The last entry from Italy

9/5 –

I rise very early to pack the last of my things, inspect the house one last time and make sure all is in order.  I need to be on the road no later than 8:30 as I have to have my car back to the rental agency in Florence before noon.   I’m not worried about getting to Florence, just finding the rental car place once I am there… 

I try to be quiet as to not wake Pina but I hear her moving in her place around by 7am and she comes into Case Pellegrini at 7:30 to see if I need any help.   I have already packed the car and need to start my rounds to see some of the town people to say goodbye.  I tell her I am going to Cinzia’s for café and ask if she wants to come along, she says no.  A minute later she says yes and yells to Andrea the butcher to join us.   She insists on paying but Andrea beats her to it.  I tell Pina I need to see some other people and will see her back at the house.   I tell Cinzia I will be back for one more café and then give her the letter I wrote her.  She asked how she would read it, I told her it is in Italian – “brava Lean-da, brava!!”   

I walked up to the bakery and said my goodbyes to Christine.  She is lovely and gives me a big hug and asks if I will be back next August, I tell her I will try and if not then in two years.  She smiles and I tell her to keep practicing her English.   She laughs.  Another of the women from town was in the bakery, shook my hand, wished me a good journey and told me to come back.  I left there and walked to Annedia’s store, along the way I ran into two more of the town women who gave me hugs and told me to come back again soon.   Annedia is standing on her store steps waiting for me and I give her a big hug…  I thank her for everything and she thanks me as well and tells me I must come back and that the whole town will miss my smile.     

I step into Cinzia’s club for one more café and see that she has started reading the note.  The last café is on her, she won’t let me pay but I still left a tip.  I’ve been tipping her ever since I’ve been here, she told me I’m the only one that does...   We hug and shed a few tears and I promise I will write to her and be back next August or the following.  She hugs me again and I walk out of her club, out of the colorful beaded screen door for the last time today. 

I then face Pina and Aimone.  Aimone is up early just for me…  I kiss them, hug them, tell them I love them, call them Mama and Balbo and give them the letters I wrote for them.  Pina is weeping as much as I am and Aimone is tearing up as well.  They tell me they love me and tell me to drive slow to Florence.  Piano, Lean-da, piano!!  I tell them I will send them a post card from Hershey to let them know I am ok and will also write to them from Chicago.  Pina takes my face in her hands one last time and says in English – “come back”.  My heart is breaking…   I am afraid I will never see them again.  I must go back as soon as I can, I need more time, I need more recipes, I need more smiles, I need more kisses.   I need more…

I walk out to the car and Mauro calls to me from the gas station next door so I trot over and give him a last kiss.  He says loving things to me, I don’t know what but I know they are loving, and kisses my hand and then starts working up my arm.  Dirty old man…  I kiss him once more and then run back towards the car.  I realized I forgot to hug Andrea, so I dash into the butcher shop and he is chopping up meat for a customer.  I say “Andrea, mia amico, ciao” – “non Lean-da” he replies and I step behind the butcher counter to give him a big hug.  He tells me, in English, “you must come back, I need English lessons”.  I promise I will, give him one more kiss and then I go.   As I open the car door, I see Pina in her kitchen window looking out at me and crying.  I throw her a kiss, tell her I love her and she does the same and I get in the car and go.  I can barely see out the car window as I drive off at 8:30a, there is too much water leaking out of my eyes…  Oy, oy, oy…  I laid on the horn for a bit as I drove off, knowing Pina and the others would be able to hear it and that it would make them laugh. 

I had to quickly dry my tears as I am now driving the Formula One roads of the small Tuscany towns.  Seriously, they are wicked.  You drive in 2nd and 3rd gear most of the time, and sometimes even have to drop back to first for the switchback hairpin turns.   It is a good way to keep my mind off the ache in my chest.  I have no time for tears; I need all of my senses to maneuver these roads.    I open the car windows and drove those roads for over an hour before I actually get to put the car in 4th gear – but just for a few minutes then it was back to 3rd, and 2nd and back to 3rd, etc.   If you don’t like serpentine roads or are a skittish driver, this is not the drive for you.  

I get to Florence right around 11:00am, it took me another 40 minutes to find the rental car place.  I had to ask for directions five times while in town.   It’s a bigger city than I thought.  At one point, I started driving down the wrong way on a one-way street and was alerted to my error by cars honking behind me and people yelling.  I had to turn around in a very small space and stopped traffic, both cars and people, for a few moments.  I yelled out my window “mi dispiace, tourista” (sorry - tourist!) and got laughs and waves. 

After dropping off the car, I started walking to the train station with my big luggage bag on wheels and the other new bag I bought over my shoulder.  The shoulder bag must weigh over 30 pounds.  It is full of cheese, olive oil, coffee, two bottles of wine, balsamic cream and some other things.  I get about 50 yards and have to readjust as the strap is cutting into my shoulder.  I spot a luggage store on the corner and walk directly to it, pick out a small bag on wheels and buy it on the spot.  The owner watches as I empty the shoulder bag contents into the new bag and then I give him the shoulder bag and tell him he can keep it.  I also gave him a bag of biscotti cookies.  He was delighted.  It was a good sale.

I make it to the train station and hop a train to Rome. The only tickets left are in first class so I go in style and even have a porter help me with my luggage.  I ride the rails on the high speed train, staring out at the country that I have come to love and say prayers of thanks for all the wonderful things that I have been able to see, and taste, and touch, and hear, and smell, and feel.  I know how lucky I am to have had this opportunity; I also know that I will return here again.  I must.   

When I arrive in Rome, I feel assaulted by the amount of people that surround me and the noise and the heat.  I can’t take it.  I find my little B&B by the station and have to shut myself off in my room in silence.   I feel sick and am curled up into a ball on the bed in a matter of minutes.  I think it is the stress of the day, the emotions, the re-entry into the masses of society, the noise, the commotion of the city and the stifling heat.  I am really sick for several hours and cannot leave my room.   It finally passes late in the evening and I was able to work on the blog.  I wonder if the same thing will happen when I get to America…  I’m hoping not, it would probably freak out my Mother.    

Maria called me around 11pm.  We struggle through the conversation but I get that she misses me, that Pina has been crying all day, that they all love their letters, and that many in town were talking about me today.  I tell her to let Pina know we spoke and that I am ok.  She is so funny, she thinks if she just speaks slower and louder that I will understand her.  We laughed and then said goodbye again…  The last thing she says is “Lean-da ritornare!!”  (return).  I say “si – si, si, si, si!!”  We say Ciao like 20 or 30 times and then hang up. 

9/6 –

The coffee at the B&B is awful.    It’s a coffee machine where you push the button for the kind you want. The cappuccino tastes like - - - well it tastes really lousy and cheap.   And the brioche is stale and glazed like a donut.  I don’t eat much nor do I even finish the coffee.  I stick to water and hope the Airport can offer a better selection. 

Luckily the airport has “real” Italian coffee and I get my fix before I have to board the plane.  Luckily for all of us on board, the plane is not very full so we all can spread out.  The entire tail section is empty.  I watch out the window as we fly out of Rome, then along the coast and then away from Italy.  My thoughts are of Semproniano, Pina, Aimone, Cinzia, Andrea, Maria, Moreno, and all the people.  I give thanks once again for all the wonderful gifts that have been showered upon me in my life, for all of them that have made this possible.  All have brought me to this moment.  All have allowed me to have this most awesome and wonderful adventure.   I am so grateful - - - so incredibly grateful…

Ciao Italia.  Grazie, grazie mille! 

Ti amo…