L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES MARIELLA RADAELLI A tiny hamlet in the peaceful U mbrian hills has become a popular destination thanks to what we w ould call the s ocial media effect. Its name is Rasiglia. "Since summer 2017, there has been an unusual invasion," says Maria Palma Cesarini, a young member of Associazione Rasiglia e le Sue Sorgenti.  "Ital- ians, Germans, Dutch, Ameri- cans and Asians arrive as cou- ples, families, groups of friends -- they are amazed by our village located less than 12 miles from Foligno." M aria P alma is als o tour guide in the medieval village in the Menotre Valley. "Our associ- ation was founded in 2007 with the aim of reviving Rasiglia after the 1997 earthquake that shat- tered the borgo," she says. After a popular TV show pro- filed Ras iglia as "the mini Venice of the Umbria region," postings on this hamlet gem started to flood Facebook and Instagram. "Visitors tell us that they have been lured by pictures posted on social media and note that actually the real thing is even more beautiful than in pho- tos," she says. Maria Palma said that resi- dents are astonished to see peo- ple of all ages visiting. And locals are happy with the borgo's sudden popularity. To them it's an opportunity. They want the village to manage future growth while preserving its traditional character. They have communal pride and a shared vision for the village. Beautifully atmospheric and tragically depopulated, Rasiglia's unique charm lies in the water. You hear a song made out of water when you walk on its roads. You hear the spirit of the water, its steady gush. Brooks and a spring stream called Capovena flow through the vil- lage. At the foot of the borgo, the Capovena discharges into the river Menotre. Water is so abundant that it has created an entire economy since the Middle Ages. Rasiglia was a cloth micro-town: three wool mills powered by the abun- dance of water were supplied by the sheep that grazed on sur- rounding hills. According to municipal records from the 1840s, the area had 1980 sheep at the time.  Every activity in village life grew around textile business, which had its Golden Age until the 1950s when the mills moved to nearby Foligno. Facilities have remained intact. Today they are like places of worship.Visitors admire the entire textile produc- tion chain through guided tours designed by the Associazione. A hydroelectric power plant, wool mills displaying how wool is processed with Jacquard looms and other machinery, and grot- toes where wool was dyed, all represent Rasiglia's rich industri- al heritage.Crafting beautiful wool blankets has been the spe- cialty of local textile industries for centuries. The village also hosts an annual festival on textile culture called Penelope a Rasiglia. Up here rolling hills with rows of grapes offer divine peace amid burbling streams. Song- birds chatter in the intertwining branches of trees. But the village is also perfectly suited to travel- ers wanting a sense of place and contact with locals. It is a warm, tiny community of just 40 resi- dents including 17 older people who live in the very historical center. "In addition, about other 20 families including ours come back and forth from Foligno to Rasiglia," says Maria Palma, who would love to live here all year-round. Her big two-story house was purchased by her great-grandfa- ther Primo Martini who migrated to the US in 1910. "He settled in Greenstone, Pennsylvania where he worked as a miner," she says. "He came from an extremely poor family. They were constant- ly evicted. No stable roof over their head. Primo left to help his large family." In 1926, he returned home temporarily just to buy two houses with the money he earned, "a house for himself and one for his sister," explains Maria Palma. "I am thinking about writing a novel inspired by the story of my great-grandfather and this house where I adore to live. In the gar- den he planted a currant bush, what we call uva Americana which he brought directly from Pennsylvania. It is still alive today." Finally Primo returned to his beloved Rasiglia in the '30s. While one of his brothers pre- ferred remaining in the States, he happily spent the rest of his life in this village, where he died in the '70s. Maria Palma is also informed about a community of Rasigliani in Pennsylvania. "I think that in the days of my great-grandfather, about a hundred of the 400 inhabitants left for the US," she says. The first document attesting to the existence of Rasiglia dates back to 1122, "but certainly it is older," Maria Palma notes. "Some say it was a Lombard vil- lage." This place is so dear to her heart. "It's where my heart belongs, where I always want to return," she says. Not to miss are the lovely 17th century Church of Saints P eter and P aul, w hich w as restored after the earthquake, and my favorite spot: a marvelously frescoed Shrine of Our Lady of Graces that sits on the outskirts. Legend has that it was built in 15th century where a fisherman found the statue of a terracotta Madonna that is still honored in the crypt, while la Vestita, a wooden Madonna richly dressed, looks down on the altar.  Rasiglia is beautifully atmospheric and tragically depopulated, yet there is plenty to see and do in this tiny hamlet Photo: Associazione Rasiglia Rasiglia: singing waters and legacy of the loom The first document attesting the existence of Rasiglia dates back to the early 12th century Photo: Associazione Rasiglia

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