There Are Places I Remember . . .

Or rather, there are some places I will never forget. It was the end of a blazing hot afternoon. Ernie and I had taken a siesta behind the heavy shutters of the villa in Asciano, and now it was time for sightseeing. Patrizia entrusted us to the care of her father and we went off to Lucca, together with Gody and Emmanuel. Piero drove effortlessly (and dare we say a little recklessly?) through the Tuscan countryside until we arrived at the historic town. The heat shimmered off the red bricks and we tried hard to follow the explanations of Gody (French) and Piero (Italian.) Soon there was a word we all understood. “Birra”, said Piero. “Beer”, we echoed.

I will never forget our delightful afternoon with that colorful man and whenever we get together with Patrizia, we rehash the events of that day. We were saddened to hear of his illness and happy that Gody got to spend some time with him in the last few weeks along with Emmanuel and his baby brother who looks just like Manny does in this photo. Just hours after Gody left, Piero Paoletti died at the age of ninety.

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain (Paul McCartney)