For 12 years we have been coming to Verona to work and to play. This trip is for my husband who is working on a research grant, but it is also for me as I need fresh photography to work on for some upcoming shows.
We were in such a harried state getting ready for the trip that (of course) we forgot a few things. Nothing really major except two items; my camera charging cable AND my camera battery charger. I did get here with three fully charged batteries, but one day on the street and one is already exhausted. There used to be an electronics store (think Best Buy) where I could easily purchase such things, but it is gone! A victim of brick and mortar retail losses.
After pondering for a bit I remembered that I have an Amazon.it account and it honors my prime membership. Whew! I found a compatible battery charger and ordered it with one day shipping- even better than at home!
Yesterday I waited around until after 3 pm, no delivery. We needed to run some errands, so I left a note in bad Italian for the Amazon delivery person. When we returned a few hours later, no package. I checked the tracking report and it said the package had been delivered and left with the receptionist behind the door. Well….. this building doesn’t have a receptionist. In fact the door buzzers are not even numbered. I scouted around a bit, even asking at the restaurant next door (they now think I’m crazy). I put notes (again in bad Italian) in each post box. No package.
Fast forward to this afternoon. After lunch the door buzzer sounds and our upstairs neighbor asks if my package has shown up. I tell her no and we try in a mix of Italian and english to discuss the problem. She goes upstairs to a different neighbor and they both come down to my floor to talk about it some more. By now I have the tracking email pulled up on my phone and they read it. Both are puzzled about the receptionist but one of them suddenly snaps her fingers and beckons me down to the entryway. There is a huge old wooden door that remains open all the time. She pushes it forward and pulls out a small package! She says “behind the door”! She also shows me a steel utility door in the same place that is full of wires and junk and says also to check there.
I am so happy that they helped me and it certainly underscores what I have long known about the Italian people- they will go a long way to help you do anything. Within an hour the upstairs neighbor is back at the door offering to take me tomorrow to the big grocery store in her car. She is so earnest in her offer that I am tempted to accept. The only problem is we don’t need anything having spent the last two days hitting all the little markets around the flat to get the supplies we need. I may go anyway just to keep her company (which may be the real reason for the invitation).
Long story short- I love it here and I love the people. Mystery solved, faith restored.
** Here is an update to this story. Yesterday evening our neighbor upstairs (the one who helped me find my package) rang our bell to ask up to come for pizza tonight. She then showed me the attached article. Long story short, she was the model in 1964 for the statue of Juliette in the city center. In 2013 it was discovered that after so many “rubs for luck) the right breast of Juliette had worn through the bronze creating two holes. Signora Tosi apparently led the efforts to have it restored and with the help of the internet, succeeded. She says in one of the quotes that she had no idea when she posed that so many people would “touch her”. It is considered luck in love to rub the right breast of the statue.
(If you read Italian better than I do and see something different in this article, feel free to correct me in the comments).
Suffice it to say I feel thrilled to have met this woman and to have had her help as well as an invitation to take a meal.
Still Life With Cat Studio 