We proudly present our website! We invite you to have a look at casapassero.it for a good impression of the house, our first apartment and the garden. We are currently working on the translations into Dutch and German and eventually into Italian.
We are excited to report that our guests so far have been really enthusiastic about their stay at Casa Passero. We encourage feedback, which we take it very seriously, and so far we received some very good pointers. “If anything” our last guest told us ” we should have booked longer.” Well, Nora sure agrees with that because it took her days to digest their departure..
Anyone home?
One of our guests asked if he could use our pizza oven and whether we would join them in making (and eating) pizza. Not only is it great fun and very entertaining it also brings out the creative side in everyone! It’s really amazing with what combinations some people come up with..
Who ever said a pizza had to be round?
The kiwis are once again decorating our arcades adding a nice touch to the great holiday feeling! The figs will be ready to eat in about 2 weeks and the whole garden is covered in various roses which is absolutely breathtaking. We are also thrilled to see that we have pears and cherries this year as well as many beautiful trees, plants and flowers. And there will be more once we have finished our terrace.
We look forward to welcoming you here!
Honestly, that’s all I said! Little did I know that Buffas would gladly interpret this as an invitation to help us with our gardening. I mentioned Mr and Mrs Buffa in a previous post and I cannot stress enough how dear these two have become to us and I believe the feeling is mutual. I remember my Dad telling me the great advantage of not speaking a language that well – people will love you because all you can do is listen and nod politely whereas they can go on and on….
Last year Buffas helped us harvest our olives and now…for the first time we are actually enjoying our very own olives. So cool! Anyway, the last two days Mrs Buffa and I trimmed all the roses and other trees and plants. The previous owner, Signora Fiori (Mrs Flowers) did her name justice and planted flowers and trees everywhere. 
Mrs Buffa really does not like having her picture taken. But anyone who visits Casa Passero on a Thursday will be able to meet her and her husband.
They took care of the house and garden for 20 years so they don’t plan on letting any foreigner ruin their hard work due to lack of knowledge. I guess they still consider it their job and we could not be happier with the help and advice since our fingers are just beginning to turn a pale shade of green. We learned alot so far that’s for sure.
Beppe 70+ years and seldom without a cigarette. But still going strong as you can see and trimming the kiwi.
In the meantime Bert has been working inside the house, or to be more specific, he equipped our first (of three) holiday apartments with a kitchen! We still have some work to do before we actually consider the apartment ready, but alot has been done and we are very happy with the results so far.
We are waiting for hinges in order for Bert to put in the door on the left, behind which the refrigerator will be installed. Gas has been connected by a very nice local guy called Ivan, so now you can cook!
Still not that warm yet but we are getting there. It’s a matter of days now before our bare trees will be unrecognizable.
Possibly my sudden interest in vegan food inspired me to dedicate this blog to our fruit. Our house has arches that are covered in Kiwi plants. A beautiful sight in spring, summer and fall and a delicious treat during wintertime.
I won’t lie: they are a lot of work, but they really turned out to be worth it! I had no idea that you need female plants (flowers bloom in springtime and eventually turn into fruit) and male plants (flowers bloom in spring time and then alot of sweeping has to be done).
After blooming of the flowers they grow stunning leaves which gives our house a very nice touch.
In fall they lose their leaves (again lots of sweeping) but now comes the reward: harvesting and eating! Buffas helped us harvest the kiwi and I assume that we had about 2000 or more. Every single kiwi was put into cartons neatly next to each other giving them ample possibility to ripen the correct way. I would have just put them all together but that would have turned out into one giant kiwi smoothie.
Finally in December we could eat them and believe me – the best I have ever had and I have always been a big kiwi fan! Soon enough we had the perfect gift for our friends – instead of a bottle of wine – we brought 100 kiwis!
Everyone was enthusiastic about them! Claudia made smoothies, Esther put them into her special “Air Dryer” and enjoys them as a healthy snack and Karen made chutney! The are much smaller than from the store but much more intense in flavour and a nice (possible) side effect? Influenza did not visit us this year!
