My grandfather Joseph Covatta was from Frosolone. He came across once and the went back a few years later, before coming to America permanently around the turn of the century. This was a beautiful article and I cried. In the midst of the mean anti-immigrant attitude of our day, it was wonderful to experience the charming folkways and gritty traditions of hard work and peaceful togetherness of my cousins. I am proud to be a Molisano, but prouder yet of my hard working siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, children and grandchildren who are making something of themselves and America throughout our still great land. My father Captain Anthony Gallo Covatta, USA, was a decorated veteran of Normandy and the Bulge. Just as our Italian forebearers and relatives have made a difference here for us, so we need to welcome our successors from whichever direction as we continue to work on the American experiment. Thank you Ms. Russo, for a wonderful article.
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Thank you, Maria Russo, for this beautiful story of your experience along the 110 mile transumanza in rural Italy. The past meets the present and reminds us how the old ways are better for the earth and the cows, and why food tastes so much better in Italia.
I felt transported to another time. Thank you!
12
Having just read opinions by Dowd and Manjoo, this wonderful article with its peaceful, pleasant story line and delightful pictures has brought Sunday back into perspective.
A story without Trump is a gift from heaven. Thank you, thank you.
13
This article and pics raised me from weekend doldrums- priceless -thank you for this vision of basic humanity- I could gush for awhile - but I will leave the article in peace,
4
Fascinating spaghetti Western. But no mention of Clint Eastwood or Claudia Cardinale ?
Last October my wife and I + another couple spent 2 weeks in Italy. If you go, don't spend too much time in Rome. The Italian countryside and Tuscany are breathtaking. Check out Cinque Terre if you get the chance.
We spent a couple of days in Venice. About a week after we left, Venice experienced the worst flooding in decades. 3/4 of the city was flooded and St. Mark's Basilica was damaged. This world heritage site has a bleak future, I'm afraid.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/29/venice-experiences-worst-flooding-since-2008
1
Transported, is the word that comes to mind while reading this evocative article. As one who adores Italy through ALL it’s exciting regions, a love of horsebackriding in younger days, much like Ms. Russo, and of the idea of a camp out along this trail, but with the gift of doing it the way the Italians have done for centuries, left me breathless. Thank you for this visual that choked me up in the best possible way. The bringing of fresh baked biscotti wine and espresso made it irresistible. One for the bucket list.
12
this is the colantuono's transumanza last year (a video by me at 360) when riders and cows crossed the Biferno river. Mrs Maria Russo did a great job, breathtaking and fantatic. She was so kind and professional! Thanks Maria, thanks New York Times. Un abbraccio a tutti dal Molise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSkMIMbDgeI
19
My grandparents were from Duronia, just 20 minutes north of Frosolone. We visited their hometown. At the local restaurant, we ate the food that my grandmother made on Sunday. What surprised me most was the scattone that was brought to us as an appetizer. It brought me back to Sunday meals with family. Reading this story while in an Italian restaurant in Vancouver on a business trip transported me back to some of the best memories of my life. Sunday meals at my grandparents kitchen table. Thank you.
13
Thank you for highlighting the Molise region in Italy and this very important tradition. I have family in Ripabottoni and visited the area many times and can attest to its unspoiled beauty and wonder. I encourage anyone visiting Italy to take a small detour to the region and enjoy all that it has to offer.
14
@Anna
Don't tell them to go there! I want to go while it's still not tourist-ridden!
Kidding (sort of) but I am planning a trip to Puglia next year and I will not miss this.
7
Fantastic read! My family is from Torella Del Sannio and I’ve been to Frosolone numerous times as a child, teenager and adult. Always great when these small rustic towns get some big city limelight! Hopefully this could spark some tourism in the area!
18
As a second generation Italian-American, I loved this story and the accompanying photos. My husband has relatives in Abruzzo, and we've been to Italy several times, visiting just about all of the regions. How I wish I had known about this. We are both old now and unable to travel anymore. I have bookmarked this article and will look forward to the web page when it arrives. Thank you Ms. Russo and the NYT for this piece.
21
What a beautiful journey and photos are incredible. This made my day as it was such a relief from the negative political atmosphere here in the US.
It's nice to see other areas of the World still enjoy civil lifestyles without mass shootings and dependence on the cash register.
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My husband's family is from the Molise region in Italy. We visited there for the first time during the summer of 2018. I have to say that the people are humble and warm and the food is amazing. His uncle's property is located on a "trattura" in Cantalupo nel Sannio. I just called my husband and told him to read the article. Maybe our next trip will be during the transumanza.
