Ferragosto is a national holiday celebrated on 15 August throughout Italy. Everyone is encouraged to head to the beaches or mountains, and 20 million of Italy’s 60 million inhabitants will do just that. The roadways are expected to be parking lots, especially after the tanker explosion in Bologna left their major highway unusable and the bridge collapse in Genoa further crippled the Autostrade. To add further misery, the coastal areas are expecting plenty of rain, forcing many Italians to cancel their Ferragosto plans all together.
Without a car, we are staying put for the holiday. Cinzia and I were invited to Maria Giulia’s for a celebratory lunch. We arrived at 1pm to find her preparing food in her tiny kitchen as Elda and Paolo join us in the living room. Paolo wanted to play scala quaranta with me the previous evening, but was unable to fully articulate the rules, so I looked them up on the computer last night and am ready for him today. The game will have to wait until after lunch as Maria Giulia and Elda bring bowls of tortellini al tartufo nero to the table signaling that our Ferragosto lunch has begun. The tortellini has the traditional meat filling and is prepared simply with extra virgin olive oil and shaved black summer truffles from the local hills. They’re amazing! Next is a plate with ensalada caprese – thick, ripe tomato slices topped with a creamy buffalo’s milk mozzarella, fresh basil leaves, and extra virgin olive oil. As the Italians would say: “Buona”. There is also bread, wine, and lightly battered and fried zucchini strips. For dessert there is a box of pastries, a cherry crostata made by a friend of Maria Giulia, and a huge bowl of assorted fruit. I opt for the crostata and several Italian plums. Everyone is stuffed, at least I know I am.
Cinzia and Paolo facilitated the lunch conversation. Maria Giulia is always curious about pensions and retirement, especially how Italy compares to American, and we’re able to answer all of her questions. She now collects her pension or €2,500 per month, but no longer can collect Eugenio’s pension. Italy still has a minimum pension of €500 per month, but wants to raise this while lowering the maximum of €5,200 per month. As their population ages, this entitlement stresses the country’s fiscal budget, especially as the birthrate has lowered and large employers have left Italy – driving her youth to seek employment abroad. She asks about my situation which I tell her is not common as I’m not old enough to receive any traditional pension and do not collect any retirement pay from any of my past employers. After explaining IRAs, employer matching, and investments she seems satisfied.
As the plates are being cleared, Paolo and I start our game. There are many variations to the game, and we iron those out at the start. In one hand I’m able to end the game – just luck. As we start into the second game, I notice Paolo starts to stray from a couple of the primary rules of the game – those which make it a game of skill. He explains that this was how the rules were explained to him, but his “rules” make the game more luck and less skill. As his rules are introduced mid-game, he easily wins 3 hands in a row to end game two.
Cinzia and Maria Giulia have the table cleared and join us. This is the end of scala quaranta as Maria Giulia is anxious to play burraco. Let me pause here. We played the two-handed version yesterday in the piazza. Her game has not improved in the 3 years since I played with her in Torre Orsina. Basic strategy seems to elude her. I try to interject a lesson or tip here and there, but nothing sticks. To drive a point home we’re both into our mazzetta and her longest run is only 5 cards (7 is needed to close). She holds 2 cards. Michele is watching us and I give him a wink before picking up all of the cards in the discard pile and replacing them with a jolly (their word for the jolly joker). No one does this. She doesn’t bother to consider why, picks up the joker, plays it on one of her 4-card runs, and discards – leaving herself with a single card. I am now free to pick up the discard pile every time since she cannot make a 7-card run and have a card to discard. Since the game is played with two full 54-card decks, that’s a lot of points for me. She still doesn’t understand that she cannot close, and picks up a new card each round with great anticipation – unaware that even if she holds two wild cards she’ll have to discard one for me to pick up. This goes on for more than half of the remaining cards before I relent – knowing that the lesson will go unlearned. The game is played to 2,005 points and I have 1,985 to her 1,135. I do my best to lay off and let her catch up and win. You would have thought that she just won the lottery! She screams with joy letting everyone inside and outside of the bar know as she chants, “Ho sconfitto l'americano! Ho sconfitto l'americano!” She claps and smiles, repeating her chant, and even grabs her cellphone to call Ginevra with the miraculous news. I think I made her day and was happy to do so.
Back to the current card game. We choose cards with the winner picking their partner. I draw the A♠ and pick Cinzia. We’ve been playing in the Colle, but this 4-handed game is much different than the 2-handed game she’s practiced. We’re happy to allow Maria Giulia her table-talk as she and Paolo roll on to victory. Two in a row over the American! She’s thrilled all over again. Who knew it was such a prize to defeat me?
