puglia | La Dolce Vita

The other night we were going to dinner at some friends’ house and we left a little early so we could make sure to find it. It was a five-minute walk and we easily identified where we were going. (Not necessarily an easy feat here in the land of twisting streets where names change and not all are clearly marked.) So we went for a stroll through the Centro Storico (Historical Center) where we live. As we approached the 1,800 year old Anfiteatro Romano, we realized that there was a performance about to start. As near as I can recall the name on the poster, it was called Luna della Croce (Moon of the Cross) or something along those lines. Our first look was backstage where the cast was preparing for the performance to begin by listening to a pep talk from someone I supposed to be the director. Great costumes and lots of enthusiasm.

We walked around to the front and waited a few minutes for the action to begin. I am sorry I didn’t catch it but the whole thing started with flames and burning arrows, but I did catch the grand entrance of the antagonists as the battle began in earnest.

We had to leave for our dinner engagement before viewing the final outcome, but I am relatively certain that the Christians were triumphant and the world was safe once again.

Dusk on the street where we live.

return0006

We woke up at 7 am in Oakland on Friday, September 30th, to pack and get ready for our move to Italy. We had not completely unpacked for 3 months. By 3 pm on Sunday ( 6 am PDT) after spending 16 hours in Rome, we arrived at our apartment in Lecce. We have now been here for almost two weeks and are starting to settle in.

The first order of business was to apply for our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to stay). Yes, we needed one more piece of Italian bureaucracy to be in place to be legal here. I won’t go into the gory details except to say that even though the description looks simple, after filling out 11 pages of information (instructions all in Italian) supplying 15 more pages of documentation, and walking to five different post offices (only two of which were of actual help), we now have an appointment on October 31st (Yes, Halloween) to meet with the magistrate and hopefully become official residents. Phew.

Holly had the disappointment of finding out that the place where she had been able to practice her piano during our time here has closed. We talked with the owner and he is moving to a small town some 30 miles away. But as she always seems to do, Holly has have found another solution. We were on an outing with our former property manager and now friend, Gianfranco Miglietta, and his wife Paola and were discussing the whole piano thing, when Gianfranco casually mentions he has a cousin who is a musician and has a piano. As I write this, Holly has ridden off on her new bicycle (pictures will follow on the next post) for her first practice session. The woman has someone or something looking out for her.