thisweekinitaly.com

Book Presentation

I went to a book presentation ceremony at a church in the mountains at San
Cassiano di Controne. The friend of some friends of mine had written her
doctoral dissertation on this lovely Romanesque church, and it was published
thanks to a subsidy from a bank. There was a panel discussion at the
ceremony, but unfortunately we arrived a bit late, and the room was
overflowing. My friends said “she (the author) knows every stone of this
church” I took time to climb the dark rickety stairs to the top of the bell
tower to take some pictures. The location was particularly beautiful. Later
I discovered that the author did not know “every stone” – she had never had
the courage to climb the bell tower herself. It was a bit dirty going up
and down the stairs; when I came down them the church was empty (because
folks were at the nearby discussion). So the Holy Water font at base of the
stairs came in handy for a quick hand cleaning.

In a Bank

A friend who speaks English happened to be in a Pistoia bank when a Swede
came in. The Swede was doing business in Pistoia and wanted to open up a
local bank account. He, of course, spoke to the clerk in English; the clerk
looked back at him with no comprehension of what he had said. Then began a
search to find someone on the bank staff who spoke English. Finally the
Swede said in desperation: “This is incredible; nobody here speaks English.”
After 20 minutes, a bank manager was found who spoke enough English for the
necessary transactions.

Volunteer Fair

There was a fair in the center of town where all the various volunteer
organizations had tables. I saw one interesting table “Association of
Pistoia Singles.” It turned out to be the only table with no representative
and no literature present. Sort of an omen of the life of singles in Italy.
Robert Putnam in his famous book “Bowling Alone” contrasts northern Italy
(many civic organizations) to southern Italy (few such groups) in arguing
the importance of these groups for a well functioning society. Northern
Italy does function better than the south in this regard. My Italian
friend, Sam, who was with me at the fair said that, although there are many
volunteer groups in Pistoia, he thinks there are generally ineffective
because they suffer from the common Italian vice of disorganization.

(A little note on the south of Italy. Italy has a law requiring helmets for
drivers of motorcycles and motor scooters and forbidding two people to ride
on a small scooter. This law is obeyed in Pistoia; in Naples maybe 10% of
the scooter riders have a helmet and two people on a small scooter is
common. They say in the north that the south is “fuori legge” –outside the
law)

Miss Italy Contest

It was on the TV for three or four nights. I only saw the concluding hour.
I did not watch the Miss America contest much in recent years. As I noted
once before, I boycotted this show for many years after they fired Bert
Parks. So I may be comparing the Miss Italy show of today with the Miss
America show of yesterday. They use public telephone voting in Italy as
part of determining the winner. There is less emphasis on talent. The
final “contest” was for each contestant to act out a part in a very short
scenes from famous Italian films of the past. The Italian contestants seem
more lively and vivacious, less plastic. When they are down to the last
two, they are hugging each other in anticipation of the final announcement.
When the winner is announced, instead of marching down the run way as in the
Miss America contest, the winner is mobbed with hugs and kisses by the other
contestants. It may all be 100% phony—the contestants may hate each other,
but it looks wonderfully spontaneous and alive.

Engagements in Italy

In the USA people may date for years, they may live together for years, but
a formal engagement usually means that a wedding is imminent within a year
or two. In Italy, on the other hand, long engagements are the rule. A
couple may get engaged when man is 26 and woman is 22, but he may not be
able to establish himself well enough to afford marriage until he is 32.
People graduate from the University at a much later age. In Italy too
people live together without being married. If they have children, this
“family” is entitled to the legal rights of a family established through
marriage.

Brazilian War Memorial

I never knew that Brazil sent troops to fight with the Allies in WWII. It
did, and near Pistoia is a memorial to the Brazilians killed in Italy
constructed by the Italian government.It is abstract in design. There is
a long wall in front of a reflecting pool with the names of all those
killed, about 200 it seems to me. Because of the pool, you cannot touch the
names as at the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, DC, but still this
memorial is much closer to the Viet Nam one in concept than the typical
memorial with military sculptures. The memorial is located in an out of the
way place although there is good signage directing one to the location.I
just happened to follow a sign to it one day on my bike. I think few
Pistoia residents have seen it. While I was there, a couple from Brazil
arrived in a taxi to see it. I don’t know if that had a relation who is
named on the wall.

