Rainstorm from via Dante Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 12" 40 x 30 cm
Castello Orsini Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 20 x 16" 50 x 40cm
Tiber from via Dante Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 20" 40 x 50cm
Blue/Black Hen LaurieFox Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 16" 30 x 40 cm
Swimming at the Panero Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 18 x 36" 40 x 80cm
Trees end of August Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 16 x 20" 40 x 50
At coffee this morning we joke with the barman about the
tonneau of gentian liquor on the bar.
“Is that Vladimir’s brew?” of course. He makes liquor from a local plant. I tell him how it brought tears to my
eyes. “Do you not drink alcohol?” he asks.
We are back in Stimigliano after months in the USA and in
Rocca Malatina. We’re actually only here
for a short visit, and even though we’ve been gone just 2 and a half months,
we’ve had a rousing welcome. Ignatio
gave us tomatoes, cukes peppers and an eggplant. Dario brought the mail he’s been collecting:
strictly bills. He rearranged our lemon
trees (which he waters) for maximum sun.
We have a half-dozen big green fruits in place. We wish a hearty “Buon Giorno” and “Salve” to
all.
The road which circles the town is open again – it’s been
closed for years for construction. Now
one can double back up behind commune, formerly a medieval church, and find
parking. It leads to our Dutch friend’s
house, where Harika thinks she belongs, with Monet’s garden and the infinity swimming pool. The fields are mowed, and the wheat has given way to tilled
earth. There could be another planting
this year.
The view from our apartment is fabulous, the Tiber taking on
a flat green shade. The trees are thick
alongside, a result of our very rainy spring.
I am itching to take a boat ride, available from near Poggio Mirteto.
A friend from far away just asked me about Stimigliano, and
I told him, “it’s nowheresville”. And it
is nowhere. Nothing big will happen
here, but it’s a good place for getting things done. In Blair’s and my case, we write, we
paint. For 4 euros, we can take the
train into Rome, something on the agenda this week. I promise to send my friend pictures, and info
on some houses for sale (they range from 35,000 Euros upward), and a little written
piece, which you are reading, about the town.
Amazingly, we are really part of this Italian hill
town. Because there are less than 50 of
us living in the borgo, we all know one another. There are a few people we don’t take to, or
they to us, but mostly, we’ve been woven in, like a couple of bright stray
threads, into the fabric of the place.
We don’t agree with everyone’s politics (maybe no one’s), but that’s the
case throughout Italy. Politics doesn’t
matter as much here. In fact, where can
one go where philosophies are to our liking?
ps. in fact, gin was the thing -- and a touch of aperol for fruitiness