The last kiwi for now…
I now look at my fruit trees with much more understanding and respect. Basically I can tell you a similar story about our figs. I had more figs last year than I had in my whole life altogether. The fig trees bear fruit twice a year. First big round figs and a few weeks later smaller oval ones. Both can be harvested in July/August but we have far more figs than we can handle…nevertheless…with some blue cheese and a bit of runny honey…a real treat!
We also have apricots, plumbs, cherries, peaches, apples, hazelnuts and olives but unfortunately they did not carry fruit last year due to a sudden frost period in April. We left the hazelnuts for the squirrels, made some jam from the cherries that survived and also harvested some olives, which we will be able to taste in March. Can’t wait to see what this year will bring.
When we first moved here to Melazzo in 2016 it took about 3 weeks before we finally had internet. Having taken internet for granted for all these years I was over the moon when it was finally working! (Long story, with a little help from my friends and a touch of drama we got there). I immediately started writing emails to the “home front” in order to keep everyone up to date. These emails, which I wrote on a monthly basis, turned out (much to my delight!) to be more popular than I could have imagined and therefor, as you all know, I switched from email to blog to possibly reach even more people. Why am I telling you this? Because I plan to occasionally write about occurrences from previous mails. For the bloggies new, for the others a memory refresher 
Nora also enjoys the crackling of wood in one of our “stufa” in the kitchen as I mentioned in my first blog post.
Even though we moved here in October it wasn’t until December 21st before we actually bought the house and for the first 7 weeks we shared the house with Mr and Mrs Buffa, the “custode” (caretakers). Buffas have been living in a part of this house for 19 years and I wasn’t sure how they would feel about a couple of foreigners buying the place leading them to move out. But they are so friendly and modest and we have become friends. Maybe they like us because we can’t say very much – who knows! They visit us weekly and always offer help, advice and sometimes an amazing Italian dish. They also bring food and birth control pills for the 4 stray cats that they have named and we now have “adopted”.
Buffa’s friends helping them declutter…a bitter sweet day.
I also mentioned something new? Well after I kind of got the hang of blogging, I decided to invest time and energy into our website. Another huge challenge for me of which I will keep you updated.
January is in the past now and it has been cold and sunny – absolutely beautiful. As my cousin said: January is a transition month where you still look back on the previous year and also look ahead to the present year. My mother, on the other hand, said that January is like a Monday and I think that says it all
Our lovely view from our porch.
First Blog Post
January 21st 2018
As announced in my last e-mail I am sticking to one of my New Year’s resolutions and starting my blog! I sincerely hope that I am not leaving anybody out by writing in English.
So far the winter has been absolutely beautiful! Plenty of sunshine occasionally allowing us to have our coffee on the porch, or should I say “caffe”. (If you order a caffe you will get an espresso btw)
We are fully enjoying the warmth during the day but as soon as the sun disappears behind the hills it turns cold immediately and we hurry inside to our cosy fire place to enjoy the crackling of wood from our very own forest.
This winter is so different from the last one which once again proves my Father’s point when he told me, that you can only really call a place your home after having lived there for at least two years! Although this doesn’t stop him from asking me when I will move back ;-).
I started this year off by visiting a concert in the impressive Duomo in Acqui Terme, where a friend of mine, who is in the Church Choir, performed. I love the Duomo and never quite understood why all these concerts are free. I am not a religious person but this concert moved me and I am looking forward to all the classical music that will follow this year.
Nora turned 13 this year and she adapts to new situations incredibly well! Considering the fact that she changed owner and house 5 times before we got her and with us she endured three more moves. She has been with us for 10 years now and I must admit that the last move was almost too much for her. After we had moved to Melazzo she spent an entire day in the car and the next two days under the table. But now she acts like she owns the place, which she kind of does, and she will never have to move again!
