{"id":93,"date":"2009-02-23T14:46:34","date_gmt":"2009-02-23T18:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=93"},"modified":"2018-09-12T13:45:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-12T11:45:14","slug":"le-cioce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/le-cioce\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Cioce"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently read an article in the magazine \u2018Acqua\u00a0& Sapone\u2019 about the region known as Ciociaria and was inspired to add it to my ever growing\u00a0list entitled \u2018Places that I must\u00a0explore in Italy\u2019. Ciociaria is a loosely defined region comprising\u00a0approximately the northern half of the Provincia di Frosinone which is located in central Italy south of Rome and north of Naples.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found it particularly interesting to discover that the origins of the region’s name and that of its inhabitants, who are known as Ciociari, come from an ancient type of footwear called la ciocia<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

La ciocia<\/em>, plural cioce<\/em>, was the traditional footwear of the contadini<\/strong> (peasants) and pastori<\/strong> (shepherds),\u00a0being worn by both men and women alike. It consists of a tough treated leather sole which is bound to the foot and ankle by means of leather thongs.\u00a0It was traditionally worn with long calze<\/strong> (socks)\u00a0which reached up to the\u00a0knee length trousers\u00a0worn by men,\u00a0whilst the women\u00a0would wear a long skirt that mostly covered the socks. Apparently these shoes are very comfortable, being extremely flexible, well ventilated,\u00a0and adapting well to all types of terrain, although I don\u2019t think I\u2019d fancy wearing them in deep mud!<\/span><\/p>\n

The name ciocia<\/em> comes from the Latin root soccus\u00a0 <\/em>from which we also get the word zoccolo<\/strong> meaning clog, as in the carved wooden footwear. Zoccolo<\/em> is, incidentally,\u00a0also the name we use for\u00a0an animals hoof. These days of course le cioce<\/em> are not seen very often outside of a museum, but they are still apparently worn by the zampognari<\/strong>, the itinerant\u00a0musicians who travel the region of Ciociaria\u00a0playing the traditional zampogna<\/strong>, a kind of primitive bagpipe. They are also worn\u00a0during some of the many folklore pageants of which we Italians are so fond.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently read an article in the magazine \u2018Acqua\u00a0& Sapone\u2019 about the region known as Ciociaria and was inspired to add it to my ever growing\u00a0list entitled \u2018Places that I must\u00a0explore in Italy\u2019. Ciociaria is a loosely defined region comprising\u00a0approximately the northern half of the Provincia di Frosinone which is located in central Italy south…<\/p>\n

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