I Tatti

This is the palazzo near Florence of Bernard Berenson, a very well know art
connoisseur of the first half of the 20th century who also was the middle
man in art purchases by many rich Americans. When he died in 1959, he willed
the estate to Harvard University which uses it as a Center of Renaissance
Studies. It has extensive formal gardens, and also houses his private art
collection which contains many museum quality pieces (including many Chinese
art pieces that are often displayed in suggestive conjunction with
Renaissance works that have similar elements.) I visited recently for a
guided tour. It is not open to the public; visits are only by scheduled
tours. There are research fellows from all over the world who come here for
a year at a time. There is an extensive library and other resources. But
if I were ever lucky enough to be a Fellow, I could not get much done. I
would simply luxuriate in the beauty of the surroundings.

A Letter to the Newspaper

A friend of mine saw a newspaper article in a leftist paper here criticizing
a certain “Berlusconi law.” He recalled that this law was in fact passed by
the prior left-center government, not the current right-center one of
Berlusconi. He did some research to verify that his recollection was
correct. The law was passed under the prior government although it did not
take effect until after Berlusconi was elected. So my friend wrote to the
newspaper to point out their error. The newspaper replied that he was
correct but it was still “Berlusconi’s law” because his government had not
repealed this law after it took power. This little exchange gives you a
glimpse of the low level of a lot of political discourse in Italy. People
can make highly sophisticated arguments, but passion and prejudice are much
stronger than reason. Maybe this is the way of politics almost everywhere.

Loss of Temper

For the first time I lost my temper at Italian bureaucracy, and yelled an
obscenity at a lady on the phone. I got a note that post office had tried to
deliver a package but I was not home. The note had a place for the delivery
person to indicate when delivery would next be attempted; this was blank.
For some reason this package (from Germany) was out of the Prato post
office, not the Pistoia one. Otherwise I could have picked it up the next
day at local office. I immediately sent a Fax to the Prato post office
asking it to inform me by e mail or phone when the next delivery would be.
No reply. The next day I got a second notice of failed delivery (I don’t
stay home all day just to get a package). It had a number to call to
arrange delivery. When I called this number, I was referred to a second
number. When I called the second number. I was referred to a third number.
When I called the third number, the lady said the contact to the post office
needed to be made by the sender from Germany. Certainly part of the problem
(maybe 90%) was that I was not explaining well what I wanted in Italian.
But still I was frustrated. I had to have an Italian friend call Prato post
office and arrange for delivery the next day.

Then later that afternoon, the postal delivery man stopped back at my house,
which he did not have to do, and I got my package. So typical of Italy –
just when you have been driven absolutely crazy by the disorganization,
something very nice happens to remind you why it is all worth it.

Prostitution in Italy

It seems to be more common than in USA. I have a friend in his early 30s
who tells me that many unmarried middle class young men go to prostitutes.

My impression
is that this is not the case in the USA. In the USA, where one can pick
up a woman at a bar or elsewhere and where women go to bed with men with
whom there is no long-term relationship, the need for prostitutes is less.
Many, if not most prostitutes, today in Italy are immigrants primarily from
Africa and Eastern Europe.

Rettore

There is no word or phrase in Italian that corresponds to Dean of First Year
Students, my last position at Gettysburg College. One time somebody told me
that the word “rettore” was the best fit. So I started to use it. Later I
discovered that “rettore” is really closer to a college President in the
USA. I get a lot of respect when I use the word to describe my past
employment. So since there is no exact translation, I just continue to use
”rettore.”

FAQ addition

When I responded to the question “What do you like best about living in
Italy?” in a recent newsletter, my answer concentrated on aspects of Italy
itself. My son Chris, who lives in Germany, reminded me that an important
”fringe benefit” of my living in Italy is that I am able to enjoy the
extreme pleasure of his company more often.

