SPECIAL MEMORIES

Quite a few years back, when my son and his wife lived in Italy, they bought a gift for my daughter and her family. That gift was one I was so jealous of! I wanted one of my own! And now, finally, I have something very similiar, and one that has special meaning for us. The gift? Ceramic letters, spelling my daughter's last name, mounted in an iron bracket. Ours is slightly different, using our house numbers instead of our name, but both the ceramic tile and the iron bracket were made just for us on our trip to Italy last fall.

Originally I thought we'd be able to find the ceramic tiles all over southern Italy, and my plan was to buy them while we were in Puglia. At the last minute we decided to see what was available in Deruta, which of course is very near San Venanzo. After searching through many different shops, I really wasn't happy with what we'd found - I know this must be hard to believe, since Deruta has more ceramic shops than you can imagine! We found ceramic tiles, measuring about 3" X 6", each with a small flower border on the top and bottom, and one large number in the center. For a four digit house number you'd buy the 4 number tiles, then two 'end' tiles that wrapped the border around the ends. Our problem was that we didn't like the border pattern or colors, and the two or three shops that had the number tiles all seemed to have the same thing.

We started out going into the larger shops but then turned to the smaller shops, hoping we might stumble upon the right numbers with the perfect design. As we were getting ready to leave yet another small shop, right across the street from Grazia, the clerk, an older man, asked if he could help. We explained what we were looking for, but no, he didn't have anything like that. BUT.......he could very easily make one for us.....and he motioned for us to follow him to the back of the store, to the workroom.

I, of course, was skeptical. Would there be enough time? Would having something custom made cost an arm and a leg? the man showed us various sized tiles, and various designs. It was pretty easy to make a decision - yes, that size would be perfect......no, not that design, something simple, maybe just some variation of the traditional 'Deruta' design...no not the one with the dragon, the other one.....Okay perfect. Now, how long, and how much? When we were told it would only take one week, and that the cost was only €40 we knew we'd found the right shop!

After picking up the tile a week later we knew there was only one place to find a bracket that would fit our tile - we'd have our fabro in San Venanzo, Paolo, make one for us! Paolo was very surprised to see us! Although we'd spent the day in San Venanzo when we'd first arrived in September, that was several weeks ago, and we hadn't seen Paolo then - I'm sure he was working. I tried to describe what I wanted - something simple, I told him. I drew a sketch on a piece of paper and that was all he needed! He told us to come back in a few days to pick it up! I know it's geeky, but we were both so excited to have this bracket made just for us! And Paolo was SOOO excited that something of his was going to the United States! (For so many people in Italy the United States is still thought of as the place where the streets are lined in gold and all the girls look like they do on "Baywatch", or whatever other American-style soap opera/sitcom/dramedy happens to be hot in Italy.)

Paolo wanted to show us how he made the ends of the brackets curled:







Here's the finished product:

PATIENCE IS NOT FOR ME

Those who know me will agree that I'm impatient, and I'll readily admit it. Now that our house is for sale and we've made the decision to return to the states, I have to admit that I'm having a hard time. I feel stuck in between two worlds, and it's not that I don't enjoy our life here in Italy, but now that we've decided, I'd like to start planning, because in addition to being impatient, I'm also a planner.

Planning a trip has always been as much fun as the trip itself. I love leafing through guidebooks, searching the internet, asking questions, and often discovering places that I never would have known about without a good deal of research. I love trying to maximize my time, to figure out what to do on Sundays, or on days when most of the museums are closed. I like figuring out what route makes the most sense...sometimes you want the most scenic route and other times it makes sense to take the overnight train. I do try to have several options when traveling, knowing that unexpected surprises, some good, some bad, often require last minute adjustments.

So, now that we've made the decision to return to the states, we had to decide where. After much discussion and thought, we've decided to return to Louisville for many reasons. Of course if money were no object I'd live in the Big Apple, but that's not quite in our budget. Louisville has always had a reasonable cost of living, which works to our favor now that we're retired. Of course Art still wants to work at Churchill Downs from time to time, as much for the social aspect as for the money.

Living in Louisville will also allow us to relax a little, in that we won't have to learn our way around, find the shortcuts, or know which store is best. After five years of having to learn our way around Umbria, the mostly straight roads will also be a pleasant change from the windy, windy roads here in Italy.

