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MY ITALIAN VACATION or How I became a CaveWoman by Sue Carey

I just returned from a six week stay in a cave in Calitri, in the south of Italy! My friend, Terry invited me and another friend, Joyce to live with her for six weeks in a cave. Terry, her daughter and granddaughter went on HG Internatl (House Hunters) to look for a place they could buy for about $20,000.00. They found this cave which has been used for who knows how many years? Terry’s granddaughter, Nicole bought it for $20,000.00. There are many such caves all through the world that are still being used today. Before I agreed to this crazy thing, I made them assure me that there would be hot and cold running water, a shower, toilet and somewhere to cook. The heat was provided by using alternately, an electric heater and a kerosene heater. The bathroom was small but complete. The range was a stove with another kerosene heater to light. There still is an ancient old stove that was lighted by starting a fire under it with vents that go outside and it still works. There was electricity, a flat screen TV and WiFi ! We slept on 2 pullout sofa beds. There is a large loft that would probably sleep 4 comfortably. We washed out clothes by hand and hung them outside in the alley on a drying rack that we bought. The front of the cave has a glass window in the kitchen and glass windows above the door and in the door that gives a lot of light. The bathroom has a glass window in the front also. The cave was like a row house on an alleyway. You can’t drive a car up there so you have to park below, walk up a flight of steps and then walk up the alley to their cave door. You can drive up some alleys but not others. The people were warm and friendly and very well dressed!. They helped us carry many things. There are cafes all over town and in one of them we met a man who had just written a book about Calitri. Their home is in New Hampshire, but they are planning to retire in Calitri. They love the warmth and friendliness of the townspeople as we did, so he wrote a book about it! It's called "The Italian Chronicles of A ROGUE TOURIST" His name is Paul Monico and his book can be found on Amazon. All things considered it was “ok” but never like home! The pictures show what the cave is like and of course Nicole plans to do a lot more to it. The last two are pictures taken at a underground cave restaurant that was beautiful! During our 6 weeks, we went to Rome, the Vatican, Venice, Florence, Naples, Sorrento, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Avellino and many churches, monasteries, castles and wineries on the way.