That evening the locals congregate in the piazzetta with the topic of discussion being the new cross in the church. (This is a better topic than that of a few evenings prior when they each gave their views on colonoscopies.) Apparently this cross appeared out of nowhere. While such a miracle would have been embraced, this particular cross is unanimously deemed to be brute (ugly). The wood resembles two poorly selected sticks from the forest and is decorated with what can only be described as flowers or colors with a distinctly Indian influence. Where did it come from? Why weren’t they consulted? Who made it? And what’s to be done? The local priest, Don Elvis, is from India. He’s been there for more than 4 years now. He’d be my #1 suspect. I suggest that Don Elvis added the ugly cross on purpose so that more people will attend services purely out of curiosity, thus bolstering the offerings collected during the busy festa season of masses and services. Whatever the reason, Cinzia is now curious to see this cross.
Cinzia and Paolo facilitated the lunch conversation. Maria Giulia is always curious about pensions and retirement, especially how Italy compares to American, and we’re able to answer all of her questions. She now collects her pension or €2,500 per month, but no longer can collect Eugenio’s pension. Italy still has a minimum pension of €500 per month, but wants to raise this while lowering the maximum of €5,200 per month. As their population ages, this entitlement stresses the country’s fiscal budget, especially as the birthrate has lowered and large employers have left Italy – driving her youth to seek employment abroad. She asks about my situation which I tell her is not common as I’m not old enough to receive any traditional pension and do not collect any retirement pay from any of my past employers. After explaining IRAs, employer matching, and investments she seems satisfied.
As the plates are being cleared, Paolo and I start our game. There are many variations to the game, and we iron those out at the start. In one hand I’m able to end the game – just luck. As we start into the second game, I notice Paolo starts to stray from a couple of the primary rules of the game – those which make it a game of skill. He explains that this was how the rules were explained to him, but his “rules” make the game more luck and less skill. As his rules are introduced mid-game, he easily wins 3 hands in a row to end game two.
Cinzia and Maria Giulia have the table cleared and join us. This is the end of scala quaranta as Maria Giulia is anxious to play burraco. Let me pause here. We played the two-handed version yesterday in the piazza. Her game has not improved in the 3 years since I played with her in Torre Orsina. Basic strategy seems to elude her. I try to interject a lesson or tip here and there, but nothing sticks. To drive a point home we’re both into our mazzetta and her longest run is only 5 cards (7 is needed to close). She holds 2 cards. Michele is watching us and I give him a wink before picking up all of the cards in the discard pile and replacing them with a jolly (their word for the jolly joker). No one does this. She doesn’t bother to consider why, picks up the joker, plays it on one of her 4-card runs, and discards – leaving herself with a single card. I am now free to pick up the discard pile every time since she cannot make a 7-card run and have a card to discard. Since the game is played with two full 54-card decks, that’s a lot of points for me. She still doesn’t understand that she cannot close, and picks up a new card each round with great anticipation – unaware that even if she holds two wild cards she’ll have to discard one for me to pick up. This goes on for more than half of the remaining cards before I relent – knowing that the lesson will go unlearned. The game is played to 2,005 points and I have 1,985 to her 1,135. I do my best to lay off and let her catch up and win. You would have thought that she just won the lottery! She screams with joy letting everyone inside and outside of the bar know as she chants, “Ho sconfitto l'americano! Ho sconfitto l'americano!” She claps and smiles, repeating her chant, and even grabs her cellphone to call Ginevra with the miraculous news. I think I made her day and was happy to do so.
Back to the current card game. We choose cards with the winner picking their partner. I draw the A♠ and pick Cinzia. We’ve been playing in the Colle, but this 4-handed game is much different than the 2-handed game she’s practiced. We’re happy to allow Maria Giulia her table-talk as she and Paolo roll on to victory. Two in a row over the American! She’s thrilled all over again. Who knew it was such a prize to defeat me?
That evening the locals congregate in the piazzetta with the topic of discussion being the new cross in the church. (This is a better topic than that of a few evenings prior when they each gave their views on colonoscopies.) Apparently this cross appeared out of nowhere. While such a miracle would have been embraced, this particular cross is unanimously deemed to be brute (ugly). The wood resembles two poorly selected sticks from the forest and is decorated with what can only be described as flowers or colors with a distinctly Indian influence. Where did it come from? Why weren’t they consulted? Who made it? And what’s to be done? The local priest, Don Elvis, is from India. He’s been there for more than 4 years now. He’d be my #1 suspect. I suggest that Don Elvis added the ugly cross on purpose so that more people will attend services purely out of curiosity, thus bolstering the offerings collected during the busy festa season of masses and services. Whatever the reason, Cinzia is now curious to see this cross.