the hamlet of Allumiere, commune of Rome in the region of Monte della Tolfa
Before it got too hot in July, Alex and I did a daily walk to La Bianca. From Allumiere we walked through the Faggeto (ancient beech forest) and out to La Bianca only 1 mile away. For a few weeks, Ale helped out for a couple hours at the Ristorante di Rischio (if you want to experience the authentic cuisine of the countryside of Rome, in Italy you must visit). While I waited I got a chance to re-live the memory of when I first came to La Bianca. https://www.facebook.com/Ristorante-da-Rischio-1566109540276831/ This is where the story of our living in Allumiere begins. Living in La Bianca for one month in the spring of 2015 and then again in the summer of 2019 I realized there were so many similarities to be found in this region of Italy and reminded me so much of the country of my birth – Jamaica. I was ready to leave America and it was the place that I thought was closest to home.
Often I get the question why Allumiere? Why choose to live here? And the reason always is that La Bianca was where the idea began that we could actually live in Italy. In La Bianca you will find mostly families that have lived here for generations. Only 390 people, 17 families of which my friend Leo’s Dad tells me there still is the original 4. You can tell which from their last names.
It’s a quiet town with remains of the past. It reminds me of my childhood growing up in Jamaica. Very similar to Claremont and Yorkcaste, where my father grew up and where we would go during summer and Christmas holidays. It’s a town where you have a large family and can grow old in.
The people move to the rhythmn of the seasons and flow with the weather. In the summer early to rise in the morning, back inside for lunch when everything closes between 1 to 4. In the summertime, no one comes out until 5pm. In the wintertime bedtime is early. It is a place that once you are a teenager you want to escape from. There is not much to do. A bakery, a bar, a church, and several restaurants. Nothing else. At 14 you can get a scooter and then there is more freedom to bike off to Allumiere or Tolfa. When you are 16 or 17. You can get a car and go to more exciting Civitavecchia.
But often they want to return when they decide to have a family. Quiet, and serene it is perfect to raise a family. The little piazza is a place for kids and adults alike to hang out in the evenings. Perfect for a cool summer night when it’s common to stay up in the wee hours of the morning. I can understand why. It is 20 degrees cooler than nearby coastal town of Civitavecchia
For me, it was the place where I discovered I could live as a nonwealthy tourist. The magazine and travel industry portray Italy for rich and fabulous. Here as I look around and saw people living affordably and with the balance that I craved. In America, it felt like the forever hamster wheel. Even though our salaries were higher we seemed to have less quality of life. Here in La Bianca, the cost of living is less and much more affordable. How was it possible? Life is slow and rhythmic.
BRIEF HISTORY
La Bianca, was the first village to be formed after more than 1000 years of occupation of Tolfa. Before it was all forest before the mining began. Now a commune of Allumiere, it began fifty years before the town of Allumiere would be born in 1506. The white and black sign shadowed by the green leaves of the woods welcomes us. Benvenuto La Bianca. In the spring a Judas tree, blossoming bright pink petals in all its grandeur ushers us into the town. Named for the white of the alum that the miners worked in. Its flag is green for woods and white with a holly in the center as a symbol. A landmark where the alum could be found flies proudly from a pastel pink house. Another with the red, white, and green of the Italian flag.
Known as the white, La Bianca is a small hamlet and a neighborhood otherwise known as a Contrada of Allumiere in the region of Monti della Tolfa. It can be defined as the ancient Allumiere as it was here that Giovanni da Castro in 1462 created the first plant for the production of alum.
Around 1462 , the woods were cut to build the first houses for the miners that came from outside the area. La Bianca was a result of the rapid growth in Tolfa on the discovery of this alum. Palazzi, grand houses, churches (seven in all) and monasteries were popping up all over Tolfa. Soon there was no more room and the workers spilled over into the nearby what was then a forest.
Alum was a highly prized mineral and in the La Bianca, a plant was subsequently installed for the production of kaolin, a sedimentary rock that can be used in construction, the production of ceramics and porcelain, and also in the medical field. La Bianca was one of those many mining towns in Italy that is not talked much about. In fact, the Tolfa Mountains were rich in minerals. The processing of this mineral in 1500 was moved to where the town Allumiere now stands.
It is the place where I was welcomed by all of Riccardo’s friends – and he has alot. I call him my social butterfly. On every trip to the area when we visited Italy, he would arrange a dinner for everyone that he grew up with in La Bianca at the Rischio. It’s a testament to Italian friendship as they now live in other Towns, Tolfa, Santa Marinella, Civitavecchia but they all show up at the dinner which with plate after plate of the most incredible food we ate, drank, laughed and were merry just like in Boccaccio’s novel
A Jamaican in Italy 
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