Celommi and the light on the most authentic Abruzzo

Pasquale Celommi, definito il ‘pittore della luce’, è un verista autentico che ha rappresentato con le sue opere definite ‘poesie dipinte’, la società e l’ambiente abruzzese di fine Ottocento.

Nasce nel 1851 da un’umile famiglia a Montepagano: una collina che domina la costa dell’odierna cittadina Roseto degli Abruzzi, l’antica Rosburgo.

I genitori si trasferiscono successivamente proprio a Rosburgo, che in questo periodo inizia a strutturarsi come scalo commerciale dell’abitato medievale di Montepagano.

Le opere che Celommi ci ha lasciato, unitamente a quelle del figlio Raffaello che ne seguì le orme, sono uno splendido spaccato della vita quotidiana che abitano, dove protagonista è sempre la gente abruzzese del mondo contadino e della marineria immortalata nei suoi luoghi naturali.

Le sue opere non possono essere certo definite quadri paesaggistici, però le ‘luminose marine’ dell’Adriatico e gli inconfondibili paesaggi agresti cui fanno sempre da sfondo i contorni dell’Appennino Abruzzese, sono il ritratto inconfondibile della natura rustica tra mare e monti dell’Abruzzo.

 

Tre gli esempi più alti della produzione di Pasquale Celommi troviamo L’operaio politico e La pescivendola, in questi dipinti il pittore si avvicina all’esperienza del verismo sociale: la stanchezza degli occhi dell’anziana pescivendola e la caparbietà con cui il vecchio operaio legge il giornale, danno l’idea di una ricerca o almeno di una voglia di cambiamento ed emancipazione che fu molto forte  in Abruzzo.

 

Elemento ricorrente nelle opere della produzione di Pasquale Celommi è la canestra o paniere o nassa da pesca che veniva realizzata dai canestrai, contadini e pastori che nei ritagli di tempo si dedicavano all’antica arte dell’intreccio di vimini, giunchi, rami di castagno o verghe di olivo. Questa pratica ancora oggi è attuale in alcuni centri agricoli e montani dell’Abruzzo.

 

L’opera forse di maggior successo è stata Il Ciabattino, del 1895, dove Pasquale Celommi riesce ad esprimere tutta la sapienza e la serenità dell’artigiano che compie quei gesti ripetuti chissà quante volte, gli stessi gesti che sono nei ricordi infantili di Celommi, figlio di un ciabattino di Montepagano.

 

 

LA SCIABICA DA SPIAGGIA E LA PICCOLA PESCA

La sciabica da spiaggia è una tecnica di pesca praticata dai pescatori delle coste sabbiose del Medio Adriatico con una barca a remi che calava una rete a strascico in acque non profonde e non lontane dalla spiaggia.
Fino ai primi anni del 900′ le reti da sciabica erano realizzate in canapa macerata e lasciate ad asciugare al sole.
Il filo ricavato veniva successivamente cucito dalle donne cui spettava il compito di fabbricare le reti, il compito di ripulirle e ripararle prima di rimetterle in mare invece, era affidato agli anziani.

Questa l’opera Il pescato della sciabica.

In molte marinerie abruzzesi ci sono ancora esempi di piccola pesca da spiaggia,  talvolta incentivate dalle stesse amministrazioni comunali.  Nell’area antistante l’attracco, sono poi le donne che attrezzano la vendita immediata del pescato mentre gli anziani, nel dedicarsi al riparo delle reti, si lasciano andare a ricordi e racconti che se si ha la fortuna di trovarli di buona vena sono un’esperienza da vivere per capire e conoscere meglio un pezzo di Abruzzo.

Chiedi informazioni sulle opere di Celommi e su dove trovare ancora esempi di piccola pesca, ti daremo le giuste indicazioni per un’esperienza davvero your stay in Abruzzo really cozy..

 

The ‘Arminuta’ , Di Pietrantonio and the mothers of Abruzzo

Donatella Di Pietrantonio is a writer from Abruzzo or better still a pediatric dentist successfully lent to the novel, born in Arsita, under Monte Camicia, on the side of Teramo Gran Sasso d'Italia.

The Arminuta (the returnee) is the story, told in her book, of a little girl who at the age of 13 discovers that she is not the daughter of the people who raised her and that is returned to her real family; the Arminuta will thus pass from the city to the country, from comfort to poverty, In fact, it’s two dropouts.

"I was the Arminuta, the returned ... and I no longer knew who to belong to. I envied the schoolmates of the country ... for the certainty of their mothers".

 

In the background, the description of motherhood, or rather, it would be to say of motherhood, hard relationships marked by the fatigue of life: love, abandonment, renunciation but also trust, care, acceptance.

In recent decades in Abruzzo, the 'donation' of children made by the poorest and most numerous families to infertile couples has been a widespread custom.

THE MATERNAL FIGURES OF THE PAST

There were many maternal figures active in Abruzzo until mid-900.