7
I could only hope... This stole my heart away....
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Thank you for this
10
You made my day New York Times, thank you.
12
Sounds like a dream.
9
I found this on YouTube, I think this is the same transumanza - there are videos on many other transumanzas, much to my surprise!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRzbYLG1zU
7
The great majority of responses to this article are in the "lovely!" category. Most readers feel "drawn to" both the landscape - and the animals.
We forget; almost completely, now that we are so urban a species. Humanity, civilization, would not exist as we know them - without our animal partners.
These cattle- were primarily used as draft oxen until tractors. Ever hear of "Rome"? These cattle built it. Literally. It would still be a village without them.
Why do we feel ourselves drawn to them? Because - they changed US. We altered their aurochs ancestors- and in the process, humans able to understand and empathize with cattle (and horses, dogs, sheep, etc.) became the most successful of humans.
It's in our genes now. The animals are part of us; and we are part of them. And strange as it seems to many today, the fact that we eat them sometimes, and feed them to each other- has always been a part of the relationship. The animals understand better than we do- the "natural" death for any wild animal is violent, slow, and painful; always.
Our farm has 2 horses, 1 mule, 3 dogs, 10ish cats, 30-some sheep. I don't "own" them; we work together.
If you don't need animals; don't share your life with one at least - I think you are in fact not quite human. We need them as much as they need us.
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If you go to Molise, I would suggest a day in Agnone, home of the world's oldest bell foundry - in the same family for over 900 years! The tour is most interesting. There are Samnite ruins nearby, in the village of Pietrabbondante.
17
One of the best articles, travel or otherwise, I have read in a long time. I could picture myself there - such vivid details. It is refreshing to hear that a time-honoured tradition is still surviving and thriving. Bravo!
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Thank you for an excellent read.
5
"Trasumancia" is a feature of rural life in Spain as well. And yes, there are difficulties to keep the tradition alive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumance
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@Jens Oops! it's "trashumancia" Spanish, the "h" is silent...
1
Great article. Thanks, NY Times. That peaceful cattle drive must have been the complete opposite of the tourist hordes in Venice.
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Lol I can't even with this article.
"I put a waterproof saddle cover over my head, but the rest of me quickly became soaked through. Here at last was my sacrifice. Yet in my still peaceful inner state, it really wasn’t so bad."
Here at last was my sacrifice? Are you kidding?
I'm deeply skeptical of all of this--the fact that the family had invited a NYTimes reporter along with three documentary film crews (!!) to document the family's own annual journey says a lot on its own, then to provide all with spa-like comforts along the way says more. Given all that, it seems like no surprise this reads like a paid-for extended travel ad you'd expect to find in American Airlines "Destinations" magazine.
@marilyn Katz WOW! What a curmudgeon!
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Obviously you've never spent a whole day in a saddle, let alone several days in a row.
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@Matthias der Große this should actually be directed towards me--I wrote the comment but was logged in to marilyn's NY Times account. Definitely a curmudgeon (even though I'm 31) but yeah, definitely stand by what I said, this piece is absurd
Sounds absolutely wonderful.
3
Lovely piece and inspiring.
It reminded me of a similar time in a rural Greek mountain village: hiking in countryside ringing with goat bells, freshly baked bread with local olive oil, espressos in the AM and nights in the outdoor cafe surrounded by families engaged in passionate conversation and smells of burning wood and fresh roasted meat. Idyllic. I have often said, skip Santorini and you have said it far better.
5
The author John Berger writes about the rural culture and it's disintegration in "Pig Earth" and what he says is that it is a great loss. Preserving the land associated with animal husbandry is also important and hopefully locals as well as officials will see the strength in this being a World Heritage Site instead of development. Thank you so much for sharing this experience and observations.
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@Laura S.
Pig Earth is one of my favorite books
the scene where the old woman is taking her animal through the soon to be snow closed pass to get it impregnated so she would have offspring and milk in the spring a scene that hearkened back thousands of years........
2
Thank you for a beautiful article, Ms. Russo. It brought tears to me eyes.
My father was from Torino di Sangro in Chieti, Abruzzo and after WWI he and his older brother Florio spent time as cowboys on a transumanza. The family farm had been devastated by the war, and my grandfather had died of the Spanish flu in the winter following the Armistice. With their older brother Luzio combat wounded, my dad and Uncle Florio had to work any jobs they could find to keep the family afloat: they were lumberjacks; they dug ditches; they paved roads. Being on horseback gave my father a dream of becoming a carabinieri, the Italian mounted police, but in 1922 my Uncle Luigi in Lancaster, PA brought my dad, my uncles, my Aunt Bettina and my Grandmother Catarina to the US before the Baker-Reed Act limiting immigration became law.
