A hole in the wall

Me overlooking the countryside
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The last few days in Italy have been fabulous.  I have been living a life that I didn't know was possible.  From walking all over the city to sitting around for three hours at dinner this slow lifestyle is one that I can get used too.  It seems to me that people in this city care more about living than they do about working; care more about talking than about watching t.v.; and care more about people and each other than about movie stars or politicians.  It is a comfort to be in a society like this that rubs off on you.

Amigas among the olive trees
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My experiences here have been foreign, exciting and difficult; but most of all rewarding.  Whether it is in the market or in the piazza, my language skills are always being tested.  People are incredibly friendly and willing to assist you in learning to speak, which is a comfort when I begin every sentence with "Parla un po Italiano, scusi."  I speak little Italian, excuse me!  But even so I am slowly improving and just hearing the language everyday helps.

It is hard to pick out my favorite experiences and put them in this blog, but I know that today I had an experience that I will remember forever.  Several of my friends and I decided to explore a part of the city which we had not seen.  This afternoon we wandered through little streets and up onto the far hill of the city.  We ended up in a park that overlooked the beautiful Umbrian countryside.  We were all taken aback by the green hills and rows of olive trees that fill the fields around the cream colored villas.  After admiring the view, we continued down a small path that was lined with olive trees and found our way back inside the city walls to a medieval tower. We stood together admiring the tower and noting the centuries of stonework that had been laid on top of each other.  From Etruscan stone, to medieval block, to 200 year old brick, the tower was a sight to behold.  We looked around us in awe, amazed at our new home.

The shop along the wall
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When we assumed it couldn't get any better we continued walking and almost passed a little wine shop.  We decided to go back and have a look since it was so small and set against the wall of the city.  When we entered a small Italian woman of about forty approached us and asked how we were.  We answered to the best of our ability and continued to browse.  Soon she approached us again and said, you want to taste marmalatte?  Of course we did!  I asked her how to say taste in Italian because I thought it would be a good thing to know.

She took us upstairs where there were several tables and the walls were lined with wine bottles.  She set the table and brought out four different jams and we tasted each as she told us in Italian what they were.  We worked together speaking Italian and a little English.  She would correct our Italian and eagerly helped us to learn.  After the jam she cut up a loaf of stone baked wheat bread and poured olive oil and ground salt over it.  She brought this to the table and we ate so happily the most delicious food ever.  She was so felicitous and kind to us and we were ecstatic!

She left us to enjoy the bread and talk and then we went back downstairs to shop in her store.  I bought two types of jam, a spinach pasta, and some Sardinian chocolates; one with pepper in it!  My friends also bought olives and honey.  It was fabulous.  Her store sits along the ancient wall of the city and has been featured in National Geographic.  It is a hidden little hole in the wall that I will return to often.

As we were leaving, the owner invited us back again telling us that if we ever wanted to speak, to study, to drink or to practice Italian that we were always welcome; no purchase required.  I have rarely in my life experienced such hospitality from a complete stranger.  I look fowards to many afternoons spent in this quiet hole in the wall of Perugia.