscovered, from the blue sparkling waters of the Adriatic to the Apennine mountains, and a host of stunningly beautiful hilltop castles dominating the green lush landscape.

I am asked constantly why I came to Molise and I will tell you why.

My heart is here.