Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro

Outside the Osteria Casa Mina they had been using a tailor’s dummy to advertise the restaurant. Normally he was dressed as a waiter. Coming up to Christmas they decided to use Father Christmas instead. Unfortunately, a recent windy day caused a problem and Father Christmas literally bit the dust. Attempts were made, like Humpty Dumpty, to get him back together again and now Father Christmas had disappeared from the streets of the town.

John and Pam Roscoe have returned to San Giorgio for a few weeks. In bringing them up to date with events in our busy lives I mentioned the problem we had had with the modem/router. Later in the evening John said that he had tried to get onto the internet but had failed. It seemed that he the same problems we had had and so I offered to bring my now fully funtioning modem across to him and if we couldn’t connect to the internet then it was definitely a problem with the telephone line.

The next day I took my modem, cables and laptop across to John and Pam’s house, plugged in the power cable and finally the phone cable from the modem to the Telecomm splitter on the wall. Just before I switched on the laptop John exclaimed “Oh no! I hadn’t put the phone cable in. No wonder I couldn’t connect to the internet”. And so after a couple of minutes John was connected up, the internet was available and Pam and I were enjoying looking at each other and smirking.

Is there an excuse for John. Could it be because he is Scottish or because he was tired after driving from England for two days?

One of the advantages of the copy of the Constitution sent by the mayor was that in the back were the words of the Italian National Anthem and some notes about its author, Goffredo Mameli. 

This has allowed Bill and I to start learning the words and so we can sing along when occasion demands. (We are even able to practice singing accompanied by music as the Conad Supermarket was giving out small booklets about the reunification of Italy and included in the pack were 16 songs from the period of unification including the National Anthem).

Watching the Italian equivalent of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” last week we discovered the interesting(?) fact the the Italian national anthem, known as “Inno di Mameli” (inno is the italian for anthem), is the only national anthem in the world which had the author’s name in the title.

Goffredo Mameli had a rather short life. He was born in 1827. In 1848 he lead a group of 300 volunteers in a rising against the Austrians who at that time controlled Milan. In 1849 he was at Rome where a Republic was proclaimed and Mameli was in the front line of the people attempting to repel an attack by French troops. On the 3rd June Mameli was wounded in the leg which became gangrenous and the leg was amputated. Unfortunately the infection had spread and on the 6 July he died, aged only 22.

A couple of weeks ago we got an email from Pam and Michael Wood who had been told about the blog. They are living in Tavernelle a town about 20 minutes drive away. They came and had coffee (well tea) with us. Pam is Scottish, Michael is English and their giant schnuzer Max is born and bred in Italy. We had a lovely morning sitting in the sun over our cuppa and discovered common interests i.e. gardens and opera (at least on Pam, Michael and Bill’s side).

They invited us over for lunch the following Sunday. They have  beautiful house outside Tavernelle complete with lovely views. We had a really good time and were able to compare notes about gardens, problems restoring old homes etc.

Four years ago John and Pam Roscoe bought an apartment in a house across the street from us. We knew the house was to be restored but it was only at the end of last year that work began and we knew that the new owners would be British. They had faced bureaucrtic nightmares at every turn e.g. waiting 18 months for approval from the Ministro Beni Culturali as the house had been willed to a charity and confirmation was needed that there was nothing of artistic or cultural worth. Despite all this they kept battling on and are now on the homeward stretch and, despite the delays, still smiling.

Last week they came to San Giorgio for an inspection visit and perhaps for the first time the visit was positive. Building work was well advanced and they were able to order their kitchen and bathroom. The apartment should be finished by May and they can look forward to spending some happy summer days at the beach and then returning home to sit on the their terrace, drink a glass of wine watch the sunset.

 The Head of Public Works in Italy, Angelo Balducci has been arrested following enquiries into corruption in the awarding of building contracts for the G8 meeting which was to take place in Sardegna last year but subsequently moved to Aquila following the earthquake.

Mr Balducci was born in San Giorgio in 1948. His family later moved to Rome. He became a civil engineer and has worked in many parts of Italy. He has maintained family connections in the area. He has recently bought and is restoring a large farm house, perhaps his birthplace, near San Giorgio.

His father Elio, a self taught artist, created a sculpture of George and the Dragon and it is now at the entrance to the main street.

Mike, Monique and Luke began their journey back to New York this moring. Hard to believe the had arrived 6 weeks ago for their annual visit. In that time they have installed a new kitchen (despite 35 degree heat), learnt how to bottle tomatoes, tried to learn a few more words in Italian, and survived meals with dialect speaking relatives. 

Although in the photo they are looking happy to go we are sure they were just trying to put on a brave face.

They fly back to New York tomorrow and we wait to see if Dante, their slightly overweight dog, will be allowed on the flight. If not, we are ready to act as foster parents.

Often criticised for his comments about women, Berlusconi has again come in for critcism for comments made during a press converence with the French President Sarkozy. According to some reports, during the press conference he turned to the French President and said “I have given you your woman”. This was a reference to the French Presdient’s Italian wife. Berlusconi’s office denied that he had said this. He had in fact said: “You know that I studied at the Sorbonne”.

Anna, from my English class asked if her great nephew Giuseppe, an artist by training, could meet us occasionally to give him a chance to speak English. He came round last Wednesday and chatted with Bill for a couple of hours. As he has spent some time in New York his English is good. Art is his first love but he has to work to keep body and soul together.

To see his web site Click here