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December has arrived,
sparkling lights are festooned in homes, businesses and shops and the
Christmas lights strung across the streets will soon be switched on. An air
of expectation is slowly filtering into our lives. As usual, mounds of toys
and Christmas gifts have appeared in the shops, but here they stand side by
side with Nativities of every shape and size. Stables, cribs, figurines are
on prominent display, reminding everyone of the real significance of this
time of year.
Italian children look
forward to the arrival of Father Christmas or ‘Babbo Natale’ as he is
called here but they also have another celebration on the 6th of
January (Epiphany) when Bethana, the good witch, arrives, bringing even more
presents!
New Year (‘Capodanno’)
is also a time of great celebration and last year the firework displays were
spectacular. From our front terrace the sky became a mass of colour as we
were entertained by the displays of the local restaurant and several local
villages.
Amazingly, fireworks
are readily available and are sold to under 18’s. Last year we purchased a
few, but this year the boys have requested more, we might even ‘compete’
with the neighbours. They recently discovered that they could purchase
bangers by the bag full for about 5 cents. As you can imagine, living on the
side of a valley and bangers is not a good combination as the sound
resonates, so restrictions have now been enforced.
Ed and Ollie are now
fluent in conversational Italian, however it will be a little while before
they master fully all the various tenses that make up the language. Latin
has recently been added to Ed’s curriculum, and we hope that this will also
help.
In September, Will and
I enrolled in night classes in Italian at the local school and we now attend
lessons 3 evenings a week. We have also made new friends, although it is a
bit strange having a conversation in poor Italian with someone from
Poland,
Belgium or Russia. The younger boys still laugh at me when I converse with
the locals, but I can make myself understood and I am now a master at
Charades!!
This year we invested
in a metal framed sawing horse to which we can attach our chain saw and use
it to cut logs, so unless they are extremely large we (or I should say Bob)
have been able to process a lot of wood to use in our fireplaces. It has
saved many hours already.
We have also begun,
where necessary, with regenerating our vineyards, starting with our smallest
vineyard where we have removed the top few rows of elderly vines and had the
ground excavated to re-invigorate the earth and allow for replanting in the
Spring. This will be with Dolcetto, a local red variety.
We have also ordered
about 300 vines to replace old, dead and missing vines in our upper
Chardonnay and Moscato vineyards. Since the harvest, the ground has been
prepared ready to receive these in the Spring.
We hope next year to
begin the process of relocating our lower Chardonnay vineyard and another
Moscato vineyard, both of which need to be moved to a better location so we
now wait for permission from our comune. It is a long process, but
now all the forms have been submitted by our geometra. They include a report
from a geologist and the permission of the Forestry Commission. If all goes
well we will start work next Spring to be ready to plant in the spring of
2009! Then we have to wait three years for a harvest.
Last year we had a
very mild winter. Already this year it is much colder and we have also had
our first flurry of snow, a taster of what could come. The spectacular views
of the Alps that took our breath away last year are even more stunning with
their snowy coverings glistening in the sun, especially at dawn when the
first rays of the sun hit them. In summer the Alps are often masked by the
haze of the heat so are not usually visible, when we can see them they are
accompanied by crystal clear air and brilliant blue skies.
Once again this autumn
on clear evenings we have taken a moment to enjoy the amazing sunsets and
their indescribable colours which range from burnt umber to baby pink
reflections in the clouds, and deep blackish blue to rich turquoise skies.
To try and share some of these moments Will has created a
proper web Photogallery which we hope you will enjoy.
Although the year is
drawing to a close we are also celebrating the beginning of the work to
restructure our home. Yes, we are even welcoming the steady fall of dust
everywhere. By the end of November our permissions and fees were all in
place, safety boards placed on prominent display and work commenced. We
were then under attack by various small excavators, pneumatic drills and
tipper trucks; a small boys paradise! Mounds of rubble and dirt appeared and
then of course it rained. However sunny skies have returned and the second
concrete mixer has just left and despite the mess it all feels rather good.
So with fingers
crossed that all continues well we wish you a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, to which Bob has asked me
to add that we offer free activity holidays in ground clearance and wood
collection, with training in vineyard maintenance and advanced bonfire
skills – offer ends 1 March.
January 2008 newsletter
E mail:
kerrie@anitalianadventure.co.uk
0039 0141 851 154
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