Anghiari si racconta

I was born here in Anghiari in 1976, and I was one of the last people born in Anghiari, because, since then, the hospital has closed down. My mum has always lived in Anghiari, and so has my dad. I grew up at Carmine, the sanctuary of Carmine, where you came to Christmas mass … my family lives right there, behind the sanctuary.

I lived there with my dad, my mum and a brother until I was 22. Then I moved here, into town, in Campo della Fiera, after I had given birth to him (gesturing to Matteo, across the table). I went to school, primary school and scuola media in Anghiari, and to high schools in Città di Castello. I am an accounting analyst, and I went to a technical high school for tourism and accounting for 5 years. During that time I also worked in the shop.

The family have had the shop for 29 years. Before this, my mum and dad worked in factories, my mum for Ingram, a shirt factory in Anghiari, my dad for Soldini, the shoe factory that was at the bottom of the hill. In ’84 a big fire burned down the whole factory, but luckily my dad had already bought the shop, because many had to go to work in Capolona. And now many have go to Arezzo to work… far away … they get up at 5 in the morning. And luckily this shop did well. We all worked here, me, my brother, my mum and dad, but for me there wasn’t much to do – 3 people were enough.  So, I worked in a pizzeria, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, yes, while I was studying. I also collected premiums for an insurance company at people’s homes and, on top of that, I also distributed flyers while I was going from home to home. And, I also sold advertising spaces, gadgets, pens, calendars, objects for a firm in Sansepolcro! So I did all these things, from morning till evening. When they needed me in the shop, I came to the shop.

Then, when I was pregnant with him (Matteo), I also helped my husband, who had a butcher shop, down at the bottom of Anghiari. Where there’s the bar, the old train station – that old butcher shop. My husband now works with me up here … he is that one over there (pointing across the road). He has left the butcher shop to his son … he was married previously and has a son to his first wife. He’s 22, his name is Lorenzo. Anyway, he came to work with me, in the shop, 2-3 years ago.

3 years ago we got married – we got married only 3 years ago, my husband and I – and he (Matteo) took me to the altar, in that church up there at Carmine, the sanctuary. And then the 5 of us, we all went on our honeymoon to NY: him (Matteo), his brother (Lorenzo), the little one, Irene, who is 13, my husband and I, all to NY. My husband was scared of flying and hadn’t been on a plane for 15-20 years. He told me: ‘If one day we go to NY then I will catch a plane again’, and so we went to NY. Beautiful!

We’ve done other trips. This year we went to London, and, with the caravan, we have been to Germany, France, Poland, and up to the Normandy landing beaches. We’ve travelled a lot in Italy, Romania. I’ve been to Spain, last year to Paris. I still have to go to Australia. It is my dream!

I’m happy living here in Anghiari, because it is still a rather quiet town, a little town. We know everyone, so for me it is wonderful to socialize, to say hello to everyone. I’ve seen what it’s like in big cities – they walk with earphones, no ciao, no good morning, nobody says hello, nobody meets anyone; they don’t look at each other in the face. For me, this means a lot. Hi, ciao, good morning. When I am in the street here, outside the shop, if 10 cars go by, I say hello to 10 cars. There is a continuous greeting of each other, because there are 5,000 inhabitants, and, with the shop, one way or another, with all the jobs I have done, I am very well known. It is true that in a little town everyone gossips and that is unpleasant. I mean if you do something everyone comments on it, but, otherwise, in my opinion, it is really beautiful to live in a little town like this. It is rather beautiful.

The whole family lives at Carmine now. And they all help me at home. For example, today when I got home, the water was already boiling, one was cooking, another was already laying the table. One cleans, one makes the beds, Matteo or Irene … there is collaboration in everything. Also, we have dogs, cats, fish, fish tanks, so they all collaborate, they are really very good. I can’t complain at all.

