So, what has happened?

                                                       

Well, for a start, a couple of hours after I wrote the last entry, my friend Zsuzsa called from London- the Queen had just died... with all that brought with it, including the day of the funeral, when I was glued to BBC World online. Her passing was truly a milestone and the passing of an era. May she rest in peace- and God Save The King.

From that milestone to a very different one, which happened yesterday- the Italian Elections, with the voting in of the Hard Right and with it the first Italian woman Prime Minister. This was no great surprise, but an unsettling prospect nevertheless...

And we are slowly moving forward with the flat- a combined decision between me and Paolo was to leave the whole central part of the flat open.          

                                           

 It was just too wonderful to see it when all the old partitions came down,  revealing  the great open space which will now become the living room, the dining room and the open plan kitchen. My bedroom will now be the most beautiful of the rooms, the one which was previously designated as the dining room, and instead of the kitchen which was to remain the kitchen, it will now become my en-suite bathroom, both with this view:

                                

However, not wanting to selfishly bag the room just for myself, I have decided to have a bedroom which will also be a little sitting room, which can  be used by guests and friends during the day- my bed will be a sort of grand affair;  something with spires, cherubs and red velvet drapes, (think mad King Ludwig of Bavaria)... or the sort of bed people had in their best room in the eighteenth century...and then, at night, I can close the room off and it will be just mine...

                                

Just this moment, however, there is another break in the work. because we are waiting for some building  material - all the plumbing stuff which will go into the floor. There are long delays I have been told. Oh well...                                                                                   

And last night I became a member of the Siena Lion's Club at a dinner which was held to open the new season- the club is more active in the winter months. My friend Antonella is now the President and she gave an introduction to me and my life, which must have sounded like rather a confusing series of events and choices...I also said a couple of words- (In Italian, yes!), then had my little Lion's pin attached by the Master of Ceremonies. 

                                             

Meanwhile there has also been plenty of hiking in the glorious Tuscan countryside: 

                                                                                                                           

" Questa e la fase piu delicata..."

 says Paolo. Well, yes . That  looks like something of an understatement! I believe the neighbours downstairs will require more than the Ricciarelli. I have even been told not to go to the building site because the floors are very unsafe... But yesterday I was there, and so was Natale, the foreman, and Annalisa, Paolo's second in command:

A huge amount of rubble has been dug up- the combined layers of tiles from hundreds of years, which has created an enormous weight on the old wooden cross beams, that was put in- well who knows when...? The work that is being done is absolutely necessary for the safety of the building.

                                                   

However, it is not easy to know, with a drill like the one below, used by Natale, when one reaches the last layer, and pierces through the ceiling of below at Signor and Signora Boschi...the recipients of the Ricciarelli..

                                                    

whose bedroom we can glimpse through the hole in their ceiling below. Madonna! and the next picture shows the view from below...

                                                   

                                                                                             

                           But Natale came with an immediate first solution.                 

                                                      

The floor has now been cleaned of all the layers of tiles, and what we now see is the first layer from when the building went up- who knows when? The 14th century, or earlier? But the weight of all the tiles has made the floor sink down, so that now, when the weight is lifted, the whole floor has lifted by 2-3 cm, so the ceiling below looks like this!

   

Paolo says there will be some reparations to do below of course, but these should be fairly easily done and not too costly... well let's hope so! To reassure the Boschis he has been in constant contact with them, and has told them that they were living under a time bomb- the floor would eventually have collapsed!

Montaperti and other battles..

But before  engaging in any battles, and almost immediately after arriving back to Siena there was a whistle-stop tour to Faenza in Emilia Romagna, where I met up with Patty and a whole group of jolly Americans who were visiting for the ceramics biennale. I wish I could say it inspired me, but there is something about ceramics that tends to lend itself to really rather awful stuff- there are of course many exceptions to this rule, and some great ceramic art, but ... the best thing about Faenza was the company; the lavish dinners and the plentiful Campari Spritzas in the charming main Piazza.

