Sunday November 20 - the Sunday antique fair continues in Lucca today, so the streets were packed with people.
With a late night return from dinner with family, we did not plan to meet everyone until afternoon. Michelangelo's house in Ponte Buggianese is about 20 minutes from Lucca. Annunziata, Carol, and I met at the train station just outside of the walls so that Michelangelo and Mirella could not have to wait on us.
They had gone grocery shopping for what turned out to be our pranzo (lunch) today. Michelangelo took us back to their family home in Ponte Buggianese. It is a wonderful new home on what was Dina's (Michelangelo and Annunziata's mother's) family property.
If I remember the story correctly. Dina became a nanny for a very rich family from this area that had a winter home in Naples. Dina's family home was in Ponte Buggianese. The cook for this family was the sister of Rocco (my grandfather's cousin). When the family was in Naples, the cook wanted to introduce her to Rocco. However, after the romance started Rocco went to North Africa to work. When he returned they married and Rocco established a clothes cleaning place in Santa Lucia part of Naples.
Michelangelo has purchased apartments for Fulvio and Valeria in nearby Prato.
We had a wonderful pasta dinner followed by antipasta and salad and then dolce. Michelangelo has a kiwi tree over the car port and whereas in Seattle we place the ripening kiwi in an egg carton for a few weeks, they place apples near them an that ripens them.
After dinner, we played cards. Fulvio taught Carol and I an Italian game called Burraco. You play in pairs, and the idea is to get either a run or 3 of a kind, and building to 7 (a run or of a kind) -- a Burraco occurs when seven are reached. The Joker and 2s are wild. During our first game, two ladies (Vivian and Laura) arrived that are cousins from his mother's side. They were very funny, friendly, and joined into our game (Vivian being my partner for a couple of games until they had to leave.
Of course Mirella and Carol won.
Again the food came out, adn we had a "buffet" meal. By 9:30 we were stuffed and it was time for Carol. me, and Annunziata go to back to Lucca.... but Michelangelo had to drive us.
Tomorrow we take the train to Prato to see Fulvio's apartment and that city. Oggi era un buon giorno.\
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