Our book's three Italian authors, Carlo and Lucia Longo and Luciana Cacciatore all live in Taviano, a town of about twelve thousand inhabitants on the east side of the Salentine peninsula. The town has its own oceanside marina located about 10 minutes away (8 kilometers). The Marina di Mancaversa is where the Tavianesi (and more than a few international tourists) typically go to enjoy the swimming and sunshine. The delightful sand beach in Mancaversa is called the Spiaggia del Mare dei Cavalli, or simply, the Spiaggia dei Cavalli (Horses Beach), so named because in times past, residents of the area used to bring their work horses to the beach to give them a bath. Both Carlo and Lucia's family and Luciana's family have a summer beach house in Mancaversa. Audrey and I have visited them often at their beach houses where we have been treated to traditional Salentinian meals.
The purpose of this post, however, is not to extol the beach or the food or our co-authors' hospitality, but to acquaint the reader with the virtues of the community spirit of Taviano and its active citizenry. Over the years, Taviano has always impressed us as a uniquely progressive and civic minded town. As an example of this, one of their recent community projects has been to organize a clean-up of the local Spiaggia dei Cavalli. Another, was to promote ongoing maintenance of the beach by organizing a day dedicated to removing plastic bottles and related trash. Below is a poster advertising the clean-up event to take place this August 1st. Below the poster is a picture of the "Pesce Mangiaplastica," the "Plastic-eating Fish" which will be kept on the beach to eat plastic during the summer months.
The purpose of this post, however, is not to extol the beach or the food or our co-authors' hospitality, but to acquaint the reader with the virtues of the community spirit of Taviano and its active citizenry. Over the years, Taviano has always impressed us as a uniquely progressive and civic minded town. As an example of this, one of their recent community projects has been to organize a clean-up of the local Spiaggia dei Cavalli. Another, was to promote ongoing maintenance of the beach by organizing a day dedicated to removing plastic bottles and related trash. Below is a poster advertising the clean-up event to take place this August 1st. Below the poster is a picture of the "Pesce Mangiaplastica," the "Plastic-eating Fish" which will be kept on the beach to eat plastic during the summer months.
Please also check out the Taviano town website with its excellent photos of the town and of the Spiaggia dei Cavalli in Mancaversa: Comune di Taviano. Click on the little arrows to the side of the main photo on the home page to cycle through various additional photos. Perhaps someday, you'll visit Taviano and Mancaversa and even join Carlo, Lucia or Luciana for a swim in the Spiaggia dei Cavalli.