11.2.09

Dreams of Italy

I was looking through some photos the other day that we had taken on our trip to Italy a few years ago, and started dreaming of going again. One of my favorite places in Italy is Cinque Terre (the five lands) on the Italian Riviera between La Spezia and Genova. I apologize upfront for the wordy story that I'm about to embark on. You've been warned.
As we were waiting out a train strike in the Florence train station, I made some calls to B&B's in Vernazza hoping to find some deals and get us a room for the next couple of days. The last person I spoke with was a gruff old Italian guy who said his wife, Barbara, was the one who ran the rooms and he didn't want to be bothered with it as she was out doing the shopping. He said he thought that they had a room available and that I should call back later. I told him to tell his wife that "Cristoforo" wanted a room for two for two nights, and that I would try and call back later. We soon boarded a train and headed out. During some of the stops, I tried more phone calls, but to no avail. I wasn't too worried however, as I thought that we would be able to get to Vernazza, a tiny town of about 500 and ask around for a room for a couple of nights. When we finally got there around 7pm, I had Lisa sit with our luggage on a bench just below the train station while I went in search of lodging. I asked several people about rooms and was directed all over the tiny town, but the only thing I found was a room for one night, and then we would have to renew the search the next day. As I trudged back up the road (it was only about 100 yards long, so there wasn't too much trudging that transpired) I saw that Lisa was surrounded by a group of the town gossips (older individuals) who were all talking to her. Before I could say anything about my failed attempt to get us a good deal, she said that one of the lady's there had a room that we could use! She thought it was pretty funny that I had run all over looking, but she was the one to find us a room just by sitting down. Go figure. So we walk with this nice lady through fabulously narrow streets to their apartment up a set of steep stairs.
After dragging our luggage up, she showed us around and it was quite nice. The location was fine, it was really clean and best of all it was private from the rest of her apartment with our own lock and key. We gladly said yes to the deal and set about signing her little contract and paying for the room. As we were winding down, I asked for a recommendation to eat that night and she sent us to an exquisite little place right up from the water. As we were walking down the stairs, she called out after us what our names were as we hadn't properly introduced ourselves. I said that my name was Cristoforo and my wife was Lisa. The lady let out a yelp and said, "I'm Barbara!!!" We confirmed that she was the same lady I had tried calling earlier and that her husband had indeed said that Cristoforo had called and wanted a room. She said that when she talked with my wife she was hesitant at first to give us the room because she felt that it was semi-reserved for Cristoforo, but since she hadn't heard anything else from him, she didn't want to lose out on a sure customer. As fate would have it, she was able to get the walk up customer, us, and fulfill the semi-reservation, also us. She called it destiny, we agreed, had a good laugh and walked out to dinner.

While in Vernazza, we did a lot of sitting on rocks looking out on the Mediterranean, eating gelato, focaccia, juicy peaches and hiking, all interspersed with picture taking. Our last night there, we went to another restaurant recommended by our destiny believing hostess, but they were full and so directed us to a sister restaurant the just happened to be situated in a tower on a rocky promontory overlooking the sea, at the bottom of which, there were waves crashing conveniently for dramatic/romantic effect. At the top of the tower we were seated right in the middle, with absolutely no view of anything except the other diners. After taking our orders however, or waiter came over and asked if we could be bothered to move to one of the tables with a dazzling view of the ocean and waves and coastline, because the couple currently seated there were nervous about a seagull that was perched close by.
He also mentioned that they would be sure to compensate us for the inconvenience and again apologized for bothering us. Oh how dreadful to be moved closer to the beautiful scenery and smells and setting sun. We made the best of the situation however and suffered through it. Our compensation ended up being a free dish, the house specialty that we had originally wanted to get but didn't because of a desire to have money to eat for the next few days. It was a spaghetti dish with a very light sauce and covered with that morning's catch of clams, mussels, and shrimp. It was easily the best meal either of us has ever eaten and we still talk about it to this day with sighs and "...Oh wouldn't that be so good right now..." thoughts.
Our short time in Vernazza seemed touched with magic, and looking back was simply amazing. Incredible. I want to go back.

It's a little fuzzy, but I love this picture of Lisa our first night in Vernazza with all of the lights and the little harbor behind her.

2 comments:

Jamie and Kiley said...

Cristoforo, someday you are going to take me to Italy. Maybe we'll even bring our wives!
Ciao,
Kiley

Mrs. Currah said...

Can I come too?