It was therefore an opportune moment to go on a great hike, as soon as I returned, to try and mitigate some of the excesses: A group of 38 retraced the steps of the Sienese army's march from Siena to Montaperti, where a great battle was fought on the 4th of September 1260. It is the only victory  the Senese ever really had over the Florentines, and it is still celebrated. Dante mentions this battle in the Inferno, when he meets, deep down in the lower circles, the traitor Bocca degli Abati: and here is what  I found on it: 

"Florentine nobleman reputed to have betrayed his own party at the Battle of Montaperti (1260) by cutting off the hand of the standard-bearer, an action which occasioned disarray within the Guelf ranks. The Abati were a Ghibelline family, but at Montaperti Bocca was ostensibly participating as a Guelf, hence Dante condemns him as a traitor to the Guelf party."

Our walk took us through the ravishing Crete Senese, my favourite part of Toscana with its lovely soft shapes which are both inviting and somehow forbidding and alien- sometimes a little like a moonscape...      

                                                                                                                   

 

And to return to the subject of ceramics..

This morning I finally knuckled down to checking out what has happened in the flat:  I found an entirely new landscape at 11 Casato di Sopra, since more or less all the non-load bearing walls had been demolished, and the ceilings had been taken down to reveal  what  will become  my new ceilings, leaving  the beams exposed. 

 But  the one  thing that mostly seems to concern the builder is the enormous amount of rubble which is being shifted from the flat- for generations  and perhaps centuries, the successive owners of the flat has just put one layer of ceramic tiles upon another- we have up to 5 layers of tiles all over the floors. It is a miracle that the floor has not collapsed onto the neighbours below! This will all have to be dug up...

   

                                                                                         
And the noise is relentless of course, a trying time for my neighbours below... I shall have to knock on their door tomorrow with a peace offering of some Prosecco and Ricciarelli..

The kitchen is one of the only places which will keep its ceiling: the one above is not very interesting and not worth exposing, as we discovered through the hole we knocked in it.

Back again tomorrow to check the progress!

                                                                                

Mali and La Soluzione Maliana

Just back in Siena again, after twelve days in Mali, where my boss (and friend) Father Columba of the HMML (hmml.org) joined me for a trip north to Segou, where we met three of the library team from Djenne- this time even the Djenne team had dissuaded us from going further north and it was the first time I went to Mali without visiting Djenne...Even in the midst of all the insecurity and political upheaval in Mali, most people seem quite optimistic and virtually every Malian are behind the military junta. This is of course in sharp contrast to the expats left in the country who believe the country is carreering headlong into disaster...

The rainy season in Mali is beautiful, and we travelled through and witnessed some impressive downpours (which we could have done with in Tuscany this summer too!) After 

our days in Segou, when hard drives filled with manuscript images were handed over and accounts were scrutinized, as well as plans for the future discussed,  Babou (left below), Hussein and Ousmane boarded the Djenne bound bus. Anyone who has travelled on a local bus in Mali will recognize the scene glimsed to the left of Babou, as the local girls fight to board the stationary bus and try to sell their produce, shouting at the top of their voice and jostling to get on: 'Sefan be! Sogo be! Tiga be! (Boiled eggs here! I have meat! Nuts here!) and whatever else they might have to offer..

I had time to meet up with two of my former employees in Bamako: Dembele (left below) came down from Djenne with a shipment of plastic necklaces bound for South Africa and Mamane who still works at the Sleeping Camel and with whom I still carry on our  (moderately successful) chicken business.

And thoughts turned finally to the journey home to Italy and Siena: I sent Maman off to the market to buy the item below, which everyone who has been to Mali will recognize.  it is found in every Malian loo. Those who have followed this journal will remember my continued run-ins with Paolo, my architect, who says I have to have bidets in my Italian bathrooms. I went to his office today, and put this on his desk: La Soluzione Maliana:
                                                   

Siena/Ithaka

yes I know it is a little late... but nevertheless, let's  celebrate the victory of LEOCORNO with Tittia on the lovely (and only) mare in the race: Violenta da Clodia. I managed to see the race, which was postponed from  the night before. Afterwards I just had time for a celebration drink with Hettie, my new Texan  pal:

                                                

before leaving Siena, fighting my way  through the throng of merry makers along the Via Pantaneto, Via Montnini; Via Camollia- rolling my suitcase towards the train station and my night bus for the journey towards Rome, the flight to Paris and  finally to Mali, where I now find myself, but more about that later....

