7. Chicken

My mother kept chickens on our farm for many years. They provided us with fresh eggs every day and the occasional Sunday main course. Our farm was at the foot of a mountain on which sits a famous religious sanctuary. Quite a few visitors from others parts of Italy and beyond used to drive up […]

5. To Stay or To Go

As a young, newly-married man in southern Italy, my father became a tenant farmer. He rented a large plot of land from a prominent member of a patrician family based near Florence. With only a zappa (a wide-bladed hoe), my dad, joined by his brothers and a couple of day laborers, cleared roots, grasses, weeds, […]

4. A Tap on the Shoulder

A buddy of mine whom I’ve known since I was very small was hospitalized a few day ago. He just died of the virus that’s ravaging the Earth. Another friend is on a respirator, in the fight of her life against cancer. In the last 10 years or so I’ve lost many friends and cousins […]

2. On the Road to …

My sister was driving me in her old cinquecento (Fiat 500) to a new doctor in Naples, and she was unfamiliar with the city. She had never driven there, and if you know Naples, you know how big, congested, and confusing it is. I’ve never driven, so the best I could do was read the […]