Italian Culture Traditions

Bobbing Lace in Offida

Offida, a small town close to Ascoli, has an unusual charm and will be especially intriguing for the visitor interested in Italian people culture.

This little city has an ancient origin: it was founded during the stone age by the Pelasgi, a mysterious people coming from Asia.

Once they founded the city, a temple was dedicated to the sacred serpent Ophite. Offida probably takes its name from the word “ophis” that means snake both in Greek and Etruscan.

Still today the spirit of the serpent god pervades the town in the name of the beautiful theater and the main street: Serpente Aureo or Golden Snake.





Actually, I couldn’t help finding serpentine patterns everywhere, from the wrought-iron balconies to the sinuous shapes of the beautiful laces worked by the expert hands of Offida women.

This area has a strong wine making tradition and the excellent local wines can be sampled at the enoteca regionale located in a historical building in the center of the town. Here the visitor can find and taste hundreds of the best Italian wine labels. We were conquered by the white Falerio and the red Rosso Piceno.


We finally visited the stunning Santa Maria della Rocca. This imposing church offers a magnificent view from what seems a precarious position on a rock, just outside the village.

It’s a severe medieval building, magnificent in its lack of frills and ornaments.

When we entered the church, the lady at the entrance dropped momentarily the omnipresent bobbing lace work, collected an euro for the visit and guided us in an exhaustive historic tour of the biggest crypt I have ever seen.

Santa Maria della Rocca is a very unusual church and there is about it an atmosphere of somber and austere beauty.

Offida is also famous for its explosive carnival that is celebrated with wild abandon by the whole town with rites that remind ancient pagan ceremonials.

This small city carefully keeps alive its Italian culture traditions and fosters a strong tie with its past for the enjoyment of its people and of the shrewd visitors that ventures off the typical Italian holiday beaten path.

WHERE TO STAY WHEN VISITING OFFIDA

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