Castle + Costumes + Good Food & Drinks= Pirate Party!

December is here and that can mean only one thing...SKI SEASON! (You thought I was going to say Christmas...) On Saturday, I had to work, but by work I mean chaperoning middle and high school kids on a ski trip!  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera to show the beautiful scenes from the Dolomites, but fear not, I am probably skiing this coming weekend too.  More on skiing in the next post.

So one of the first things we learned about when we got to Italy was the infamous Pirate Party.  Our friends Frank and Silvia told us great tales of this epic party where you dress like pirates, do ropes courses and sleep in a castle.  How could we not get excited?!  Since I was on the slopes all day, I got a late start on the party and costume making, but made it nonetheless.  As you can see, my costume kinda sucked...it was a combination of a ninja outfit I wore for Halloween (had to dress up for work) and some sweet pink Under Armour from my day on the slopes.  Since the party was in an unheated castle, the long johns came in handy.  Brenden spent his Saturday preparing his awesome costume, complete with a foam fun sword that he used way more often than he should have all night.

I was an Asian inspired pirate.  Nobody seemed to mind.

 The Castello di Galeazza dates from the 13th century.  The tower was the original part and other rooms were added in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Some parts of it have been updated, but it still has a very old feel to it...and no heat in most rooms.  As a result, we had electric blankets on our beds that proved to be very effective.  The last time I saw an electric blanket was at Woodcliff Road when my parents likely used one to keep the oil bill down.  The temperatures have been dropping in Italy and I was a bit skeptical about the blanket's ability to keep me warm all night.  To my surprise, I slept very comfortably, although I did have three shirts and two pairs of pants on.

The Castle is currently run by an American named Clark.  He rents most of the place and maintains the rooms and the grounds (which include a little farm with goats and chickens).  To raise money for upkeep, Clark and his staff host events throughout the year.  They run parties in the winter...Halloween, Pirates, New Year's, Mexican Fiesta, and St. Patty's Day and host reading retreats during the spring and summer.  The castle functions like a bed and breakfast.  With our night stay came dinner (potatoes and sausage), dessert (muffins and candy) and breakfast (bacon and eggs), as well as copious amounts of wine and rum.  Ironically, one of the girls who was working the event was from Acton, MA and was taking a "gap year" (someone please explain the point of this!) in Europe before attending Fordham next year.  The castle is located somewhere between Ferrara and Bologna in a very rural part of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.  Not really sure who this castle was built to protect because it's in the middle of nowhere and nearly impossible to find without GPS.

The castle was all decorated for the Pirate Party.  This sign lead the way to the beginning of the ropes course.  The staff flooded the barn area and actually had a pretty legit ropes course over water and fire!  There was also a working cannon that was set off every so often and lots of firecrackers!

 The party was pretty much like a costumed barbecue.  It was very informal and casual and people helped themselves to food and drinks all night.  The American contingent consisted of a small group of folks that we know from the clinic and all 9 of us spent the night at the castle.  We also had the pleasure of meeting some Italians from the area, as well as a few Dutch folks.  We enjoyed ourselves by completing the ropes course several times (some of us more than others!) and chatting with friends around the fire pits.  Pirate Hart was an expert on the ropes, as you can see.

 He had so much fun that we found him fully in costume (eye patch included) asleep in his warm, electric blanketed bed.  Pretty impressive.  Great success.

We are now members of the castle club and can go back to attend any of their events or parties.  When else are we going to be able to sleep in a castle?