Learning English

Someone told me that they read a newspaper article that listed Spain and
Italy as the two countries in Europe where the knowledge of English is the
lowest. A friend who is an English teacher in an Italian high school
recently went for a two week intensive English course in Scotland. She paid
her own way. At the course were some English teachers from Spain. The
government had paid for them to come to the course. Furthermore, they
receive a higher salary for being teachers of English. In Italy the
initiative to improve the teaching of English revolves around starting
instruction earlier in the school career. This will do little to improve
the situation. In Italy the main problem is quality of preparation of the
teachers and the mode of instruction (emphasis on reading and literature).
Spain is investing in better preparation of teachers; Italy is not. The
results I think will be obvious.

Speaking of Spain, 30 years ago Spain was seen as a country less prosperous
and modern than Italy. Today most Italians to whom I speak think that Spain
has passed Italy in these regards. I don’t know what the actual economic
statistics show.

Protecting the Little Guy

In Italy there is penchant in the laws for protecting the little guy.
Sometimes such laws lead to more inefficiency (which may be a price that
Italy is willing to pay). But when the laws are both inefficient and
ineffective, they serve little purpose other than to make some people feel
good (”We protect the small shop owners.”) For example, in Italy it is
against the law for a store to sell an item at a price lower than what the
store paid for the item. This is to prevent what we call “loss leaders” in
the USA an item sold at below cost to entice people into the store. But a
large chain of stores can still buy items at a lower wholesale price than
small stores. So even if it sells the item at cost (and really loses money
on it because the price does not recoup the costs of sale for the item), it
will be at a cost far lower than what the small store can offer.

Fig Leaves

After that fatal bite of apple, Adam and Eve covered their nakedness with
fig leaves. It is the season for figs now in Italy. They are wonderful.
Recently I was eating dinner at a friend’s house where the figs were served
with some fig leaves covering the dish. I noticed, for the first time, that
fig leaves are very big. Obviously the reason that Adam and Even chose
them.

Dishwasher

I now have a dishwasher in my apartment. I got a used one at a good price.
The first thing I noticed is that my dishes look a lot nicer now that they
are REALLY clean.

Festival of Lights in Lucca

This is a once a year festival in which along the parade route all the doors
and widows are surrounded by small candles on special metal frames. It is a
provincial celebration so that there are delegations from churches, fire
companies, ambulance crews. etc. from the entire province of Lucca, not
just the city. I noted that there were delegations of blood donors from
various cities. A group we don’t honor in USA in parades. What was most
impressive were the delegations from the Association of Lucchese Living
Abroad. These were from all over the world in including, for example, New
York, Chicago, San Francisco, Bangkok, Adelaide, and Berlin. There was a
lovely mass performed in the Cathedral by a chorus of over 100 and
orchestra. Fireworks ended the evening.

Unfortunately the last train from Lucca to Pistoia leaves Lucca about 10:30
; too early to really enjoy an evening event in Lucca. So my friend and I
stayed in Lucca until 5:10 a.m. when first morning train departs. I slept
for a while on the park bench in front of the railroad station; the waiting
room in the station does not stay open all night.

McDonalds

On my 23 hour trip from Cavello to Pistoia, I arrived in Florence train
station at a little after 5 a.m. The next train for Pistoia was at 5:50. I
wanted a drink, but almost everything was closed. There was, however, an
open McDonalds across the street from station. At McDonalds one cash
register was open and even at this early house a long line formed in front
of the
register. There were two other serving employees present besides the girl
at this register. In the USA, the manager would have immediately opened up
a second cashier; in Italy the other two employees just stood around. Maybe
their shift did not start until 6. You can bring American fast food to
Italy, but the ethos of service is a little harder to import.

