Ducks on Lago d’Averno – supping at the threshold of the underworld
Some names stick, along with all the muck that goes with them; other names, that make the bones shiver, don’t budge and it makes no sense at all.
The ‘gates of hell’ near today’s Cuma is an ancient mythical name given to a lake that today is about as rattlesnake as Homer Simpson.
It was the dog that took us there first. Someone had said Lago d’Averno would be perfect …
Bees swarming at the ‘Sagra delle antiche taverne’
‘Sagre‘, and this was our first, are the right-in-the-thick-of-it festival celebrations that usually revolve around food.
Originally the meaning was linked to churches and the Latin word sacrum – holy. Now they are still about expectation and celebration, but often with a local speciality centre stage rather than the church.
The faded happiness of Lago di Patria
The pink hotel stood block-upright and silent. Bleak windows stared from behind the flaking wall – all happiness abandoned.
Nervously we peered upwards through the car’s windscreen, enticed by the almost empty roadside parking. Behind us, in the back, the dog bounced with impatience.
We were unsure … the dog wasn’t … so what was wrong?
The Phraser 