Occitan Dancing at Usseaux Festa

Playing the Ghironda and fishamonica

This time of the year we are starting to have the local sagre and feste for everything under the sun that is harvested or gathered in the woods. We have the Porcino, the polenta, chestnut, truffle, potato, honey, apples, and, and, well, you get the idea. However it is just starting to get into gear and I still have one fun summer festival that I didn't quite get posted before we officially went to autumn harvest festivals, so I'm putting it in here to tantalize.

All join in

All of you that enjoy folk music and dancing do put it in your diary to make plans to join us next August for a bit of dancing in the high alps of Val Chisone.

Town ovens and wash basins looking up towards Ossiera Park

This particular village festival of Usseaux, that we found ourselves kicking our heels up and joining in on a bit of two stepping and twirling around the village piazza, is in upper Chisone valley, just up the road from us.  I've written about Usseaux on more than one occassion as it is one of my all time favorite villages. You can read those posts here and here. Chisone valley has a rich and varied history being known as one of the Valdesian or Waldensen valleys, where the first Protestants, long before the reformation,  ended up in to avoid persecution back in the 11th century. These valleys were then part of France and the Savoy kingdom, and later became known as part of Italy's alps. They were, and still are, the western most edge of what was known as Occitania. Most people, if they are familiar with Occitania, think of it as a language particular to France, but it seems that it is a dialect of Catalonia. There are so many dialects in this area, that it is hard to keep up, especially as I struggle along in my grasp of Italian. Fabrizio, who also speaks French, understands Occitan, but doesn't speak it, although there are people here who do. Our friend Enrico Bernard, of "Bernard Elixirs" , who lives across the Chisone river from us and whose family are Valdesian, speaks a Patois dialect in their family and also speaks Occitan. See what I mean about a lot of dialects going on? Sheesh!  Mountain people seems to have a strong affinity with the essence of Occitan  and it's history. It seems to represent a sort of special designation of pride, independence and fierce individualism that strikes a cord with many people and very much so with the mountain dwellers.  

Occitan flag with Usseaux' cow bell awards collection displayed in the town library.

We took a friend along with us that was keen to check out the festivities. We did our favorite Usseaux tour, that commences with a stroll around the utterly charming hamlet. Tiny though Usseaux may be, a meander  though the village over  the well maintained gray stone streets, will be rewarding indeed whilst taking in  the various hand painted murals and vertical meridians that decorate the mostly all restored buildings. The large slate roofs are extremely impressive espcially when you consider the cost of restoring them, let alone the fact that if you are restoring an exisiting roof and trying to match or patch, the stones must be hand cut to fit in place. We observed on older artisan plying his craft one day as he worked to replace part of the roof on the local church. Hard work indeed. The mural painting is an old tradition that has only more recently been revived though out our valleys. You get a sense of Usseaux's former prominence in the valley before most people drifted away due to the myriad of reasons small towns shrink and sometimes disappear. This years celebration honored the local mayor that has made it her legacy to see Usseaux bulidings restored and not left to completely decay. The windows are filled with overflowing flower boxes, that compliments the prolific murals scattered through out the village walls.

We also made sure to have a snack on the sunny patio of the traditional trattoria "La Placette" that has been serving up polenta with wild game stews in addition to an excelent selection of the hearty local cheeses and tempting creamy desserts, just to name a few of their offerings, for the past 30 years. Mountain air brings on a hunger and thirst that will be readily satisfied by this family's friendly care.

And of course we had to have a nosey into the local cheese shop that if you aren't persistent, you might just miss if you don't ring their doorbell. This lovely old cantina, which was a barn in previous lifetimes, stores and doubles as a selling point for the family's hand crafted cheeses, in which Toma and Plaisintif are the main stars.

Hmm,  choices, choices.

Then on to the music and dancing. The music was provided by two musicians who with 4 other musicians make up the group, Airondassa, but for this day they brought their fisharmonica, ghironda and oboe and kept us breathless for a few hours. I love this kind of dancing because all can join in even if you don't know all the steps and there is always some willing to help you twirl around the dance floor. It was such fun. I captured a small bit of their traditional Occitan music and will leave you with a small taste of the fun. But don't just take my word for it. Come and join in the fun sometime. We'll help you find your way.

29th edition of "Tutto Mele"

While we we're on the subject of apples here are a few photos of the 29th edition of this November's Tutto Mele. It opened last Saturday in Cavour, to the pomp and fanfare of the round up of the usual local dignitaries and politicians. It was a gorgeous day, much warmer than last year as we reminisced with others who had been there as well.

It is a fabulous display of all the many varieties of local Pinerolese fruit growers hard word, each vying for recognition, more fans and points of sale. Every year there are always so many different things to see and sample. The offerings vary widely from year to year aside from the massive amount of apples and quite a few kiwi to boot. Piedmont is the main producer of kiwi in all of Italy and they are coming in strong now. You can usually always count on finding kiwi and apples for the whole of the winter in the Pinerolo market, like steadfast friends. Right now they are crisp, fresh and quite a bargain.

This year they are featuring quite a few other interesting features, like Tutto Gusto, Tutto Eco, Tutto Sposi, or all things flavor, ecological and wedding. Interesting combinations if you ask me. I must admit that as we made our way through the serpentine displays of Sicilian desserts, cheeses, cookies, olive oil, Torinese chocolates, fur coats, hot tubs and got to the bridal fashion section, I thought perhaps we were lost, but of course, when we popped out at the heavy equipment of diggers, tractors, and other big machines that I had no idea what exactly they did, then I knew that we must still be in Cavour.

Now were were we with those apples?

Ok, so these aren't apples either, but what a great display of gigantic turnips and how about that giant squash at the bottom of the photo.

Then we found the tortelloni filled with apple and the pasta made with apple as well. There was a bit of a crowd around this stand and I forgot to go back later to make a purchase to try this unusual offering. Might just have to make our way back over before the end of the weekend. Luckily the festival goes for 10 days, so there's still time to get back over before it ends on the 16 of November.

Especially as I didn't get to try the "Mele in Camicia,"
apples in jackets or apple dumplings as we called them.

And on one last bittersweet note.
A fond farwell to our "Stagista" friend, Rachel, who is back home in Colorado after her 6 month stint working in the kitchen at Maison Verte Hotel
in Frossasco, Italy.
It was certainly our pleasure to have met you and enjoyed a few outings and laughs together.
We wish you all the best in your journey as a chef, as you explore the multi faceted world of cuisine.
Buona fortuna!
We look forward to meeting up again.

If you're looking to check out Tutto Mele here's a google map.

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