Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Day in the Life...



As the days amble by, we have come to find ourselves integrating into life here in Treglio. Our home is on the spine of the Apennines Mountains, which overlooks the Apuan Alps. It is a single street wide with a few nooks and crannies carefully tucked away. We can walk the length of it in 15 minutes unless we stop to visit along the way. And, stopping to visit along the way has been our utmost joy. Our daily routines are now somewhat dependent on the local activity. We know the day that the market gets fresh tomatoes and bakes homemade bread. We also know that the post office is open only four hours a week so if we need a stamp, it had better be on that day.

La Crepa, the only ‘restaurant/bar/coffee shop’ in town serves dinner at one time a night (7:30) and you only have two choices…and both of them are delicious! The butcher makes fresh cheese on Wednesdays and it is the best in the world. For the men in the village, there is a nightly card game downstairs at La Crepa. This is actually a family event. The women gather over coffee, the kids find a place to do their homework and everyone is together.


We attended church last Sunday along with twenty-four other people in town. Even though it was all in Italian, we sang along with three-member choir, in English, and made small talk with our fellow worshippers after the service. The church is old and beautiful and we loved being there.

We met the Doctor of this village. He comes every other Thursday to see patients here. I have daydreamed about being his assistant, covering for him on the days he is not here. The ladies in the area would be very pleased because, “it is mostly women who come to see the Doctor anyway!” I already know what ails half of them as soon as they found out my profession. It would certainly be a slower paced practice!


In the evenings we take a little walk along the street. The villages on the hillside across the way light up at night like diamonds on a piece of dark velvet.

We meet our neighbors and their families during these walks and we are often invited into their homes for a glass of wine. We can spend an hour or so, just talking and looking at family pictures. Most of them were born in this village and they are more than happy to tell us the history of the area.


There is statue in the middle of the town that has the name every soldier from Treglio who was killed in World War 1 and 2. There are fresh flowers on that monument every day.Close to forty names are engraved here and everyone in town knows at least one person who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

We looked at some properties in the area that were for sale.

As we dreamed about these homes we heard the stories of the people who had once lived here. In one of the homes there was a crocheted cover over the light switch. Magdalena, the women whose family had once lived here, told us that her mother had made that for her brother so that in the winter when he turned on the light his hands would not get cold. That was over 70 years ago and it still remains on that light switch!


On rainy days we sit by our fireplace and catch up on our reading. Between us we have read over a dozen books and have even read about the history of Pompeii and the surrounding areas and books on horticulture and tree grafting as well. We are now experts at pick-up-sticks and cards. We are not sure if we can play with anyone but each other because we have decided on our own rules and we are really very good at it.



On warm sunny days we meander out and check out the history and beauty of the area.

We never grow tired of taking in the sights along the way.

We have traveled many places around the world by virtue of our professions and our lives. We knew this place had made an impression on us when we heard that the local Chestnut Festival was occurring the week after we were scheduled to leave and we were heartbroken to have missed it.


Maybe next year…

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