Things Italian

I recently read A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby. I thoroughly enjoyed Eric’s account of his restoration of and life in an old farmhouse in Italy. He and his wife Wanda purchased the ruin in 1967 and spent the next 25 years fixing it up, holidaying there, getting to know the neighbours and participating in all sorts of community events, especially the vendemmia (the grape harvest). The vendemmia was always a mix of hard physical work on often very steep slopes with no machinery and a lot of drinking of last year’s vintage. The farmhouse was situated in the foothills of the Apuan Alps on the borders of Liguria and northern Tuscany. This was where Eric spent time as an escaped prisoner of war in 1943-44 so there were many interesting connections throughout the book. I also enjoyed the liberal sprinkling of Italian in the story as I have been learning Italian for 2 years now. I love Italian and would love to spend some weeks there in a small town.
Ciao a tutti, belli e bruti!!!