YES IT'S TRUE...

...they really DO roast chestnuts on an open fire...or on a grill heated with a portable gas tank - whatever. Before we moved to Italy all I knew about chestnuts was what I'd heard Johnny Mathis sing about, then during our first winter here we discovered that roasted chestnuts are everywhere! I have discovered that I don't really like them, but I DO love the idea of them...the idea of people gathered around a warming fire, watching and waiting for the chestnuts to be ready, juggling the hot chestnuts from hand to hand as they try to eat them....well, it's just sort of a whole "It's a Wonderful Life" experience, don' t you think?

On Saturday afternoon we rode down to Marsciano to see a folk group dance at the small shopping center where the grocery store is. We picked up a few supplies, then Art took them to the car while I went in search of the promised performance. That's when I stumbled across the crowd waiting for the next batch of chestnuts to be ready, and I also saw a girl dressed in the period costume I'd seen on the poster.

We asked her when the performance would begin...the poster said 4:30 and of course by now it was close to 5:00. In true Italian style, no one seemed to know! None of the other dancers were there, and no stage or area had been set up for the performance. After a few minutes we decided not to wait...although I'm sure it would have been interesting, it just didn't seem worth standing around for an unknown period of time, waiting and wondering. I know this is Italy, and I know we're retired, but sometimes this oh-so-causal concept of time just doesn't work for us.