Simone, Stella and the Good Samaritan

It is time to make the introduction to a pivotal person our life and to tell you a funny story. First a little background…

When we moved to the castle we dealt extensively with the gardener, a man named Massimo (literal translation, the Great One! And the most popular male name in Italy). Massimo is the person who showed us how to get to the kids school, showed us the flat several times and helped us move from the original place. Immediately upon meeting Massimo he suggested that his twenty year old son “Simone” (Pronounced See-moe-neh) would be willing to do anything and everything we asked (drive us to various places in the city, act as a tour guide, baby sit the kids) you name it Simone will do it. AND, he speaks good English!) Well the English part was a stretch but there was no lie about this kid being a hard working and responsible young man. In fact, he is one of our families best friends in Italy at this point!

Simone does it all for us including something that I would never have imagined Anna being OK with, babysitting the kids. Anna was very reluctant to ever have a male babysitter, but after the first try, Simone was the kids favorite. He’s a quiet kid, whose English is improving by the day, but the bottom line is that whether it is driving the kids to school, meeting the electrician at the house when we are gone, finding a soccer team for Trey to play on or researching where in Florence I can rent a Vespa, Simone has been a god send to us.

So, this brings me to the story. In early October we received a call from Simone to invite us to dinner with his family (none of them speak English) as it was his mom and dad’s twenty third wedding anniversary. We were quite flattered at the invitation. The dinner was on a Sunday evening (school the next day) and they came to pick us up at the castle. We were to follow them to the restaurant in Chianti, a drive that was supposed to take us thirty minutes! Not only did it take us one hour five minutes, but commuted us over cobble stone and dirt roads as we meandered through various little towns in Tuscany’s famous wine region. Our arrival at the Trattoria at just past 8:30 in the evening was a bit concerning due to kids sleep schedule and also the fact that we had less than an eighth of a tank of gas (not planning to drive quite so far!) My comment to Anna was “Shit this must be one hell of a restaurant if they are willing to drive so far!) Man, was that an understatement! It was a seven course meal that ranks very near the top of all meals we have eaten in the past two months. Veal Loin, Caramelized Porcini Mushroom Tops, Fresh made Rigatoni Pasta with Rabbit Ragu and the best Ribolitta I have ever had all graced the tasting menu. When we were done it was 11:30, Olivia was passed out with her head on the table and Trey’s eyes were so blood shot that I would have sworn he had been drinking a good bottle of Chianti!

As we calculated our one hour drive home it was determined that we needed to find a service station for some petrol (a very tall order in the country side on a Sunday night!) No worries as Massimo new of one that was ten minutes away…

As we pulled in to the station, our boy Simone immediately jumped out of his mom and dad’s car to pump the “Benzina”. He filled it up and we were back on the road in less than five minutes…

About a half mile into our drive, the car started to miss BADLY! It immediately registered with me: “Simone must have put GAS into the car and its diesel! We conked out a few hundred yards later, in the middle of no where at about midnight and nothing open! All we could do was laugh! Anna and I laughed our asses off while the kids slept in the car, for nearly an hour! The Meucci family had to be wondering why we were taking photos and video throughout the ordeal, but we just found it to be the perfect “nightcap” on what was alredy a wonderfully memorable evening. This experience summed up so beautifully what Italy has been for the last two months: great people, amazing food, terrific wine, the best laid plans being a waste of time and patience being a virtue!

Simone's father Massimo called one of his friends, who drove thirty five minutes to the dark stretch of highway that housed our Puegot wagon, and who was kind enough to bring us home to the castle. The car was towed back to Florence that night and the next morning was drained of its “Benzina” (Gas) and refilled with diesel. All is good and we still love Simone!

Stella - There’s not much to write about this lady other than the fact that she is a wacky and kind soul. Stella has been our house keeper/occasional baby sitter for about six weeks now and we love her. Personally, it has taken a bit to get used to her wacky ways but she is incredibly kind and very good to us. Stella is originally from Veneto and now lives in Scandicci, a suburb of Florence. She speaks faster than a truck driver with a “Crystal Meth” addiction and can at times tinker on the verge of triggering a migraine for me! With that said, I am really getting to the point where I can communicate with her and trying to keep up with her rapid fire pace of questions has been wonderful for my learning Italian. She is incredibly loving to our children, which in the end is all that matters in our book, and is loyal to a degree of intensity that you rarely see in someone you have only known for little more than a month.

Anna has an affinity for her and they have developed a friendship very quickly. Somehow, in ways that no one can really explain, the two of them have been able to communicate very easily since day one. Anna has a talent for language and understands Stella’s Northern Italian dialect with ease. On the flip side, Anna’s combination of Spanish and Italian somehow click well for Stella. It is quite enjoyable for me to watch them communicate with one another, with it frequently ending in me saying to Anna “how the hell do you know what she just said!”

Another Good Samaritan in a Land full them! – Last month I spoke of the kindness that Italians show when you are in need of direction. This is a brief tale of a seventy year old Good Samaritan. One afternoon, Trey and I were late to soccer practice and I was having a hell of a time finding the field. It was only the second time I had been there and had followed Simone there the first time. I pulled over to the side of the road to ask an old man if he new where the field was. He immediately began to passionately rattle off directions to me that consisted of at least six or seven turns that I needed to make. I’m not sure if it was the glazed look in my eyes or his self revelation that it was difficult to get to the location, but the next thing that I new, he was in the passenger seat of my car navigating me through traffic and several residential neighborhoods on our way to the field! When we arrived, he started to get out of the car to make the five or six block walk back to the building that I found him in front of. Of course I insisted on taking him back, which he obliged! The tales continue from the land of kindness :>)