maccheroni alla chitarra so famous in Abruzzo.

The bread was made by each family and baked in the brick oven located in the kitchen of every house. The yeast was a piece of somewhat dried up (sour) dough which had been saved from the last batch of bread. It was melted in lukewarm water and used in the new dough. The loaves were round, large and thick and slowly baked in the brick oven which had been heated for hours with oak wood. To prolong the availability of fresh bread, families would lend some fresh bread to other families which gave it back at different times of the month. The best bread was made with soft wheat flour and it was white, tender and crusty.

Many villagers, but not all, had vineyards of various sizes. Vineyards needed a lot of care. First the type of grape desired had to be grafted to the American wild grapevine which had proved to be resistant to phylloxera, a disease which had destroyed the Italian vineyards in the region. The grapevines were then pruned and supported with canes or poles. The soil had to be tilled every year and in the summer the vineyards had to be sprayed with a solution of water , copper sulfate and quick lime. The grapes were picked in October and carried in cylindrical open-top barrel by donkeys to the cellars. Here the grapes were crushed with a hand turned grape crusher (in the old days, and in