My dad loved westerns. Anything with horses and cowboys. His favorite TV show in the 50’s was Rawhide, of course. And Gunsmoke, too.
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Well said... reading your response and thoughts to the piece gave me so much pleasure.
Grazie!
10
What a lovely surprise seeing a picture from Acquevive, my grandmother's hometown. I remember visiting the town as a child and enjoying the caciocavalle. Thank you for such a beautiful piece on Molise.
7
Lovely article. Here the transumanze and ‘Almantriebe’ last usually just one day as the distances are not so far, but they are beautiful, moving traditions, worth going out of your way to witness!
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A wonderful article, but I worry about the effect of the publicity on what seems to have remained a relatively little-known idyll. I had to laugh, too, at the writer's idea of "sacrifice"; overland travel - not tourism - by local means has always been at least a little rough, but never in my experience (Asia, Africa) did it include five-star meals en route!
5
Frosolone!!Let’s rock!!!
my place, my heart, my special friends. Thanks guys for this incredible and unique tradition.
Go ahead, always.
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Every American of Italian descent should be given citizenship so they can buy a house or apartment and stay as long as they want. Italy needs economic stimulus; with so much beauty to share in every corner of the country, why not encourage investment. I am an Italian citizen by marriage, an American who has spent many wonderful months there every year, taking trains, buses, and cars from the northern lakes to the under-developed south, living in a small village with family and friends, enjoying the good life. Brava Maria! Mille grazie!
9
@Loveringstudio you can buy a house without citizenship...
3
@Loveringstudio
Said with a smile - there may be more descendants of (us) Italians in the USA than there are in Italy so that might not be such a great idea in practice . . by the way, the direct descendants of Italians who emigrated are eligible for Italian citizenship - just apply and its yours! - I'm sorry to say though, just the males, grrrrhhhh...
1
What a great spot for my home-region! This is exactly what still happen in one of the most unknown places in Italy surrounded by fancy cities as Naples and Rome... If passing through this amazing Country, do not hesitate a second to come to join a great experience that will persist in your heart for your whole life!
Transumanza is waiting for you and we are all waiting for your arrival to share our old culture and authentic lifestyle... you won't regret your choice! ;)
15
One of the best stories I've read in the NYT's!
12
Great article. What a fantastic journey! Can’t wait to see the documentary and visit this beautiful, simple and special part of the world.
3
For the record, the transumanza also refers to the migration of sheep from winter to summer pastures and back. I lived in the Abruzzo for many years and one of the sheep transumanza paths went down my road. The movement of the sheep with their extremely protective Pastore Abruzzese dogs is an equally striking event.
8
One of my grandfathers came from Vastogiradi in Molise. A friend and historian there recently explained to me that centuries old arrangements for the transumanza were broken by the unification of Italy in the late 1800s. As a result, the economy of the area declined, and was the reason why my ancestors had to leave Vastogirardi and emigrate to the USA in late 1800s and early 1900s.
Thank you for this wonderful article.
5
I had the privilege of living in Italy for 14 years and have travelled back several times since.Your article evoked such beauty, peace and the picture of the wonderful Italian people, I could see, and taste! your awesome experience. This will stay in your heart forever and grow in its “ more than special” experience in your life.
Thank you so much for sharing it all with your readers
5
I read this and cried because I am an OLD lady now and wish I could go back to Italy and see and experience this wonderful soul searing adventure. As an immigrant t American, the pull of the culture and the warmth and beauty of the Italian heart will never leave me. I know I cannot go back now .. I'm too old and it's too late for me..but my children and their children are going now and will continue to keep this lovely old culture alive in our family . Thank you for a return to my youth and Italy...
27
Grazie multo for allowing me to wake up to this stunningly beautiful peek into another place and time! A fine example of why we all treasure The NY Times.
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A beautiful story, so happy to know this still exists! You made my day.
36
Loved the article -- but a note to Ms. Russo:
forego = to precede
forgo = to do without
22
This was a gorgeous article combing my many passion of travel, food and farmers. I have such a deep respect for farming and its traditions and I do hope this tradition survives.
30
Thank you for an incredibly descriptive piece. I could almost hear the hooves and bells, smell the musk, visualize the pastures and old towns, as well as, the smiles and hard working hands of the elderly women as they make glorious meals in various towns and taste the fruits of the Earth. My senses were truly satisfied by being transported the 300 miles on this fabulous journey.
