Arminda worked until noon, Luca & Stella went out for the day, Paola is not coming until tomorrow so I have the whole place to myself. Took advantage of the warm, sunny weather and sat outside in the garden to read and think about things. It’s nearing the end of a splendid sojourn, and while I am sad to leave, I’m also glad to go/come home. It’s goodbye to the Fattoria, as Stella cannot continue for much longer and her son seems uninterested and not temperamentally suited to take over.
Being here has been amazingly therapeutic for my mental/emotional well being and I will be eternally grateful for the new good memories I carry with me from this day forward. I am reminded of one of Charlie’s sweetest rituals carried out at the very last minute before we left Pietrabuona. I debated whether to do it, too. OK, I’ll do it 5 days early, I tell myself, mostly because there is no one else around and I don’t have to explain anything to anyone. I walked up the narrow dirt road behind the villa that leads to Casa Gigi, where Charlie and I stayed many times. Back then, he carried speakers to play music in Casa Gigi. He would set them at full blast facing the valley below. Today, I set up my iPhone on the stump of a cyprus tree midway between the 2 houses and played Charlie’s favorite recording of Luciano Pavarotti singing “Nessun Dorma”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWc7vYjgnTs
And, of course, I sobbed.
But not for long, first I was approached by a father & son looking for the disc golf course, and then by a woman looking for the swimming pool. I was glad to point them in the right direction.
Later, Leonardo and Elisa came to pick me up for my last dinner of the year at Podere Gori. Alessio, Vanessa and Alissa came as well as Elisa’s parents, Roberta and Andrea, an adorable couple that I met for the first time. Giovanni and Elena were not there. Ate too well and too much! Emanuela suggested that next year I stay with her at Podere Gori and then she would come to US and stay with me for a month. Of course, I said yes.
View from my bedroom window