Nicola

I met Nicola on my way back from Calvello to Pistoia. He is a native of
Calvello who also lives in Pistoia and had gone to Calvello for the
religious festival. He is a retired brick mason. He likes to go places
and do things while his wife prefers to stay at home. So he was quite happy
to find me. He accompanied me to church on Sunday, and we went together to
the Festival of lights at Lucca. I went with him to visit his son and
daughter-in-law who lives in a scenic area of Tuscany where they also own a
vacation rental home. Lucca is a true ‘contadino’ with little education.
When he was 8 (1943) the schools closed in Calvello because of the war;he
never went back after the schools reopened. He didn’t know the difference
between the continents of North and South America and the United States of
America. He asked me if George Bush was the ruler of Argentina too. He is a
very pleasant man.

As a young man he went to Switzerland and learned to be a mason there. A
wonderful film about an Italian immigrant to Switzerland in the 1970s is
‘Bread and Chocolate’ (1974). I don’t know if it is available in the USA,
but if it is, it is worth watching. After 10 years he returned to Italy. He
had the money to buy a house with a nice garden. The son I met works in his
father-in-law’s construction company and has a lovely home. In short in a
generation the family has gone from poor southerners to a good life. It
seems that this kind of upward mobility is less common in Italy than in
the USA, but it does exist. For southern Italians this kind of upward
mobility almost always required leaving the south.

The Tragedy at the School in Russia

The day the dead children were buried, this story took up the first four
pages of the newspaper. This was a horrible tragedy that evoked emotions
all over the world including the USA. Still this four pages of coverage
was evidence of an important difference between the USA and Italy. My
weekly
newsletters are hardly a cheering section for all things Italian, but in
matters of human suffering, the Italians show extraordinary concern,
sympathy, and emotion. When you live here, it is obvious.It is clear that
they “feel the pain” of others in a way that is greater than what is typical
in the United States. This to me is one of the most positive aspects of the
Italian character.

Mix-Up at the Assisted Fertility Laboratory

An Italian couple that used a method of assisted fertility (the husband
was infertile) ended up with a pair of Black twins. The laboratory
apologized
and cited human error. Actually something similar happened in the
Netherlands a few years ago when the woman gave birth to twins–one white
and the other Black. Italy has a new law regulating and limiting artificial
fertility practices. Opponents of the law are seeking a referendum to
overturn it. This case took place before the law went into effect. Human
error is impossible to eliminate, but I would never suggest that a couple
who was not Italian come to Italy to have such a process done.

My First Bike Ride with the Pistoia Bike Club

It started at 8 am. I arrived at 8:03. The riders had already left. It must
be the only group in Italy that starts on time. It was a ride for a
breakfast
at the top of a long climb. I rode directly to the breakfast stop.
Breakfast
was bread with tomato and basil on it, ham sandwiches, salami sandwiches,
and mortadella sandwiches. Not your bacon, eggs, and pancakes. The group
does not ride together–people go at their own pace. There were only 3
women among about 60 riders (from two different clubs). Some old guys
looked
to be in bad shape, but they rode up the hill on bicycles without the low
gearing typical in the USA. In fact almost no riders had low hill climbing
gearing on their bikes.

RETURN TO CALVELLO

”In Pistoia I see my mother on the street every day; in Calvello I see her
every 5 minutes:”

I returned to the city of my grandparents for the three day religious
festival in which they bring the Virgin of Mount Saraceno down from the
mountain church to the town church for the winter.

The People of Calvello

If you see an older Italian film that is placed in some typical Italian
city (not Rome, Milan, etc.), the crowds in the film look like these folks
from Calvello. They are the southerners who are the central casting
Italians.
Although Italians came to the USA from all over Italy, for the most part
these are the people who found their way into the factories, mines, and
truck farms of America. If you lined up everyone in Calvello over 60 years
of age by height, at 5 feet 9 and 1/2 inches, I would be one of the tallest
persons in the group. The younger citizens, on the other hand, are about
the
same height as young people in the USA. Still it’s a little early to be
opening the Big and Tall Man’s shop in Calvello.

In judging the relative prosperity of an area, I often look at he teeth of
the residents. This is
true also in USA where there is the joke “What is the number one pick-up
line in a bar in West Virginia? Nice tooth!!” Many older folks in Calvello
are missing teeth; the very young children, however, often are wearing
eyeglasses. This is an indication to me of the better medical care that is
now available.

