Pictures from Italy-- Silvano d'Orba the first visit

We were in Silvano d'Orba, the town Glen's grandpa was born in, from March 12th-15th. We then went to Turin, but the Mayor had asked if we could come back to Silvano, so after Turin, we had our second visit to Silvano on March 17th and 18th. The second trip will be a separate post.

March 13th was the day we went to several cemeteries: in Silvano d'Orba, in Tagliolo Monferrato, and Ovada.

Silvano to Ovada is about 4 miles

The cemetery in Silvano d'Orba:

graves in the courtyard surrounded by mausoleums

Glen sending a Marco Polo video

The Perasso mausoleum, though no one we knew was listed there 

in front of the cemetery are the remains of an old castle

part of the ruins of the Torrazzi castle

view from the parking lot to the Castle and St. Peter's Church

a zoomed in view--btw, the construction on the Silvano castle was finished in 1492

The cemetery in Ovada, the next town over:

We noticed that this family died the same day, so we looked it up. Turns out there was a dam in the area that burst on 13 August 1935, and hundreds died.  We later found out that the ferry that the Perasso family used to run was destroyed in the flood and never rebuilt.

We ate in Ovada at a Turkish and Italian place both days we were in Silvano. Here is a picture of the vegetarian pizza they served-- eggplant, zucchini, and roasted bell peppers -- and of the falafel wrap I had the next day. Turns out there were several Italian/Turkish restaurants in the area.

Silvano d'Orba city hall

With the help of google translate, Glen had been emailing someone in the city hall about the cemeteries. When we showed up at the city hall on our 2nd day there, the man Glen had been corresponding with was so nice that he offered to drive us up to the old cemetery, which is now abandoned and closed. So we couldn't see anything other than a wall and closed door, but it was the cemetery from the 1800s, so supposedly it would have had some of Glen's relatives in it. It is next to the castle and St. Peters Church, which are also closed, so we couldn't go in any of them.

La Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo 

a painting on the outside of the church

the top of the church, which didn't really show up in the other photo

the stairs leading up to the church (I just found everything beautiful and interesting)

the cemetery is behind the wall and gate on the left with the castle in the background and the church on the right

We took a walk up past the church and the castle and it gave us a nice view. With all of the hills in Italy, there were always nice views of everything.

looking down at the church

heading up the road 

Glen in the middle of another Marco Polo recording

I loved the old walls 

the cemetery door is to the left

the wall to the cemetery

Glen in front of 78 Via Roma where his grandpa lived as a little boy

these signs cracked us up--in America they would say Slow Children instead of looking like the children are running for their lives on their way to school

And one last amusing (at least to me) item--saw this in a store in Ovada. With Easter coming, they had many items like they do in the US, but I have never seen a chocolate chicken with chocolate eggs. I absolutely love the idea.