So what's the problem, you might be asking. Well for me, there's just not much planning or preparing I can do right now. I don't really have a place to store boxes, so I can't start packing stuff. At least if I were packing I'd feel as if I was doing something productive. I also can't plan much for our move, or for our travel plans after the house is sold.

We thought that once the house was sold we'd take some time...4 weeks, 6 weeks, maybe even longer, to do some of the traveling we haven't been able to do. Since we now have a car we planned to drive north, visiting the Piemonte region, stopping in Switzerland, a country we both love, maybe even getting to Belgium for some waffles, beer and french fries with mayo! Unfortunately, our itinerary will be determined to some degree by the time of year. If we're going to be traveling in January, perhaps we'd go south towards Puglia and on to Sicily instead of going north. Depending on the time of year maybe we'd drive to Ancona and take the ferry over to Croatia. If I tried to plan for every contingency I'd be up to my ears in print-outs and brochures, so I really need to wait until things are a little more settled.

We also thought it would be a cool idea to cruise back to the states, but ships from Rome to the states aren't as common as ships between England and the U.S., and are limited to the times when the ships are repositioning. If this works out, great, but again, it's a matter of timing.

Art still looks at the real estate listings in Louisville, and even the used car ads, but honestly that just drives me crazy! Yes, we have a general idea of the areas we'd like to live in and what type of car we'd like, but until we're actually there, cash in hand, it doesn't really do much good to see what's available today.

So yes, I am trying to enjoy my time in Italy....if you've been reading the blog recently you'll know that we have been having lots of fun, but still, the next phase of our life is just around the corner and I'd like to be planning for it, dreaming about it, making some decisions, but I can't do anything...and it's driving me crazy!!!

With the slow housing market we know we could be here for a while, and that's fine. Although we don't have tons of money it's not as if we have to sell quickly, so we'll just wait for the right buyer. The fact that I love Italy, Umbria and especially San Venanzo makes it soooo frustrating that we haven't yet found the person who will recognize our house and our town for the gems they are! For me, the impatient planner, these are trying times!

SURPRISES IN SAN VENANZO

Last fall we celebrated the re-opening of the building that houses our comune (city hall). The Villa Faina underwent a three year restoration and the end result was stunning...restored frescoes, beautiful woodwork, and at last, the public garden surrounding the villa was once again full of life. Except for the area behind the villa, which remained locked away behind a tall fence. I wasn't sure what continuing work was going on, but was afraid that it would continue for three more years. What a pleasant surprise to find out I was wrong! Suddenly one day the fences came down, revealing a new dance floor and areas for tables and tents....San Venanzo was back in the festa business!

Even a small town like San Venanzo can hold some surprises. One night on our way up to the festa we stopped to ask the workman about this new archway. The tiny room connecting the two buildings has been there for as long as we've been here...five years...but the man told us that the arch was simply "phase two" of the project. Apparently funds weren't available for the archway when the connection was added. We asked if the comune was paying for the arch but were told no, the casa dei anziani (the old folks home) was paying for everything. What a charming addition to the neighborhood!


At the festa I asked our neighbor Franco if I could snap a picture of him at the grill...















Someone in San Venanzo decided to try a progressive dinner for Saturday night's festivities. Each course would be served in a different area, and accompanied by wine from a differnt area cantina. The antipasto course was the only one I remembered to take a picture of! We had panzanella ((tomato bread salad), a farro salad, and two slices of bruschetta, one topped with fave beans and the other with truffles. The wine for this course was provided by the cantina Colli Perugini.

For the next course we moved to the courtyard of the villa for two incredibly delicious pastas and again, red or white wine from Cantina Giovagnoli, which I'd never heard of before.

For the meat course we moved to the area in front of the volcano museum and received a platter of assorted meats and cheeses, and wine from one of our favorite cantinas, Busti.

After all the food and wine, dessert was simple: watermelon and cantoloupe, the perfect ending to a great meal....and all this for only €15!

CROSSING LINES FOR MUSIC

The region of Umbria is divided into two provinces: Perugia and Terni. For us, the fact that San Venanzo was in the region of Terni meant shorter lines and fewer delays when we first arrived here and had to apply for our permits of stay. Now that the provinical offices are no longer handling this procedure, the benefits of being in the province of Terni are less clear.