25
This should be an answer to vegan propaganda that tries to argue animal husbandry is bad for the environment.
The vegans would eliminate these beautiful cows and tear up this gorgeous 2000-year-old pasture to plant soybeans. Then transform the soybeans in chemical plants into fake meat. That's how vegans save the planet from the evils of raising cattle?
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@Tom B.
People who hate vegans find a way to express their hatred even if it's not at all applicable to the subject matter presented.
These cattle are obviously not ruining anything, and I'm content to let them die off naturally. They're so pretty. But they should not be used as slaves.
It's the soil-destroying cattle raising on ranches and farms that cause the damage. It's the water wasted on them that cause environmental disaster. Not these lovelies.
I am vegan. I do not eat fake meat. Most healthy vegans do not. And soy? Well...
USDA says"70 percent of the soybeans grown in the United States are used for animal feed, with poultry being the number one livestock sector consuming soybeans, followed by hogs, dairy, beef and aquaculture."
9
@Tom B. The Amazon is burning, and it's not vegan propaganda. The NYT has exposed this, and it ain't fake news. Neither is the environmental reality of what livestock production has done to the American West. Here are a few books for you, and none of them are written by vegans:
This Land: How Cowboys, Corruption and Capitalism are Destroying the American West (by Christopher Ketchum)
Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West (by George Wuerthner)
Grand Canyon For Sale (By Stephen Nash)
If you need further convincing, visit these websites:
Western Watersheds Project
Wildearth Guardians
The Center for Biological Diversity
Vegans aren't going to tear up pastures, nor are they going to save the planet.
Eating less meat will. And that's not the vegan community speaking. It's climate scientists world wide.
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@Ames
All true. But not all vegans are this reasonable and promote only "eating less meat". Many are emotionally tied to the animals and seem to be driven by moral imperatives that cloud their objectivity.
1
In my humble opinion this is the writing that sets the NYT apart from other daily publications. Thank you for this journal.
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The quickest way to ruin a charming way of life is to turn it into a tourist destination.
Yes, we all have cowboy fantasies. Best to leave them in the imagination, and not invite the world to try it.
23
@Ames
It helps to maintain a way of life by adding income. 18 years ago my daughter helped on a cattle drive in Wyoming and was invited to help with the real drive versus the "dude" one because she had competed in horse events, including calf penning as a teenager. The cowhands on this real cattle ranch invited her to come back anytime because she is an amazing horsewoman and knew what she was doing.
5
@Susan in NH
Like your daughter I also competed in horse events. I then went on to do investigative reporting on the horse industry and ended up exposing the cattle industry as both predatory and destructive.
Livestock production is a major cause of climate change, and livestock production on public lands is a major cause of the destruction of wildlife, watersheds and grass and forest lands, not just here in the US, but abroad (Amazon burning). It's a money-losing proposition for US taxpayers, both economically and in terms of the cost of overgrazing, not to mention the killing of endangered wolves, bears, eagles, bob cats, cougars, sage grouse, the desert tortoise and wild horses to protect and corporate rich livestock producers.
Mom and pop ranchers on Western public lands are in the minority and they don't make a living doing it. Two-thirds of public lands leased for grazing from the Bureau of Land Management are controlled by only 5 percent of ranchers, and they are rich ones — mostly corporations. That's 154,000 square MILES controlled by the .01%, including people like the Koch brothers and Walmart heirs.
Sometimes, what you see from the saddle doesn't tell the full story. But American's love their cowboy myths. And the environment is worse off for it.
7
Beautiful article. I'm sure it will prompt many people to book tours and thus bring the much-desired economic activity to this journey and to these places. I only hope they don't become victims of their own success.
23
Thank you Maria Russo and NYT for a wonderful experience, I did feel I was with you on the ride. Please continue this type of reporting, such a welcome, necessary counterpoint to the (now typical) news.
20
It's my 76th birthday and reading this article early in the morning made it a special birthday for me. How fortunate you were to have made this journey. It was a learning experience that many of us would like to have taken.
Thank you so much got writing this .
38
Beautifully written.
A little bit of history, culture, tradition, beauty, and food. In other words: Italy.
45
Thank you so much for this article. As a lifetime lover of horses, I do know the calming and healing presence they can provide humans. I’m so happy this ride still exists in Italy. The writer did a wonderful job of conveying the beauty, serenity, and companionship, and that she experienced. What a nice thing to read over breakfast amidst the bad news all around us. Something to put on my bucket list.......