The role of widow is a fixed one. When your husband dies , you wear black
for the rest of your life. You are not looking to get remarried.

The Town

People often say to you in Italy–there are two Italys, the north and the
south. The classic book in Italian literature about the south is Christ
Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi. In Calvello I stayed in the empty second
floor of a house. Many houses are fully abandoned. There was one little
bit of progress since my last visit–the city’s free Internet Center has
a DSL line. I went there one morning, but after 20 minutes it closed because
the clerk had to go to a funeral. She did not put a sign on the door as
to why it was closed. Nobody is surprised if an office is closed.

At the post office there are three clocks on the wall. None is working.

In Pistoia you seen many purebred dogs being paraded around town on a leash.
In Calvello many dogs of uncertain heritage are roaming the streets. I saw
one with an amputated leg and another with one useless leg.

I was able this time to find the birth year of my grandmother in an index.
I could not find her actual birth record; the full register of births for
that year could not be located. The books are not kept in chronological
order. The date of death of my grandfather’s birth on his death certificate
was in error by seven years; the birth date for my grandmother on her death
certificate was in error by four years. My uncle Tony gave the information
printed on my grandfather’s death certificate. The information on my
grandmother’s certificate of death was attributed to “Hospital Records” but
some family member must have provided it. My grandmother did not speak
English.

Did my grandparents not know their actual dates of birth? Did they know
these dates, but not communicate them to the children? Did they communicate
this information to the children, but the child who gave the information
on the death certificates did not remember the actual birth dates? Or was
the child providing the information unable to do the mathematics to convert
the age to the year of birth?

The Food

The food in Calvello is more like Italian food in the USA. Here one gets
the spicy Italian sausage that is missing in Tuscany. Here there is the
thick southern style pizza like my grandmother used to make. At lunch
(after
lunch I was unable to eat a dinner) at my cousin’s I ate: pasta,
meat with pasta, cheese, separate meat course, vegetables, bread, fruit,
and home made wine in which my cousin put peach slices. I have been afraid
to get on a scale after my return.

My Relatives

In our family the story was that my grandmother’s father was from a wealthy
family. This does not appear to be true. A prominent family in the history
of the town is that of my grandfather’s mother–Maziotta. Of the family
names of my four great-grandparents, this is the only one that survives in
Calvello. My cousin Giovanni’s family lives in the “Palazzo Maziotta.” It
was once
a 10 room house; now the first floor is a newsstand that my cousin operates
and two vacant rooms that are occasionally rented out. My cousin and his
wife have two children.

On a plaque on the town cathedral are the names of about a dozen men who
died in 1822 in some kind of revolt that preceded the eventual reunification
of Italy later in the century. One of the names is Doc. Maziotta.

While I was there my cousin’s son, Tonio, was having a personal
crisis because his girlfriend had broken their engagement. I was given by
his mother Domenica three different reasons for the break-up:

1. he is
   too “nervous” (meaning hot-headed),
2. he isn’t working so he has no
   prospects to support a wife, and
3. he has certain (undefined) “weaknesses”
   that cause women to be initially attracted to him but then to take advantage
   of him before ending the relationship.

Take your choice. Both Tonio and
his sister Vittoria are essentially supported by their parents. If parents
have
a pension, the children often live at home and “share” the pension.
Domenica
also does odd jobs outside of the home to help pay for the cost of living
of the children.

My cousin’s mother is 92 years old. She has never been ill. She is the
one who cannot understand me when I talk, and I can’t understand her
toothless version of the local dialect. She knows one word in English and
asks me what it means- The word is “Yeah” –pronounced by her with great
vigor.

The Festival of the Virgin

This is a religious festival with three processions and six masses over
the three days. I saw two masses and I did not stay for the Novena after
one of these masses. Good enough for a Protestant. About 80% of the persons
at the mass are women. Women are 90% of those taking communion and 100%
of those staying afterward for a private confession. We sometimes think
of confession as a time when sins of the flesh especially are admitted;
I don’t think these old ladies have any of these. What do they confess?

The main downtown street is illuminated with special lights for the
festival.

