Something to chew on

With a large portion of northern Italy in lockdown, you might be forgiven for thinking that the spread of the coronavirus was having little effect in our quiet corner of Le Marche, but the week has seen various significant indications that things really aren’t normal.

I had my usual lesson first with Marzia and Diego in Montegranaro and then with the mayor’s nieces, Ariana and Elisa, here at LCDDB on Monday, the same day that it was announced that the schools in the area would be reopening the next day. However, as you are probably aware, this didn’t last long as following a proliferation of infections (including the father of the mayor of Montegranaro, prompting her to announce on social media that she and her family were self-isolating), Tuesday saw a further closure of all schools until the 15th March at the earliest. This prompted Sabina, the mother of Ariana and Elisa, to message me on Friday to say that she thought it would be best to suspend their lessons till after the schools restart. Given the current situation, I can’t see that as being any time soon.

This wasn’t the only lesson to be affected, as at the start of my Thursday lesson at Mancini, Martina very apologetically explained that it would be the last for the present as the company, in light of the current situation, had reviewed its budget and had to cancel all the staff extras. Presumably, they are taking precautions against an expected fall in sales as they depend to a large extent on their international customers and on the restaurant trade domestically, both of which are likely to be hit. You will not be surprised, either, that my lesson with Vanna at the Helen Doran School was again cancelled, and one can only hope small businesses such as theirs will be able to weather this particular viral storm. With all this, Rocco the hairdresser asking if he could change his lesson from Friday to Monday afternoon was an easy fix – especially in the temporary absence of the mayor’s nieces.

Whilst I lost some lessons, to balance it up a bit Andrea was back from his week in Rome so I had my first Italian lesson with him on Wednesday afternoon then another yesterday. We talked about the weather and then about clothes and wherever those two initial topics took us, and I managed to make myself understood when I didn’t worry too much about translating a complicated English sentence into Italian and just tried to chat, and if nothing else the sessions did make me feel more confident.

Despite the shadow of Covid-19 there were several good things that happened during the week, though Harry was not too impressed with another wave of windy weather on Monday afternoon when, to his surprise, the dogs’ water bowl in the corner of the terrazzo by the front door was whipped up by a particularly strong gust and sent flying over the railings and into the lane. What was altogether a more welcoming sight was Ariana arriving for the lesson bearing a plate of cicerchiata that her grandmother had made.

Cicerchiata is a traditional Carnevale sweet and I had mentioned the week before, when we were talking about what their favourite festival treats were, that I’d never tried it. I wasn’t dropping hints, but on the other hand I wasn’t going to refuse a cicerchiata ring, formed from small fried balls of dough and almonds with a honey glaze, homemade by an Italian nonna. And remarkably good it was too, showing what I have been missing all this time.

Food was also the order of the day when we made our return visit to the pub, with Marco and Maddalena, to sample their burgers. This was by way of being our treat and an apology to Marco for somehow forgetting his birthday a month ago. We only remembered about it when I spotted something online and remarked to Stephen that it would make a good present for Marco, at which point we looked at each other, “Ohh” was heard and Stephen later contacted Maddalena to make amends. Luckily, Marco didn’t seem to have taken offence, and was very pleased both with his belated card and his tagliata di hamburger, which he did his best to polish off even though the menu said it was for two people.

Unfortunately, it could be some time till we are able to have another bowl of The McIntosh’s very fine onion rings as they posted on Facebook this evening that, due to the latest ministerial directive, they are having to close for the foreseeable future. It’s just as well we’d already decided to stay at home all weekend, as the way things are going it looks like good practice for the week ahead.