Sunday 2nd June - Republic Day

Sunday 2nd June Republic Day in Italy
Today Stefania had a party for 70+ people so we helped with setting up the room with the right number of chairs although that number is really more than the room can comfortably hold. I made a quick run to Europspin supermarket in Cepagatti to pick up a couple of items that Stefania was short of.

Then after the people started to arrive for the party, we made ourselves scarce for the afternoon waiting to see if we could do anything to help with the clearing up. We both managed a nap!

The party involved some sort of disco or music inspired games by the pool (too cold to go in) and one of the party had a drone which he/she flew over the area making an annoying noise!! The parties tend t go on for quite a while, the guests for this one arrived at about 12.30 p.m. - which was a bit early as it was scheduled for 1 p.m. and were still going quite strong at 6 p.m. Some of the parties have run until 1 or 2 a.m. in the morning. MAC and I talked about this and think that Stefania should scale down the parties a bit as it is a huge amount of work to set up the room and do all the cooking, etc. She does have four ladies from Eastern Europe led by the redoubtable Nadia, to help her but it is still a lot of work and perhaps she should restrict both the number of guests and the amount of time that they have for the party. The person who is holding the party often has very specific needs and requests for the way the room and the tables are set up which adds extra stress. The favors and gifts, candies and the table decorations which the party holder supplies are amazing and must be very expensive.

To make matters worse this year, the weather has been so unpredictable that holding any event outside has been a ‘crapshoot’ that rain will not intervene and ruin everything. This has meant that the parties have been confined almost entirely to the party room. The forecast is studied every day but there seems to be no day goes by when we do not get a shower or something heavier. There have been floods in northern Italy and the weather all over the country has been unseasonable. 

Today is Republic Day in Italy and this has meant some parades and celebrations in some places. We have heard fireworks going off from the direction of Nosciano, There were posters in Rome for the celebrations but it does not seem to have the same impact as Fourth of July does in USA so far as is evident from Cugnoli but perhaps it is more a city thing and the country people are less interested.

It was also washing day and we washed some clothes which should last us to the end of our stay here.

Dinner which consisted of the delicious left-overs from the party was served outside as it had warmed up quite a bit this evening.

Then it was off for an early night, especially for Stefania who had been up since 5 a.m. this morning cooking the food for the party.

As the weather had warmed up, so the fireflies became active and there were a lot of them all around the house in the trees and bushes and along the ground. They really create a magical atmosphere in the darkness.

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