|
A
Picnic |
| calitri
tradizioni |
| In
a world as feudal as Calitri was at the start of the XVII century,
a most dreaded and least beloved person was the "compassatore",
an official who, on behalf of the feudatory, went around evaluating
the tenant farms, so as to determine the amount of grain each tenant
had to turn over to the landlord. |
| Evaluators
periodically measured the acreage planted with grain, calculated
the yield from each field and recorded their findings together with
the names of the tenants and the amount of grain due. |
| The
appraisal lasted a few days, during which the officials, with an
armed escort supplied by the feudatory, moved about the countryside,
at times covering long distances on foot. |
| Often
these men took advantage of the tenants, extorting, by threat of
arms, sums of money beyond the fair amount that was due. |
| For
opposite reasons, both the landlord and tenant farmers found it
expedient to maintain a good relationship with the evaluators, who,
being aware of their important position and skillfully taking advantage
of the situation, succeeded in wresting from the feudatories generous
rewards, to which were added gifts from the peasants who wanted
to curry their goodwill. |
| However,
there can be no doubt that, on such important occasions, the food
offered the evaluators was abundant and varied: meat, fish, eggs,
poultry, cheese, vegetables, and plenty of wine. At times a delicate
touch was added, like the vermicelli prepared by the nuns of the
monastery of the Annunciation. |
| The
meals prepared for the evaluators appear even more plentiful when
compared with those of the farmers hired to harvest crops or grapes. |
| For
instance, when a flood destroyed the Ficocchia Mill in 1614, the
men and women don Camillo Zampaglione hired for the repair work
were provided only bread, water, and a little wine. |
|
|
