In the immortal words of England Dan and John Ford Coley...
"Hello, yeah, it's been a while...Not much, how 'bout you?"
I'm sorry it has been a while since my last post...was beaten down a little by the winter blues and too much inactivity over here. Let's start with an update—several of you receive Barbara's updates so this excerpt might look familiar, but here's the latest from Italy:
The Dreaded 'Zona Rossa'
"The Piemonte region went red again this week—schools are 100% on-line, people who can do so must work from home. The only valid reasons to leave your house are to go to the grocery store, exercise, work and doctors/pharmacy. So as of now, all of Italy is red or orange...except the very lucky people of Sardinia; somehow their island has become a "white zone"!
"We are very disappointed to be back in red, but are hopeful that this is the last of our lockdowns. We're red until the Tuesday after Easter (and after that...hard to say). The reason for the shift to red? Our Rt factor reached1.25 (one sick person spreads the virus to 1.25 ppl.); so cases here have been steadily increasing for the past few weeks.
"According to the Ministry of Health website, Italy has given at least one dose of the vaccine to 6.7 million ppl so far, (approx. 11% of the population). In contrast, the U.S. has given out over 100 million doses and reached nearly 25% of the population. Matt received his first dose as a teacher. I qualify for the next round, being 55+, but we don't yet know when that will happen. Italy has administered 85% of the 7.9 million doses they have. We're behind on vaccine availability, but we're optimistic manufacturing is ramping up and the vaccination rate will increase soon.
As for being red, it's not so bad, we have a sunny apartment and a balcony, and good wifi. We can go to the store anytime and can go for a walk/run/bike ride. Matt has decided to go into school and teach virtually from there on some days, as have some of his fellow teachers. I'll just work from home as I've done all along. It's not like people aren't out, it's just not nearly as many as in the "before times," or even under orange or yellow restrictions. People will be walking around, but they are not supposed to gather in groups, and, of course, there are no cafes. The carabinieri cruise around pretty frequently, but we rarely see them actually approach anyone. I guess they just want to show they are present and remind people that they should be masked up and not gathering." Thanks Barbara!
Vaccinated!
I am glad to say I have received my first dose of the vaccine; teachers are pretty high priority in the queue here. It was, yes, the AstraZeneca version but no real ill effects thankfully! The process was remarkably efficient—registered on the region web site, and then a week later got a text telling me to arrive at the site (which is only 200 meters from home at the Chieri hospital) at 3:42 on a Saturday. 3:42?
Now, as my loyal readers know, that is an unusual level of precision for the Italians. In fact it was so organized that I arrived at 3:35, and only waited in a very short line for maybe 5 minutes. Oddly, while I was in the very short line, my phone rang. I never get calls (does anyone anymore?), so I figured it might be important...
Me: Pronto?
Voice: Padula?
Me: Si, Padula, si (?)
Voice: Padula? something, something...appointment...vaccine...something, where are you?
Me: Uh, si, ho un appuntamento, si adesso, 15:42 [yes I have an appointment, now, right?]
Voice: something, something, you better be here, you'll lose your place, something else...
Me: Uh, sono qui, adesso, sono in coda [I'm here, I'm in the queue]
Voice: Sei in coda? [you're in the line?]
Then there was an odd silence...and just like that, I stepped to the front of the line and was face-to-face with...the guy on the phone! He was literally processing people on the line (the 'coda') with one hand, and with the other hand calling the same people to make sure they showed up for their appointment time! Efficiency AND accountability...what happened to you, Italy?? I felt like I was in Germany!
The Big News
Not to bury the headline, but we have big news: We are moving back to the USA this summer! We're still working out the details on timing (lots of unknowns right now, and oh wait we have to buy a place at some point), but we'll be back in ATL sometime in July or August. Very excited to come back and be closer to so many friends and family, but it is definitely bittersweet. We've made a lot of friends and memories here, and even with the pandemic we're having a pretty good time here. But yes it's time to be back on the same side of the ocean as the kids and all of you.
For those of you who had hoped to visit us here, we're sorry we couldn't make it happen, but 'watch this space;' we're already scheming a big "Italia 2022" trip—the good thing about being grounded for several months is that we haven't spent much of our travel budget!
But Still Making the Most of Our Time Here
So much uncertainty, and a lot of restraint right now, but we will try to make the most of our last few months here—as our buddy Kate says, no one will 'squeeze the juice' out of this place like we will!
We've snuck in a couple of mini-moments recently:
1. Superga: While we were still orange, we drove up to La Basilica di Superga, which is only about 25 minutes away. It is one of the big attractions in Torino, a cathedral built in the early 1700's atop the highest of the hills that arc around Torino. Our dear friends Rosealba and Piero rightly told us to go up there on a clear and windy day, to get the best view, and have a little panorama picnic!
Superga: (left) Standing along the Po River in Torino; (right) Up close
Views from atop Superga: (left) 'Monviso' the highest peak in the SW section of the Alps, on the French border; (right) A glimpse into Val di Susa, gateway to the Valle d'Aosta region.
2. La Morra: You know how much we love the Langhe wine region, and with regional restrictions it is definitely our "go-to" place these days. So last month when I had a week off, we debated getting out town—even though we were yellow back then (oh the good ole days), all restaurants had to close at 6:00. Why stay at a hotel if everything's going to shut down at 6:00? Well, there was a loophole! We found a hotel in La Morra (our favorite town in the Langhe) that has its own restaurant and serves dinner to their guests, like civilized human beings, as late as 9:00 in the hotel restaurant!!! We're looking for small miracles these days, my friends, and we found one!
So we went all in with wine tastings, bike rentals, and a nice, slow, 4-course meal every night for three nights—I have to say it was a weird feeling, it felt like we were really getting away with something.
While it was unseasonably warm, it was quite foggy while we were in the Langhe, so my photos are not doing justice to this beautiful place. But it was a fantastic opportunity to get out of town and just pretend the world was functioning semi-normal for a few days (masks notwithstanding).
The "view" from the nearby village of Verduno, the vineyards in the 'nebbia,' Piazza Castello
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So glad to hear that many of you are getting the "jab"—hang in there, we just might be able to hug each other by August! In the meantime, we'll keep you posted on La Vita Italiana. Grazie mille!