Ercolano: Southern Hospitality

Ercolano from the Slopes of Mt. Vesuvius

Sorrento Street

Ercolano, a smaller town in the greater Napoli area, would likely not be among the top choices for most people to stay when travelling in the area. Most people would choose the nearby scenic seaside town of Sorrento or close to that, the popular summer hotspot, the island of Capri. Apart from the important archeological site Herculaneo, there is not much else to speak of in Ercolano. This became more apparent for Rob and Beth when they exited the Circumvesuvio train station at 20:30 on a Sunday night. The empty streets, which had the appearance of an urban ghetto, were covered in a myriad of colours from graffiti and contained a general feeling of grime resulting from neglect.

Capri's Port

Rob and Beth waited patiently for their host Fulvio to arrive to drive them safely to their Bed and Breakfast. Fulvio, like many people of southern Italy, was far shorter then the Canadians, but outweighed them with friendliness and hospitality. Happily he greeted his guests, loaded their heavy bags with care into his Fiat, and drove them to the distant gated enclosure of his residence located near the rising slope of Mount Vesuvius. Speaking only Italian, he and his wife Flavia, welcomed them with offers of coffee, tea, and maybe a late spaghetti dinner as a welcome to her guests after their eight hour train journey. Over the next few days Beth and Rob became acquainted with the regularity in which Fulvio and his wife offered their hospitality as freely as offering a drink of water.

Capri's Main Square

On their second evening, Beth who had been collecting tomato seeds from regions she traveled throughout Italy, became curious about why they hung clusters of tomatoes on the porch to the point where some were drying out.

Fulvio and Rob

With the help of Google translate and the visual aid of dried tomato seeds pasted within Beth’s journal, together Beth and Flavia were able to discuss the art of growing, drying and hanging tomatoes of the Campania region.

“Pomodoro are grown no water”, Flavia attempts to explain. Best for making sauces with their low moisture content, they are hung throughout the colder months without any other preservation methods. Flavia then retrieved from her shed a tray of her tomatoes for Beth to remove seeds and paste into her journal.

After discussions about planting and cooking, Flavia began to prepare tomatoes in a pasta sauce for her guests to experience. Rob, wishing to take on a sous chef role and learn the region's preferred method, insisted on helping her and begun to cut the tomatoes, only to receive playful heckling from the Rocco, another guest at the B and B who originated in Sicily.

Picking Snacks 

Napoli Tomatoes

As they prepared dinner they continued to talk about planting and collecting seeds. Sensing some disbelief about Rob and Beth's gardening skills, likely because of the unusual method of drying the seeds on paper, Beth pulled up some photos on the computer of last year's harvest of tomatoes, eggplant, and garlic. Flavia became excited when she saw the variety and ran to retrieve some of her caper seeds, chili pepper seeds and a garlic bulb. She enthusiastically explained the unique growing conditions required for each and urged them to send photos when they are grown.

As dinner was served, Rocco jested, "Tonight we will have the best Canadian sauce from Italian tomatoes".