One of these maternal figures is the "mommy", that is the midwife, a figure of distant times in which in Abruzzo children were born at home. An ancient and fundamental role in that period, women who with their hands helped other women to give birth by becoming mothers themselves. The first to discover if the unborn child was male or female, a particular of no secondary importance for those times, the first to give news to the mother, grandmother, aunts. Such was the gratitude for these figures that often the newborn was also given their name.

Another maternal figure of the past is that of the nurse to whom the care and breastfeeding of newborns were entrusted. With an inverse path compared to the initial one of 'L'Arminuta, it was the wealthy classes who entrusted the children to another mother often chosen among the peasants. This is to avoid that breastfeeding could adversely affect their physical appearance or perhaps simply because they did not produce milk. When the nurse looked after the young without breastfeeding, she was called the 'dry nurse'. Often between the nursed children and the biological children of the nurse an affective relationship was established that defined them brothers of milk, still today it is possible to find them among the less young.

THE CULT OF THE MADONNA OF MILK IN ABRUZZO

When the more or less total disappearance of breast milk affected the young mothers of the poorer social classes, given the economic impossibility of using the nurses, devotional methods were used and it was thus that a real cult of the Virgin Mother developed.

Marian devotion in Abruzzo has always been very strong and the cult is attributed almost exclusively to the women of Abruzzo because of the continuous absence of men engaged in Transhumance related to pastoralism.

The Virgin Mary as 'Mother' of all mothers' has often been depicted since the fourteenth century in the frescoes while nursing Baby Jesus.

In Abruzzo you can see one of these frescoes preserved in the sixteenth-century church of San Francesco a Carapelle Calvisio, village in the province of L'Aquila of 82 souls located below the vast plain of Campo Imperatore.

Other traditions involved the use of miraculous waters or at least galactic, linked to the cult of Saints and near mountain springs. This is the case of Sant'Eufemia in Maiella, where these waters were also given to cows to increase milk production, decisive for the economy of the entire community.

THE ABRUZZO OF L'ARMINUTA

The setting of' L'Arminuta is that of' Abruzzo more archaic and primitive hinterland of a few decades ago, scrolling through the pages of the book you can see the colors, smell the smells and almost hear the noises. A harsh but welcoming land, hard but bright.

It is still worth exploring one of the many mountain villages and foothills to live the authentic sensations that can give the meeting with the elderly who have remained to populate them. Their stories, their wrinkled faces sometimes gruff but full of sweetness, their hands marked by fatigue are worth a trip to the village that also becomes a journey through time.

         

You can book your time trip in Abruzzo by choosing whether to base it on costa or on montagna, we will give you tips and directions for a unique experience in the rites and traditions of the past.

Foliage on the Majella

Two steps in the middle of nature in search of that infantile sweetness that you feel listening to the sound of your steps on the creaking leaves.

In this period of the season, with an explosion of colors, the woods and paths become real works of art that give a unique and evocative representation.

Long carpets of leaves that after having lit red, passing through various shades of orange, light yellow and then finish in shades of ocher.

 

BUT WHY DO THE LEAVES FALL IN AUTUMN AFTER LOSING THEIR GREEN COLOUR?

A natural phenomenon is the foliage. Some species of trees that are not able to stand the winter cold, suspend the production of chlorophyll and so the leaves lose their coloring in favor of those typical autumn colors similar to the color of wine that have always marked this season.

THE RESERVE OF LAMA BIANCA, BETWEEN BEECH TREES AND CLEAR WATERS

The beech more than any other tree is subject to these mutations and on the Majella the centuries-old beech of Lama Bianca is one of the places where nature is most generous in every season and especially in autumn.

The Lama Bianca Nature Reserve is characterized by dense forests and water springs, The Tour of the Sources with its paths make it a suitable place for children and blind people but also a starting point for more experienced hikers.

 

THE FIVE SENSES OF THE LAMA BIANCA AUTUMN

An autumn walk on the paths of Lama Bianca is an experience to be lived in full with all the sensations and suggestions that leaves through our five senses, always present travel companions. A walk of dispersion and reappropriation of oneself.

  • VIEW

The beech wood offers scenarios that satisfy the view. A 'gothic cathedral made of wood and leaves' that amazes and amazes under the reassuring gaze of Mother Mountain.

  • TOUCH

With our hands we touch the imposing roots of the beech trees and establish a contact that goes beyond time, but with our hands we can also touch the icy waters of the springs and suffer the hard impact.

  • HEARING

Listening to the forest is one of the strongest sensory experiences, the sounds of foliage with the creaking of leaves under the boots is a happy reference to the games and sensations of childhood.

  • SENSE OF SMELL

The smell and the strong scent of the autumn undergrowth made of moistened leaves and mosses is something that enters you and absolutely is the most persistent sensory experience that will remind us of the place.

  • TASTE

Well, for what is the sense that makes you know a place, you have to go a short way and we reach the village of Sant'Eufemia in Maiella to enjoy the excellent dairy products of one of the dairies in the area.

The foliage show is among the most beautiful experiences to do this season in Abruzzo. To spend a few days in this magical place we recommend WHERE TO STAY we gladly host travelers, tourists and seekers of cozy experiences giving them tips and directions.