In Maremma by David Leavitt

Author:David Leavitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Counterpoint Press
Published: 2011-10-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chianti Roses in the Acqua Panna Glass (Photo and Roses by MM)

Aldo himself was a repository of local history. From him we learned that once upon a time, at Christmas, a kind of bocce, with the victor receiving a small purse, was played here; except that instead of bocce balls one used a panforte, a traditional rock-hard cake from Siena. Once upon a time, when the tombola (an Italian version of Bingo) was played in Semproniano, dried beans were used to cover the numbers, since tombola cards pre-equipped with little plastic windows had not yet been invented. We also learned that the old cure for bronchitis was to drink red wine into which a glowing hot iron had been plunged.

With his thick hair and pencil-thin mustache, Aldo looked like a 1950s Italian film star going to seed. His father, Sirio, who was in his seventies, had cold blue eyes and an impressive nose. Years ago, he had directed an orchestrina in the town. His wife, Elda, was a beauty then, and loved to dance. Though she remained beautiful, occasions for dancing—at least the sort of dancing that Elda liked—were now all too rare. Occasionally, we also ran into Aldo’s grandmother, a vigorous and keen-eyed woman of ninety-six whom nothing got past, and probably never had. She’d greet us jovially, and always remembered our names.

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