I am emerging from my denial. I do not want this story to end. It was a tale, an experience, a life played out that was full of dreams and adventure. The fact that it is now 10 months since we left Italy and I am finally getting to describe our last days in Volterra shows how so hard it was to say goodbye. For the friends and families we had come to know in Italy we dedicate this entry to you in gratitude of your good will and hospitality for us. We miss you immensely!
The last days of living, eating and breathing in Volterra, we were left in shock, almost mentally-ill prepared to leave the "flying land" of Tuscany. I walked the streets. Visited the farmer's markets, local butcher and bakery. I walked like a little girl running her hand on the textured walls of antiquity trying to savor the feelings with all my senses while engaging the memories and love we felt while living there. I began saying goodbye to friends and going for " last meals" with people whom we got to know as family friends. The last favorite meal was with a family named Vangelisti! They had us over for dinner and our usual that we loved to do after dinner and dessert...dancing to 70's and 80's songs that we had so much in common even though as children we grew up in worlds, nations apart. We found common ground. We embraced it and our children watched and benefitted from it. Our daughters were the same age and our hearts were joined! When we finished dancing and turned down the loud music, ( you know, because the now multiple apartments which once made up a family palazzo of Alabaster producers, the Sarperi family still housed extended family at every turn.. uncles up above, cousins next door) we had to turn the music down out of respect for the elders a floor above. We punctuated our evening with a group photo which I will treasure. Photo forthcoming....
The day before our move out day, was the performance day of Siena's public school, Scuola di San Lino, ( named for the second Roman Catholic Pope, Linus, who was born and raised on the main road in which we lived and the school set itself upon). The children were to perform several dances and sing. The most awesome thing about their performance is that they were going to display their talents in the town theatre that sits below the Palazzo Viti, The Persio Flacco Theatre. Yes, an ancient exciting theatre with tall, red-velvet curtains restrained with hand-made, tassled tie-backs. Adorned with balustrades and plush seating and balconies that went 5 stories high. And in traditional architecture with the series of balconies surrounding the focal point, the stage and designed in the shape of a U. I had extreme excitement as we knew our daughter was set to perform songs and dances in Italian on an ancient stage. Pride did not cover our emotions.
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| Siena and Big bro Grant walking to the Persio Flacco Theatre |
Siena: her best smooth criminal looks
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| Our Family waiting for the show to begin! |
Following the performance, the children enjoyed a feast of a reception below ground. In a place called Cisterna ( a former cistern and underground passageway from one part of town to the other, now an underground restaurant and disco for teens). What an excellent way to end our stay than at a party with almost everyone we'd come to know in Volterra. But just before the reception, something happened. My dear friend, Frederica Sarperi, mother of my daughter's buddy, Alessia leaned in and hugged me saying, "well, this is it, I am not sure if I will ever see you again...." I most certainly burst into tears, uncontrollably. I tried to wipe my eyes as I walked around and individually hugged and kissed all the children and their parents who had been so welcoming and kind to our family. It was real, we were leaving Volterra and headed to Spain on exchanges. We were the Americans whom the city had embraced and loved. We were newer children of the medieval city walls leaving to return to our place of tropical residence, Costa Rica. Certainly, we were not ready to leave.
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| La Cisterna! |
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| Luisa (one of Siena's teachers) saying farewell! |
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| Siena & Marta! |
And here I am now, April, 2015, finishing this saga with the new information that we have an exchange lined up for a return visit to Toscana this summer. We are going to stay in the oldest historical quarter in Firenze for a week and then at their family agriturismo further south in Val d'Orca for another week. Then, onto Lucca and a visit to Paris. I have mentioned to Volterran friends we will be coming and already the excitement is building. Our Italian friends are anxiously awaiting our return. What a great feeling of community! We are planning to see at least one more Palio in Siena with our sweet friends, Debi and Massi and we are overjoyed to have the chance to visit those places we just did not quite get to. I have optimism and hope that our Italian speaking daughter, Siena, will always have a home in Volterra. My heart is forever changed in Pura Dolce Vita. Viva Italia!