I can’t deny that I would like it if Matteo and Irene stayed here. But if they left the nest – ‘Mum, I’m going to England, I’m going to London, I’m going to Australia, I’m going…’ – well, you go, because it is an opportunity. For him (Matteo), for example, because he is learning different languages, it’s an opportunity. Then, perhaps they will return. I would have liked to travel, to go far away. It is an experience that they can have, and, perhaps, in 10, 15 years’ time, they can say: ‘I have a CV, I have been in Australia, in England, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years’, not only for the language. I feel ignorant, very ignorant not knowing English. I haven’t travelled in that sense – I go and come back.

I think that travelling can help with job opportunities. If you choose to stay in the shop, ok, but if you want other jobs… one must have a starting point … I don’t know, perhaps a CV saying they have been abroad could help. But then, there are no jobs, there are no jobs. And the cost of living now is much higher than it was, say 20 years ago. Before, there weren’t any mobile phones, or all the expenses with cars and so on that there are now.

If we had tourism it would be very welcome, because tourists bring money. In my opinion, tourism is a positive thing, a breath of… very positive. New people come, new faces… . And people in the know, perhaps they can talk with other people coming here, who will buy houses …. Because the town is beautiful; Anghiari, in my opinion, is a gem.

Sometimes I think about this question of youngsters going away. Many go away, and then come back because … perhaps they have gone somewhere, I don’t know, to pick tomatoes and they earn 1000-1500 €, and they have to pay rent, electricity, and then they come back, I mean, empty-handed. I say, if one goes away and gains experience, it is true, that is good, but…. In my opinion, they go to find America, to strike gold, but they don’t realize that America is also here, that the same tomatoes they go to pick far away … perhaps they can harvest them here. But here they have the family that, one way or another, gives them food and lodging. So, I believe that it is a bit of a fad to go away, abroad.

Most of my childhood friends from Carmine stayed here. They all found jobs here, good jobs – one is a lawyer, one is an accountant, one is a plumber, one has set up a big firm.

Luckily our shop does well. Mum retired a year ago, so now I run it. She still does a lot here, I know! And she talks to people, which is a great help – I reach a point when I have to unplug because psychologically… . One of the things I’ve done is I’ve introduced coffee machines, to make coffee at home. So, on days when the shop is closed, I go around to deliver coffee capsules. Or people come to the shop and buy them, and then they might buy other things. So, it is a whole network, 600 machines at people’s homes, and a business related to coffee – I sell 50 thousand pods a month; it is a lot.

Yes, there are always lots of people in the shop, luckily. And now it is the quietest time; January is quiet. In February-March the sowing time starts, flowers, seedlings, and that is our busiest time. For the vegetable gardens, we start with potatoes, tomatoes, a lot of salad, and so my husband is always away with the van collecting plants, and some bring the products to us, every day, from Arezzo, Montevarchi. Things for vegetable gardens are the most important items in the shop.

At home, we have a very big vegetable garden. (Drawing a map of Carmine): behind the church, here there is the house, the vegetable garden owned by these people here, my mum lives here, there are the arches, there is the convent, the church and a tiny alley…The convent is not there anymore, but, before, here there was the convent with nuns, with all the arches, and mum’s house is here, and here there is the vegetable garden, in front, a bit further away. And in front there is a road downhill and an enormous field … this is mum’s garden. And the olive grove is in front – all those olive trees that you see as you arrive are mum’s, many, 500.

The family does a lot for the church. For example, the nativity scene, the presepe, my mum and Irene did that. My mum made the olive grove and the vegetable garden. She dedicates herself every year to it; she sets up the presepe, with my auntie, and Irene. They go to pick the moss, the green stuff for the presepe, the moss from the Rognosi mountains, and then they make the statuettes.

And they’re in the living nativity at Monterchi too. I have also done it every year. I was the wife of one of the Magi last year… I got a backache and so I told myself ‘This year I will not do it’, but Irene is in it and my mum. There is one on tomorrow night – if you’d like to go, I can come and pick you up.