The first procession is at night. A portrait of the Virgin is paraded
through
town with bonfires every so often. Every procession is accompanied by a
band. Two bands from other cities come to Calvello for this festival.
Also at key points firecrackers or fireworks are set off during each
procession.

The second procession started seven miles out of town at the mountain
church.
People drive up to the church and walk back to town. Then they have to
get another car to go up to the church to retrieve the car they drive to
the procession. To me this procession cries out for school buses to
transport the people up the mountain, but a big waste of time in Italy is
thinking about ways that simple things could be more efficient. At the
church the statue of the virgin (which in kept a glass case) is removed. It
takes
about 8-10 people to carry the case down the mountain. People take turns
shouldering the burden. it. Women now help carry it too–a change from the
past. There are three stops at churches
or shines on the way down to town. Before the procession starts, the priest
in his sermon admonishes the parishioners that this is a religious festival,
not a party.

The third procession is that of the statue around the town. I did not
realize
that people dress up for this one. I am severely underdressed in my shorts
and T shirt. Vittoria tells me not to worry–people will think I am a
German.
The streets are steep and the pavement not smooth in Calvello. Will
the women opt for spiked heels or sensible shoes– about 50/50 on this
issue.

You don’t have to be a religious scholar to realize that Christianity
incorporated in its practices may pre-Christian rituals. This cult of the
Virgin to me clearly goes back to some cult of the Goddess that predated
Christianity. When you watch people kiss and touch the case around the
statue, you can envision a ritual that is not merely hundreds of years old
(The current statue was made in 1859 — my grandparents marched behind it)
but thousands of years old.

There are prayer cards with a picture of the virgin on the front and a
special prayer to her on the back. As of 1947, the Bishop of Matera
certified this prayer, when said, as worth an indulgence of 200 days off in
Purgatory. I think about saying it for my friends, but they (those who don’t
have an immediate ticket to Hell) will be in Purgatory for at least a few
million years –what good will a 200 day reduction do?

The Concert at End of Festival

This featured an Italian songwriter/singer Eugenio Finardi. Everyone was
there from the 80 year old grandparents to the little children. In Italy
there
are some popular entertainers who seem to span the generations quite well.
After the concert was the final, big fireworks display. It took a while to
get
started (one would think that a midnight fireworks display might start on
time), but then it is quickly over. The fireworks go off constantly so that
in 15 minutes you have an many fireworks as in a 30 minute display in USA.

”Can You Bring Back for Me a Little Sample of the Pecorino Cheese and Spicy
Sausage of Basilicata?”

This was the request of my Pistoia friend Sam. So on my last night in
Calvello I went out for what I thought would be a short trip to two shops
with Domenica. I figured these sample would cost me 10-15 Euro. It was two
hour trip to two butchers (and a third one the next morning), two private
homes of cheesemakers, and two stores –one to buy a thermal bag and the
other to buy artificial (blue) ice for the bag. Domenica keeps telling me
that I “must” take back this or that item.

At one of the houses of the cheesemakers the wife told us that her husband
was not home, he would be home soon, and the cheese was 11 € per
kilogram.
When we returned, the price of the cheese quoted by the husband was 12
Euro. A serious argument ensued. I thought we were walking out without
buying the cheese. Domenica
said it was a “matter of principle.” I think we ended up paying the 12.
Her remark was that these people are rich and the rich people are bad.

My stash of food to bring back was:

1. Fresh sausage.....................................................9 Euro

2. Leg of lamb.........................................................9 Euro

3. Dried sausage....................................................20 Euro

4. Goat cheese.......................................................7 Euro

5. Pecorino cheese.................................................30 Euro

(the really good cheese I am told is the big one)

6. Thermal pack.......................................................5 Euro

7. Artificial ice.........................................................2 Euro

___________________

82

€ = $100

The Trip Home

It takes 12 hours on trains and buses from Pistoia to Calvello.  On the

way back, thanks to three fires along the train line and a wildcat strike

of train workers, it took 23 hours.
	