I couldn't find a map showing both the two provinces AND some key cities, so I'll do my best to explain the map above. The green part of the map is the province of Perugia, and the blue section is the province of Terni. I'm going to generalize and say that each city sits in approximately the position where it's name is printed. San Venanzo sits at the northeastern edge of the province of Terni, and is separated from it's closest provincial neighbors by mountains and winding roads. The closest city to us, the one we frequent most often, is Marsciano, just over the border into the province or Perugia, but much closer than any other city in our own province.

Of course I have no idea why or how the provincial lines were drawn, but as puzzling as it is, it can often be frustrating when doing business. Our friends in Todi and Massa Martana, physically close to Terni, must drive into Perugia to deal with any bureaucracy...and deal with larger numbers of people. We've never minded the longer drive to Terni to take care of business, because in the end the time we saved standing in line and dealing with various offices more than offset our drive time.

For our daIly lives though, most of our goods and services seem to come from Marsciano and/or the province or Perugia, and most of the events we attend are also within the province of Perugia...but getting information about goods, services and events can be quite frustrating! We'd love to have a phonebook from Perugia, and if it weren't for our friend Wendy, we probably wouldn't have one. Of course we have a phone book for the provice of Terni delivered, but aside from people and businesses in San Venanzo, we've never needed any of the phone numbers it contains. We want to have info about the local sagre and feste, but nothing from the district of Perugia seems to get posted in San Venanzo. At least we drive into Marsciano on a regular basis so that we can check out the billboards for information.

I doubt that the provincial lines will be redrawn anytime soon, but this summer common sense has prevailed and San Venanzo has joined the music festival promoted by the city of Marsciano. This festival, MUSICA PER I BORGHI, offers a series of free concerts set in the various 'frazione', or small towns that are part of the comune of Marsciano. This year San Venanzo participated, and on Friday night we played host to Fabizio Palma and Grazia di Michele, who apparently are well know from the Itaian show "Amici". (yes, that's "Friends"!)

Due to the event being publicized all over the area via posters and newspaper articles, it was standing room only as the band finally began to play, nearly an hour after the schedule start time. Of course when did ANY concert ever start on time, then factor Italy into the equation.....

The group was interesting, funky, jazzy, with a great saxophone player. After the frist few numbers a singer came onstage accompanied by tow back-up singers. This singer...was HE Fabrizio?...talked as much as he sang, which I found annoying. thankfully he did have a great voice for types of cabaret/jazz songs he sang. And then he stepped over the line, doing a terrible, overly dramatic version of "Yesterday", that had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head.

I'm not sure what the many older residents of San Venanzo thought of the performance since we left before the concert was over. Early mornings and late nights are hard to do unless you take the tradtional Italian nap after lunch, and I'm just not a napper, so I was ready to call it a night before midnight. I hope the event was successful for all concerned and that San Venenzo will participate again next year...and maybe even join in other Marsciano/Perugia events as well.

SUMMER FUN IN SAN VENANZO

In San Venanzo, as in most small towns, there are four ways to get the news: #1, read the daily regional paper, #2, read the posters along the side of the main road, #3, check out the local bar, or #4, (and of course this is the best way to get your news) ask a local.

While I was working in the orto the other day, our neighbor Adamo (in whose yard the orto is) stopped by to make sure I knew about the festa that was scheduled for Sunday night. For once I was able to tell him that yes, I had seen the poster in the bar and that we were planning to attend. Normally I never go into the bars, mostly because I don’t drink coffee. Art usually stops into the bar nearest our house when he gets his hair cut or makes a run to the Post Office, but his focus is more on socializing than in looking at the fliers taped on the bar.

The other day we happened to be out walking and Art said “Let’s stop in the bar to see if Vittoria’s there. Vittoria is one of the owners of the bar, and she’s the one who never charges Art for his coffee…NEVER! As a thank you for her kindness I’ve sent American sweets from time to time, and I was disappointed that when we dropped off our latest treat (zucchini muffins!), Vittoria’s husband was there instead of her. That was a week or more ago, and I was anxious to hear what they’d thought of the muffins.

As luck would have it, Vittoria was there that day, and the first thing she said to me was how much they’d enjoyed the dolci (sweets). I’d told her husband that the muffins were really good with cream cheese, known here in Italy as simply “Philadelphia”. Vittoria told me they’d used Philadelphia and that yes, it was delicious!