13
Beautifully written article, and so interesting to hear how livestock and farming still play such an important place in our lives. It makes me want to be part of this journey next year.
11
I'm an American expat who lives in Umbria, not so very far from Molise. This beautiful article has inspired me to finally get down to visit Molise which even my Italian relatives know little about. Thanks so much for this story Maria!!!!
30
Sigh. This wonderful article transported me far from midcoast Maine to an Italian landscape and communities I had never heard of. Traditional care of grazing livestock, handmade pastas and riding horseback along ancient pathways? It all sounds so enticing. It’s heart warming to read about. I’ve added travel in this region to my wish list.
16
How lucky you are, Ms Russo! To connect with your family must have been a heartwarming bonus, so please share with us a follow-up article. What is that connection you mention, that involves making things?
My father was stationed in Naples, Italy, when I was a teenager in the 1960s, and every winter a herd of sheep passed our house, which was on an unpaved suburban road. The herders played bagpipes, and one of their tunes matched a Scarlatti sonata I knew (similar to some Handel, as it turned out). Undoubtedly the route was ancient, very possibly pre-Roman. The music, too?
I wish I'd had some biscotti handy. Instead, I gave the herders hundred lira coins, which would buy an espresso at the next town.
21
I want to go!! Thanks so much for this glorious article. My Italian heritage is screaming at me to go back to the old country and participate as my ancestors must have done, so many years ago.
Perhaps the people of this world, particularly our countries’ leaders and especially the current president of the US, should think about the utility and beauty of such a task, as compared to the everyday conflicts and money grubbing societies that we have built.
Though going back to simpler ways of days gone by is not an option for many of us, just remembering things that used to be, may be enough. For me, I’m going back.
8
Oh, I love this story. It told me about something of which I knew nothing. I hope it connects others to the earth and humanity as it did me.
16
What a great story about an escape from the modern obsession with time and schedule! I feel certain the riders were not checking their phones every 5 minutes. Hmm, no mention of phones in the article.
16
I hope UNESCO grants this cultural heritage standing. It's not like old American cattle drives, much more ancient in so many ways.
15
This is phenomenal. Absolutely amazing. Secular Santiago de Camino indeed.
Actually, in many places in Europe's hilly and mountainous regions this migration happens twice a year. Sometimes is sheep or goats, most of the time is cows. Montenegro and parts of Serbia come to mind.
15
Beautiful article and photos, but I'm left wishing for images of the river crossing.
21
@Pam Totally agree. Need river crossing photos!
1
This was a wonderful “first read of the day!” I am ready to sign up for next year...just wish I could bring my horse with me...he too would love it, I am sure. What a beautiful experience melding people, animals, and nature. Seems to me there’s a lesson there.
8
Thank you ms. Russo for writing so vividly about your personal experience with the ancient tradition of “ transumanza ‘ .
The accompanying images are gorgeous , your description of the landscape astounding , one can imagine , touch and smell those “ tratturi “ , those paths that for millennials have been used to move herds at the change of season .
Not least the description of the food is so mouth watering , so genuine , natural and must have been quite artistically colorful.
I wish the region of Molise will be prosperous in the future , many villages “ borghi “ are now sparsely populated and many municipalities are encouraging young people to move there , to revitalize the empty towns , offering financial help and homes .
Molise is truly enchanting, I wish your article will entice your readers to visit this unknown part of Italy , so off the beaten path.
27
@inter nos
Yes they are.... thank you for mentioning it!
@Loveringstudio Molise is looking for people to help repopulate smaller towns. The region is offering economic help for those willing to start businesses in the area.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/jobs/italian-towns-will-pay-newcomers-to-open-new-business
2
This was the most beautiful article. So refreshing and glorious. I almost felt as if I was travelling with you. Thank You very much.
There is so much bad news in the world. Here, you have presented us with the wonders of dairy products, lovely cows, horsemen and horsewomen, and a tradition that spans the entire world. Bravo!
I wonder if you have any video? If so, I would love to watch some of it.
Perhaps I'll check on You Tube for some videos of this amazing journey.
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@Roger Stavitz
Hy Roger, this is a video of the transumanza journalist anda editor Maria Russo wrote about. Maria talked about me in a line of the article (she was so kind and professional, and a great journalist, too, of course).
She's riding in a frame of the video. Ciao dal Molise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3z5XUX7WlQ&list=PLgNjze9FekkmrVJ_E8B-GHgfxTN1swXBX&index=22
3
Terrific write-up and the accompanying photos were gorgeous.
A sense of awe and gratefulness genuinely conveyed. And the food sounded amazing!
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