													
	
	
 

Boiled Vegetables

On the menu recently at a local restaurant was boiled vegetables. If I saw
this in the USA, some soggy, overcooked, vegetables would come immediately
to mind. I ordered them anyway. They were perfectly done. Just another
example of how you can have confidence in Italy that the food will be good.

Colors of the Olympic Teams

Each Olympics it becomes more obvious that European countries are more and
more countries of immigration. You see black Swedes and Chinese members of
the Italian team.Italy did quite well in the Olympics which was a source
of national pride. The joy over the victories of Italian athletes was
dampened a little by sadness over the murder of the Italian journalist in
Iraq.

Swedish Big Cars

I promised you that the Swedes would have reasons why they MUST have big
cars. Here are two from a Swedish friend. Sweden, like other European
countries, supports the national car industry. So Volvos and Saabs (larger
cars) are a better buy in Sweden. Also they need big cars because they often
hit Moose. When I suggested that perhaps smaller cars would be better at
avoiding a collision, I was reminded of how hard it is in USA to avoid
collisions with deer. With deer the reasons collisions happen so fast are
that deer feed near the edges of the road and dart out very fast. I don’t
know if Moose exhibit also these two characteristics –they must be slower
than deer. But I stopped arguing about it.

Adopted Grandfather

An elderly Italian with no family put an ad in a large newspaper asking a
family to adopt him as its grandfather. He was inundated with replies.
Although the family is very important in Italy, there are often articles in
Italy about how divorce and greater mobility of families (still much less
than in USA) have left more and more old people alone and stranded. As I’ve
noted before the strong Italian emphasis on family is really out of sync.
with some of the realities of modern life; I don’t know if the Italians can
preserve this emphasis in the long run.

A Useful (?) Grandfather

My friend who has purchased an apartment in Pistoia that she is
reconstructing has a father who lives in Italy. He has diabetes and at this
point his eyesight is so poor he cannot drive. He also recently had a
stroke. So he faces the depressive fact of being able to do less and less.
Recently I saw him at her apartment where he was helping supervise the work.
I commented that it was great that she was able to provide him with a task
where he could be useful. She noted that in his first day on the “job” he
had fired the brick mason and told the electrician’s assistant never to come
back to the apartment. I guess she has been able to secure replacements.
Still, despite his poor eyesight, he was able to do some of the tile work
himself.

Mild Summer

We had almost no really hot weather this year in Tuscany. Last year was
quite hot. Still it is not hotter here than in Gettysburg (even in a bad
summer) and it is less humid. Often the Italians are bothered by the heat
when I am not. In Sweden it was in the 80s part of the time I was there,
and people were surprised that I would ride a bike in such “hot” weather.

School Books

There was a headline in the newspaper that the books for the Classical
course in high school cost each family 500 € (about $625). I guess text
books are not free in Italy. The University also is not free. Tuition is
based upon family income. (Tuition is much less than in the USA.) There may
be some minimum tuition that everyone must pay regardless of income.As
Italy struggles to balance its budget within the limits required for all
countries using the Euro, there will probably be more an more shifting of
expenses from the government to the people.

Beggar with Dog

I mentioned that a beggar with a dog gives the implied message “Even if you
don’t want to help me; how can you let my dog starve?” The usual beggar’s
sign says “Ho fame” –“I am hungry.” I saw a beggar with dog with a more
explicit sign “Abbiamo fame” – “We are hungry.”

Picking Blackberries and Black Raspberries

I see them often along the road while bike riding and stop to pick them.
Since I have on bike shorts and a short sleeved bike jersey, I naturally get
a lot of scratches from the thorns while picking then. I saw some that I had
to stand on a small wall to pick. It was hard to get up on the wall; in
trying I fell off. I added to my scratches some good sized bruises and
cuts. Well the berries are delicious!!

PDF file of first 100 newsletters

My webmaster, Max Hoffmann, has prepared a PDF file (easy to print) of my
first 100 newsletters. The newsletter are all on my website www.bob.it.tt
So I don’t know if any reader wants to print out all 100, but if you do,
send me an e mail, and I will send you the file.