As Art enjoyed his quick shot of coffee, I took a quick look at the announcements in the bar, and noticed a flier for “Summer Fun”, to be held in the main piazza on Sunday evening. The flier promised fun, games, food and more!

On Sunday evening we didn’t head up to the piazza until about ten since we’d already eaten dinner, but apparently there had been bruschetta and pasta. The tables still held bottles of water, wine, and big platters of watermelon, a typical Italian dessert in the summer. Someone asked us if we’d like something to eat, but we declined.

There was a big movie screen set up at the far end of the piazza, near the volcano museum, and the kids were watching cartoons…Tom and Jerry cartoons! There was a table with two large glass jars filled with beans, and for 50¢ you could guess the number of beans. When we stopped by, the number had been determined to be between 8, 500 and 9000 beans and the guessing continued.


An easel was set up containing a single photograph, with the caption “What is it?” written above. Several of us crowded around the picture, turning our heads this way and that, trying to make sense of the photo. Adamo told us it was something that was known all over the world, not just in Italy. That clue didn’t help at all. I had two guesses: my first guess was graffiti sprayed under an archway, and my second was the Eiffel Tower. Neither was correct.

At another group of tables there were some serious card games going on, and apparently it was some sort of tournament. There were sheets of paper listing the winners and the brackets, but I’m not sure if there was a charge to participate. Italian card games always intrigue us…the cards look different and the decks contain only 40 cards. Someday I’m going to get someone to explain the game that’s played every afternoon at the bar…there are usually two games going on, each with a large group of spectators.

At the end of the piazza nearest the road, nearest our house, there were women sitting in a circle, knitting away like crazy. They were using a rather thin yarn, and we were told that the women would knit for 45 minutes….45 minutes! After the time was up the rows would be counted and a winner would be declared. The prizes sat in the middle of the circle….a set of espresso cups and saucers for the winner and pasta for the runners-up.

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Okay, back to the post, but first I'll mention that we had such a good time with Steve and Pauline last night! It had been nearly four years since we'd seen each other in person, although thanks to the internet it didn't seem that long at all. For those of you not familiar with the story of how we came to live in Italy, I'll tell you that we give credit for our life in Italy to two people: first my son; If he hadn't been stationed in Italy we never would have visited in the first place. Secondly we credit Pauline (and Steve) for establishing the ST website (and subsequent message board) where we were able to connect with lots of helpful people and gather most, if not all of the information we needed to make our move a reality.

Okay, back to the festa.........

At some point we discovered that someone had correctly guessed the number of beans in the jars. When I saw the winner, a woman I don’t know, I saw what her prize was…..the beans! “Tomorrow night, dinner at your house?” I jokingly asked her in Italian. “Yes…..and we’re having beans!” was her reply.

While the knitting and the card tournament continued, Adamo circulated through the crowd with a huge platter of cantaloupe. Man, it’s sooo sweet! We’ve quickly learned the advantages of eating what’s in season. Yes, you may be able to get cantaloupe year round at Kroger, but really, how many times have we all been disappointed by the taste?

People kept stopping by the photograph and trying to figure out what it was. Someone stopped by while I was looking at it and told us what it was. The entire group looked at this person like they were crazy…none of us could figure out what they were telling us! We kept asking and asking, and eventually decided that it was some part of a toilet, but an antique toilet that apparently no one recognized. I’m still not quite sure, but until I can catch Adamo and get him to show me the picture and explain the perspective to me and point out what’s what, it’ll remain a mystery.

Time was running out for the knitters. The woman who seems to be involved in all of the community events stood in the center of the circle and told the women their time was almost over. At the end of the 45 minutes she blew her whistle, then asked several women spectators to be judges. We all waited while each piece was counted first by one judge, then another.

Eventually, after some discussion a winner was declared! I’m not sure if the second and third place winners were tied, or if it was intended to be that way all along.

Now all that was happening was the card tournament. It was down to four players at one table, and they seemed pretty serious about it. We decided to head back home before the winner was declared, but I’m sure it was an exciting finish.

As you’ve probably guessed by this and other posts about San Venanzo, the town really is like one big extended family. The best part is that they’re so welcoming to us. When we moved to Italy we specifically decided to be IN a town so that we could be a part of the town, and we’ve certainly gotten our wish!