Alpine Decorah

Tirano reminds me a lot of Decorah. I don't believe there is a college here, but the population is about the same. Both towns are in rural areas, rely to a certain degree on tourism for their economic stability, and seem to attract free thinkers and those with alternative lifestyles.

We met some of those people today on this trip's "Day in the Life" segment. Technically, this family lives in Castello Dell'acqua, a collection of tiny hamlets just southwest of town. But that's like saying someone lives on a farm with a rural address of Spillville.

The land has been in the family for five generations, but the current owners had abandoned it for professions in urban areas. Then they came back, took over from Dad or Grandpa, and turned a subsistence farm into a unique business.

The business is goat cheese and agri-tourism. There are about 60 goats, milked with modern equipment twice a day. There is a cheese production factory. And there is the kitchen and dining room where groups like ours are hosted 2-3 times each week, nine months of the year.

After a tour, we helped place temporary fencing around a new pasture area. Then watch a goat stampede as the herd was allowed into the new area with fresh grass. 

Then we went into the dining room to try our hands at making some goat cheese of our own. It wasn't terrible, but the five varieties of professionally made cheese we enjoyed with lunch (along with salad, bread, pasta, and local wine) were much better.

Because April 25 is celebrated as a national holiday in Italy, commemorating liberation from fascism in 1945 (without mention of the fact that the Italians actually voted the fascists into power a couple decades earlier), our hosts sang us a partisan anthem from the 1940s.

The meal finished with "corrected" coffee. The espresso was "corrected" with a shot of grappa (40% alcohol) in each little cup. Not our favorite flavor, but it did send us all off with smiles on our faces. We returned to the hotel in mid-afternoon.

But a half hour later we were on the go once again. Most of our group accompanied Luca on a hike. The first stop was just a few blocks down the street, where we visited the Basilica of the Madonna of Tirano. 

This 16th century church commemorates the site on which a local farmer had an apparition of the Virgin while picking plums in 1501. It's a beautiful baroque/rococo style church with a grand pipe organ.

From there, we hiked up a very steep hill (more than 400 vertical feet) on switchbacks of gravel and stone stairways to reach the church of San Perpetua, an 11th century church that overlooks the entire town. The town, nestled into its valley, looks even more like Decorah from up here.

The way back to the hotel was less steep, but closer to highway traffic until we were able to turn off onto a narrow residential street. This back street shortcut took us past 200-year-old stone houses, as well as some new construction. We even came across several "lavanderia" fountains where women used to come to wash clothes along with their neighbors.

As we walked through the business district to return to the hotel, it was clear that nearly everything was closed or closed early for "Liberation Day." We decided to close early, as well. Tomorrow will be another big day.