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which Bart personally maintains and is an affront to the neighborhood
since Bart has not planted cabbage, tomatoes or beans.
The next door neighbors, Luigi and Angela are a bright spot. Angela
provides delicious porcini mushrooms during the season. Bart often visits
Luigi who is busy restoring antique furniture but always has time to gossip
with Bart.
But the main reason Bart chose this house was the garage. It is very
spacious, meant for two cars, just the right size. Bart now has adequate
space for his woodworking hobby and the shop is well supplied with tools.
Bart, in fact, has always been fond of wood working and has struck up a
friendship with Piero at the local lumber supplier.
Following his attachment for the American way he installed a central
vacuum cleaner system built into the house, this is something nobody else
has in the surroundings for sure, but no garbage disposal. On the other
hand Bart wanted to furnish his living room with the traditional
handcrafted chairs called “Chiavarine”, in honor of this peculiar local
tradition.
Another good compromise between the Italian and American culture in
Bart’s life has been his decision not to go for a proper car so far, he thinks
it is too stressful to drive in our chaotic traffic, so he bought a Piaggio
porter, a sort of small pickup truck with all three cylinders working in
unison. Bart finds this vehicle very handy to carry articles of all kind
without risking damage, and he blends into the ‘corsos’ and ‘vias’ of
Chiavari swatting away the ‘Vespas’ attacking from all sides.
This porter was recently very useful to carry 2,5 quintali (about 450 lbs) of
olives to the olive press for Angela and Luigi harvest. Watching the entire
process of making olive oil was both for me and Bart a learning
experience. We could appreciate the new olive oil flowing out from the
press as a great fulfillment
Bart still dresses casually. I’ve never seen him wearing a jacket or a tie, he
always wears comfortable running shoes in winter time and sandals in
summer time. Jogging is his favorite way to keep fit and, for the occasion,
he sports colorful attire. The locals notice him when he is out jogging, “oh,
yes, there is the American”, they say.
Bart started learning more Italian. He practices the language more often
with me, trying to get some help translating words from the dialect. The
result is very funny sometimes. I tend to answer him in English but
sometime, due to some laziness, I switch to my native language, Italian, in