One of the things I love most about this house that we live in is that it has two balconies that look over one of the main squares in the center of town, Piazza Vittorio Veneto. I’m not sure if it was recently named or re-named, but I have yet to find anyone who actually knows where this Piazza is by it's name. When they ask where I live and since my actual street address is Piazza Vittorio Veneto, I feel I am responding correctly, they look at me with utter confusion even when we are standing only one block away. However, when I tell them that we live in Albertina Cavallo’s house, why then they know where we live!
My favorite way to begin the day is to hang out with John while he has his first cup of coffee and once he either goes to his office, goes out to photograph, or to meet up with his buddies to discuss life. I am free to enjoy my routine in solitude. I make my cappuccino and take it up to the upstairs balcony to watch the day unfold below me.
About 9:30 the women of the town begin their walk for coffee or needed items from one of the small markets in town. Several of them time their exits to coincide with each other, to take an elderly friend for a walk, or catch up on the status of family. One day I watched while two women stood talking in the center of the piazza while cars and trucks coming from the five different roads that feed into this piazza flowed around them like they were statues. These women did not seem to even think about moving to a safer spot on one side of the square or the other, and if they noticed a single vehicle passing, it was not obvious, as their conversation did not end until they were ready to move on.
Early one day while watching the morning unfold from my perch I noticed an elderly woman I had not seen before walking in the direction of the center of town. Nothing seemed amiss except she was dressed in what looked to be pajamas.
Shortly after she passed I saw two women walking rather quickly following the same path. They were shaking their heads and quietly laughing, one of them yelled out “Lucia, come here!” They passed by to where I could no longer see them when I heard a scream. I leaned over the railing to try to see what was going on when the two younger women were walking back down the hill with who we now know is Lucia tucked between them. She struggled at first, but then succumbed to the escort back to what I would later find out is a retirement hospital.
I gotta believe that all she wanted was a decent cup of coffee.