Last night was the most amazing finale to the week of concerts we have had here. The Piazza was completely full of people. I have never seen so many. There were tables and chairs across the piazza as well. When we went down turns out they were all reserved!! Lucky for us a nice couple who were seated at a table for four invited us to sit with them. He was a policeman. They had a boxer named Brenda. I can’t remember their names. Why do I always remember the animals names but not the people?

Once the concert got going we realized why the piazza was packed!! It was OPERA! Nothing is nearer or dearer to an Italians heart.

I went on back upstairs to watch the rest and make a recording. After a while I noticed Luther standing in the middle of the emptiest part of the piazza waving both arms. I waved back. He started gesturing at the door. Finally I realized he didn’t have his key!! I went and let him in but I am sure the Italians had a good chuckle at the Americano. Here are two videos I took. They are kinda shaky but still you can hear the tenor. (note the dorky little girl dancing (sorta) in the second video. She is at every musical event we’ve seen. The parents just let ‘er rip.)

Today we went to buy some wine down by Lago di Trasameno. The first place was called Terre dei Carpine and was another of those places with the wine-pumps. You could get a liter for 1,35 euro in your own bottles (cheaper than gas!). Luther is getting a little better at letting 3 euro wine into his life. We bought two Chardonnays and two reds that cost about that. We have tried them out and they are quite good, not great but good everyday type wines.

The second place we went was called Castello di Magione. It is a castle on top of the hill town of Magione (hence the name). It had been a shelter run by the Knights of Malta dedicated to protecting the pilgrims on the road to/from Jerusalem or the Campostello di Santiago so they could find shelter there. The building was beautiful. We tasted a bunch of the wines and bought some but I was mostly unimpressed by them. Pictures…

And the preparation for the Otto Cento (800) Festa is continuing. The brothel has been installed behind our house!! 🙂 It starts tomorrow. Crossing fingers for our shipment 🙁