I’ve said it before, but it’s good to have verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On an evening walk, I passed my neighbor Patrizia who was inspecting items in the window of the vintage clothing shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoing your shopping?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpinning time while I wait for my sister. Where are you off to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust a walk. I got kind of shaky and a walk always helps. When I left the house, I saw Renzo and Giancarlo were out working. Maybe putting up the flags?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s what they’re doing. With all of this confusion and stress, it’s good to see the banners going up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll over town! It’s even more special this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes! Because we don’t have to do it. No one can come here to see them. So, this year it’s for us. For us,\u201d and she grinned and included everyone in sight with a single, sweeping gesture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We stopped to take in the spectacle of the display in Piazza della Repubblica. Down Corso were two vertical banners elegantly placed to take advantage of the zigs and the zags that are inherent in all the town’s streets. I gasped. \u201cLook at those banners! How beautiful they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose are stendardi<\/em>, bandieri<\/em> are like those,\u201d and she pointed to a flag. I struggled to hear and repeat the word, Patrizia helped. \u201cS. T. E. N. Stendardi<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt doesn’t even sound Italian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s a little unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I changed subject. \u201cI’ve heard that this year the white dove for pallombella<\/em> is to be replaced with a drone. I don’t understand how or why or… anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it will be as usual, but the drone will fly around and take a video of the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, there will be no public event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, no, that’s been cancelled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd we’ll watch it on our computers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot me! I’ve had enough of my computer working from home to last the rest of my life. We can watch on our phones. Everything on our phones. Phones, phones, phones,\u201d she dissolved into giggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On my walk up the hill near the ramparts I practiced my new word. Stendardi<\/em>. Stendardi<\/em>. (Pause. Wait for it.) Standards! No wonder it didn’t sound Italian! Banners and standards. I love moments like those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A half hour later I turned the corner onto Via delle Pertiche Prima to a work-in-progress corridor of fluttering banners. I applauded before I knew what was happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Bravi, ragazzi! E grazie!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new pole was needed, so Renzo and Gianni were making one in the street, wood shavings mixing in with the weeds that grow between paving stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan I get a picture of this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe’s going to take a photo, Renzo! Quick!\u201d shouted Gianni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Renzo disappeared into his caverna<\/em> and emerged seconds later appropriately masked. For the record, he was masked and legal when I left, but woodwork and sawdust can make of a mask an ugly thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giancarlo joined them, and the banner (or maybe it was a standard) was threaded onto the new pole. It took three to do it. I love those guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This morning on my way to market \u2013 which has been moved, at least for now, to the large interior courtyard\/parking lot at the old\u00a0caserma<\/em>\u00a0(barracks) \u2013 I passed an\u00a0edicola<\/em>\u00a0and scanned the headlines.\u00a0\u00a0La pallombella<\/em>\u00a0(a word that refers to both the ceremony and to the white dove that is central to it) is, after its traumatic journey from painted cloud to pyrotechnic tongues of flame, presented to honored guests, often the town’s newest parents or most recently wed. This year, according to the headline,\u00a0la pallombella<\/em>\u00a0will be given to doctors and nurses. I cried before I knew what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Bravi! Grazie!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve said it before, but it’s good to have verification. On an evening walk, I passed my neighbor Patrizia who was inspecting items in the window of the vintage clothing shop. \u201cDoing your shopping?\u201d \u201cSpinning time while I wait for my sister. Where are you off to?\u201d \u201cJust a walk. I got kind of shaky … Continue reading La Pausa – May 28<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1865"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1874,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions\/1874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidzarko.us\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}