A Brief History

My father, Jim Stevens, as one of the soldiers of the 601st Tank Destroyers, was on active duty for the entire engagement of the North African Campaign and The European Theater of Operations in WWII - for over 4 years. He experienced 546 days of actual combat. While he fought at the Kasserine Pass and El Guettar in North Africa and then in France and Germany, it is the Italian Campaign that I have chosen to focus on. Jim has often said that he would have liked to return to Italy. For him it would have been a ritual journey allowing him to reconcile the brutality of the war he fought with the people, culture, beauty and history of the country that he also experienced. At 91, he cannot take that journey so I am taking it for him.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sulmona


What a lovely town! Sulmona is about 5 km south of Corfinio and is a hub for the regional small villages. It is on the edge of a national park and is a tourist destination for Italians as well as others. We saw many cyclists on the winding mountain roads and lots of entrances to hiking trails.

We arrived for the passaggiata and enjoyed strolling the lanes and in the piazza. It seemed that the whole town was out, young and old alike visiting, promenading and enjoying a drink, gellati or some roasted chestnuts. Small clusters of men were having vehement discussions. Were they talking politics, sports, the euro, women? Who needs talk radio or blogs, just head down to the piazza!

We ate dinner at Hosteria dell’Arco: antipasta, pasta fagioli, grilled lamb and porcini mushroom ravioli all with a hearty red wine. The waiter reminded us of Grover as the waiter on Sesame Street. He didn’t take our complete order all at once, but each course at a time, then he would burst into the kitchen and bellow “Mama!” and we could hear him telling her what to prepare – very entertaining! Do I have to tell you that the food was superb?

And now for a musical interlude...

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