Day 13

Our meal tonight was a wonderful mix of the bizarre and the spontaneous. The pizzeria was a sizeable establishment, yet apart from our group of ten there were only six other diners there. This is currently the festival season in which many Italians close up and go on holiday, and we got the impression that the owner had opened up just for us, which was very kind. Not only that, but entertainment had been laid on in the form of a singer behind a keyboard and a young woman whose role we initially thought was to play Solitaire on the laptop while her partner sang a variety of fairly cheesy songs.

Menus in Italy seem to be something of a rarity, and the volume of the music was at first quite intrusive as the manager had to reel off what dishes were available, Jacquie had to translate and relate, then remember the orders and feed them back to the staff. Being in a very rural area, all restaurants seems to be reliant on what producers can supply at any given time, and this meant that a number of items on the menu that was eventually put in front of us were not available. With the kind of service that would cause complaints in an English restaurant, the manager crossed off what we couldn’t have, and when Pete asked for fish, the retort came back “Why do you want fish? You’re in the mountains!” I found this actually quite charming and reassuring, as it meant that what we would be eating was probably fresh, locally supplied and likely to be of a better quality than any supermarket or wholesaler bought goods.

When we had managed to make choices that could be accommodated, the service continued in a haphazard manner, as we couldn’t really hear what was being brought out and some people had had to change their minds so often they forgot what they’d ordered. It seems that the musician had been told that we were English, as he adapted his repertoire to suit our “tastes” by singing staple English (largely American, in fact) songs with a very thick accent. The result was very sweet and occasionally comic, and gave us an insight into how the English might be viewed by the Italians.

As the evening progressed it became clear that the intention was to get us up and dancing, and this was where the young woman came in, as she would dance with her partner to some pre-recorded tracks. At some point, I think Jaqcuie had spoken to the musician and told him that Alice was quite a good singer herself. Alice hadn’t been party to this discussion and the first she heard about it was when she was being invited over to the microphone. There was a slightly embarrassed search through the guy’s repertoire to see if he had anything that Alice would know. Before we knew it, Alice was singing away, and seemed to impress the hired entertainment, as she stayed for another number. Unfortunately we were the only diners left by this time, so no-one else had the pleasure of hearing Alice’s voice, but this event did seem to loosen everyone up suddenly.

I turned round to see Alice, Ingrid and Jacquie being taught some fairly complex dance steps, which they picked up surprisingly quickly, and what had started off, for me, as a slightly tacky, but good-natured entertainment became a really nice end to the evening. It wasn’t long before the obligatory YMCA was played, which led to more people filling the dance floor (but not me, oh no siree, never!). This grew even more surreal as those of us observing noticed that there were some people on the roof of a building behind the restaurant dancing along as well!

So another evening of good food, good drink and laughter from an unlikely source. Magic! Tomorrow is our last full day in Italy, and we plan to take it easy, pack and enjoy the villa for one final time. The fortnight has suddenly gone quite quickly, but I have to say that I am now looking forward to going home. I always feel that one of the nicest aspects of any holiday is coming home again.