20:05
Location: in front of the church in Civita's square

It's 8pm, and Civita is closing its doors and going home. There are a few residents here--at least, lights on in a few houses suggest there are--but the streets are, for the moment, occupied only by the last of the film crew to pack up for the day, and me. And it's getting a bit cold, so I'm going inside to finish this there.

[2 minutes later]

Much better. When I'd finished my previous diary entry, about 1pm, Franco was just coming back to the B&B/restaurant with a scooter loaded with bottles of water and cans of tomatoes. I followed him inside and sat down at a table next to an American couple in their late 50's, Mary and Larry Rankin. Larry is a truck driver, while Mary retired from her work last year. Her retirement present was two weeks' holiday in Italy, which they were extending to three: her first trip over, while Larry had (in an earlier life) been stationed in France. They were obviously having the time of their lives.

As I chatted with them, Franco and Marina (his assistant chef) brought me out the following meal, without me ordering at all:
- a bottle of water, 1/2 litre of red wine, and basket of fresh bread
- bruschetta dripping with olive oil, herbs and chopped tomatoes
- gnocchi with a savory tomato sauce
- a mixed green salad with balsamic vinegar & salt
- pork sausage, split in two and fried
- espresso.
By the time I'd finished all of that, Mary and Larry were long gone, and I needed to lie down!

In the mean time, the restaurant had filled up with film crew types, and Franco got very busy. He stopped to tell me that they were exhausting his pantry, so he would need to settle up with me and then head out shopping for the afternoon, leaving me once again in charge of the B&B. He will likely not be back until after I leave tomorrow. By the time the crowd had left, it was 3pm. Incidentally, that feast he'd served me? €14 - about C$20.

I gave him one of my postcards from Toronto, with a personal thank you for his hospitality and great food. Turns out Franco has been to Toronto many times, so I invited him to call on me the next time he's in town.

I set out again, this time looking for a way to get over to the town on the hilltop to the left of Civita. This time, I had less luck than in the morning. I saw a lot of the newer buildings in Bagnoregio, nice semi-detached brick houses with a vague resemblance to an older Italian style, but didn't find a way across. (I probably could have walked along the highway to get to it, but the clouds were starting to look ominous so I circled back.)

In the early evening I milled around somewhat aimlessly, still too full from lunch to think about eating. I decided (around 7pm) to go through the Etruscan tunnel again and this time see where the path led. It turned left, and descended steeply through a thin forest towards the valley. When it swung right again, I came across another sign post similar to the trail sign from this morning. I'd found the trail to the Montiglione rock formation, but as the light was starting to get suspect and I wasn't in any case wearing the right footwear I went back up to Civita again. Hopefully I'll have time to tackle it tomorrow morning before I leave. It's only supposed to take 15 minutes from the sign post.

Back in Civita, I felt I could now manage a slice of pizza. Unfortunately the pizza place had closed while I was down working up an appetite. The bar next door was still open, so I had a cappucino, a bag of chips, and my apple from yesterday for dinner--and I'm feeling full again, so that's just fine.

The only bad thing today was how quickly I managed to finish reading About a Boy (Nick Hornby), my last book. With luck, I'll be able to pick up something else in Rome tomorrow.
posted by Tom at 8:58 PM | link |