Cavriana: Home Sweet Home

My original host-family placement for Voluntaritaly was located in Mantova. During my lay-over in London however I received an email explaining that my host-family could no longer take care of me due to an illness within the family. I was to be placed with a family in a paesino outside of Mantova, a place called Cavriana. What angels the members of this host-family have been. They took me in very last minute for the duration of three weeks. The drive to Mantova where my placement for Grest is totals to about forty five minutes each way. Luckily the daughter of the family, who lives at home, also works with Grest and has simply taken her with me to and from her work.

I am staying in the home of the proud owners of the Bed and Breakfast: Casa Pagliette. The rooms of their bed and breakfast were what once was the structure of a barn attached to the house. The husband and wife work together to take care of guests, usually only permitting bookings on weekends because they also work full-time jobs.

Casa Pagliette is only about a twenty minute walk from the center of Cavriana. A beautiful and quiet town, Cavriana offers the remains of a with beautiful panorama views of the surrounding countryside. There is also a small archaeological museum that reveals much of the history of the peoples that lived on this land throughout the ages. 

The town is quiet for the most part during the day, the center all but deserted during hot afternoons. But when there are events for the whole community, everyone appears. I was lucky enough to see one of my host-family's friends play piano in the piazza, a night of various pianists playing on a platform on a narrow and steep street that left my heart fluttering have the time out of worry that the piano would suddenly begin to move towards the audience set at such an angle.

One thing to note as a traveler is that you are especially noticed in small towns such as Cavriana. The way you dress or your accent might give it away. This is not at all a bad situation, but it is something to be aware of. All it takes to get people to open up to you is for them to see that you know the language of the country or that you are interested in a certain piece of history. The one reaction I keep getting is enthusiasm when they see a foreigner so taken with their rich culture.