OUR TRIP TO MARTINA FRANCA
Mary Ann: On Wednesday we took a trip out of Alberobello, our first since arriving here two weeks ago. Our choice of destination was Martina Franca, a small city about 15 kilometers (9miles) south of here, about a 15 minute train ride away. The country between here and there was absolutely beautiful, pastoral and rural. The patchwork of bright green fields and deep brown vineyards was outlined in long, perfectly straightstone walls, accented with well-kept trulli, and an occasional olive grove.
It happened that it was market day in Martina Franco so we set out to find the place where we guessed all the people in the area would be gathered to do their weekly shopping. And were we right! The streets were lined with stall after stall of vendors selling almost any kind of ware you can imagine----shoes, coats, girdles, toothbrushes, hats, lamps, and, of course, fruits, vegetables, meat and cheese of every variety. There were probably at least 100 vendors, and 20 or 30 times that many people there to buy. It was a colorful potpourri of sights, sounds, textures and smells, and the most wonderful place to take pictures and people-watch.

There were several thoughts that occurred to me as I wandered among the crowd. First of all, doesn’t anybody in Italy have a job??!! How do these several thousand people have the time to spend every Wednesday morning at the market haggling over the price of oranges? Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine enough people in Troy being free on a weekday morning to fill a market place. The second thing I thought about was the valuable role this time plays for the older folks. We’ve noticed how here in southern Italy the men often gather in groups to shoot the breeze, and this was no less true in this setting. Then there are the women of “mature years” who seem to have most of the responsibility of buying, especially the food, and I imagine them bringing home bulging bags full of tomatoes, prosciutto, artichokes, olives, dried beans, and chicory and then preparing huge, multi-course meals for their family and friends. This seems like such a contrast to our American culture where the elderly are often isolated from the rest of the community and have no important work to do. I especially think of my 83 year old Dad and wonder what his life would be like if he were an Italian and could stroll through the Piazza Popolo with his buddies every night, or could meet them every market day to discuss the state of politics in the world or the goings-on in their own family. Finally all this activity in Martina Franca today made me wonder why these European cities are so vibrant and alive, while American cities struggle to survive. What can cities do, if anything, to draw people out into the streets again, create community, and make downtowns a vital place to live and work? What would encourage Americans to walk, walk, walk, like they do here, and shop in the small unique stores right in their own city, instead of the giant, one-size-fits-all stores that forms rings around the outskirts of cities while the core crumbles. Well, these were just some thoughts that occurred to me while wandering today.
The other thing I need to talk about is the wonderful old part of Martina Franca. This was organized and built in the mid-1700’s and the buildings are mainly of a Baroque style. The narrow streets are stone and wind every which way, often leading under ornate arches, or into tiny little nooks just big enough for a potted plant and 2 teenage lovers kissing on a wooden bench. We saw the Basilica of Saint Martin, wandered around the central piazza, oohed and awed at the carved stone lintels above the doorways, and peered down many a tiny strada, taken by the sheer beauty of this small Italian city. I’ll also add that we had a wonderful lunch of crepes, traditional broad beans and chickory, and fresh fruit at La Tavernetta Restarante, and chocolate and almond gelato for dessert at a gelateria we passed by on the way back to the train station.