Menaluna: What's in a name?

We’re being asked constantly ‘what does Menaluna mean?’ so we felt we should nail the explanation – and what a lovely explanation it turned out to be.

We know that our own property and that of Villa Menaluna (our house is next door) were originally one plot many years ago, with our house as the ‘cascina’ (farmhouse) and mostly for the workers, animals and the hay barn, and the ‘villa’ next door as the landowner’s house; neither particularly grand and both very typical of houses in the region.  The combined plot is made up of over 30,000 sqm of hillsides, terraces, boschi (woods), frutetti (orchards) and the odd vine or two.  In fact, the original estate name – Tenuta Menaluna – is still on the gates to the villa. 

Our elevated position at over 300 metres above sea level gives both houses stunning views down the valley and north to the Alps, but what is always the most wondrous site is watching a full moon rise behind the crest of the hill and ancient village skyline opposite.  As a keen photographer I like to think I can handle a camera well, but try as I might, I just cannot capture this spectacle of the moon’s own size seeming stupidly out of proportion to the bucolic scenes in front of it as it creeps up and up,  into the night sky.  As Seamus Heaney beautifully wrote in his poem Postscript - “Useless to think you’ll park and capture it more thoroughly”, it’s proven impossible for me to photograph the moon’s beauty and magic, so I’ve stopped trying.  You must experience it for yourself.

So, what’s in a name?

We are fortunate to have met the most wonderful person when we moved here; a warm and generous B&B owner called Lucia, who has turned into not only a wonderful friend, but continues to be an entertaining font of knowledge on all manner of subjects. Lucia was a natural first-stop in our quest to uncover the meaning of the name, with Lucia herself being part Italian and we think, part sorceress.   So it’s no surprise to us that without even pausing, Lucia was ready with an in-depth history of this long-forgotten word and its interpreted meaning.

The verb menare means ‘to bring’ and in the Italian tradition of conjugating verbs in complicated ways, when joined to the noun ‘luna’ and applied in context to the house - Villa Menaluna - it means "the house which brings the moon (to you)”.

Given that among many snippets of her sage advice Lucia will encourage us to tend to our garden in line with the cycles of the moon, we wouldn’t dare to question her mystic ways.  And you only have to witness a magical moonrise from the terrace of the house, to feel in your bones that the name ‘Menaluna’ could not be more fitting.

 (Yes, the photo is one of mine and the best I could capture….so far)