I was moved to discover, once safely on the bus and reading the messages from many neglected days that my dear friend Nicholas, the father of Theo who just stayed with his friend Will, had taken some inspiration from the poem Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51296/ithaka-56d22eef917ec

and made up a lovely new version, which belongs to Siena:

As you set out for Siena

hope your stay will be a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Crowned caterpillars, Waves,

Crested Porcupines—don’t be afraid of them:

Their forces will be kept in check by the Contrada capitanas

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Ondas, Brucos,

and Istrices—your contradaioli will keep you safe

unless you hear the March of the Palio in the square,

and then the Corteo Storico will have begun.

 

Hope your visit will be a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter cafes you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at market stalls

to buy fine things,

first-pressing of olive oil, hand-worked leather,

fine wines of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Tuscan villages

to learn and go on learning from passing pilgrims.

 

Keep Siena always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the stay at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you bring your story to the city,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Siena to make you rich.

 

Siena gave you the marvellous destination.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has her piazzas, her people and her palio.

 

And if you find no longer the renaissance city she once was,

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Sienas symbolize.

''Thunderstorm Warning for Italy. Toscana Severe Weather Expected"

 That is what it says, ominously,  on the weather forecast for today.

 And yesterday the Palio was postponed because the skies opened just before the Corteo Storico  was about to start.

The umbrellas above, however, were first used for a different function by  those  patient and expectant crowds who had installed themselves since early morning at the Campo, in order to get a good viewing spot. The umbrellas were to  protect from the hot sun which streamed down all morning...

                                                                       

           There were many disappointments- my lovely young English guests Theo and Will had to leave this morning without seeing the Palio... but they were with me for the great dinner in the ONDA Contrada and enjoyed the Provas and even got to see the charge of the mounted Carabinieri, so they left with some good memories I believe...

According to the Corriere di Siena, there have been 37 postponements of the Palio since 1655. When it happens, a green flag is put up on the Palazzo Pubblico. Four times the postponement has had to last for two days because of severe weather.

 Who knows what will happen this afternoon. I am all packed for my trip to Mali, leaving on the bus for Rome tonight. I will have time to see the Palio, which, if it runs, is expected at 18.40 this evening...more later!

Don't quite know where to start...

Let's be  sensible and  adhere to the chronological order of events:

 it started with 

the Whistle-Stop trip to London, where I met up with my Minnesota friends Patty and Les, (middle above) who were interested in seeing my Ladbroke Grove flat... more of this later, hopefully.

 They were also interested in being immersed in London life, and particularly in what happens in and around Notting Hill. 

This desire of course led us to lovely restaurants and happening watering holes, as well as irresistible Portobello antique jewellery stands...and on Sunday we ventured into Mayfair and Mass at the lovely Jesuit church in Farm Street, where we met up with my old friend Andrew, above left, and picked up, in the pew behind, Pieroluigi, an Italian lawyer who joined us for  lunch at L'Artiste Muscle in Shepherd's Market, where he  regaled us with hilarious and  incredible tales, purportedly all true; like the one about the Arch Duchess in the bunkbed and Captain Kerr abseiling down the Union Jack...

Now back in Siena, where in the Campo the grandstands are up; the  tufo is down on the pavement, and the mattresses line the San Martino bend once more; and where there is palpable excitement in the air since there are only four days left to PALIO! 

I have two young Englishmen staying with me, and decided to choose the ONDA Contrada for us to have the Cena della Prova Generale. It is of course 'my' territory, once I move into my new  flat.

I went to buy the tickets with my new friend the Texan Hettie, who also lives here in Siena, and who will join us for the meal. The Contradioli who sold us the tickets in the Onda Headquarter couldn't have been nicer... when I told them I wasn't a tourist but I would be living in Casato di Sopra they took us down to the garden/terrace with  the bar, and invited us for a drink- I was introduced as the new contradiola...although I will have to pay my membership fee and register of course- but I was really surprised at how friendly they were!

The big Onda Contrada dinners are held all along the Via Giovanni Dupre, named after the 19th century sculptor who is the most famous of the sons of the Onda. 

And finally, Hettie and I wandered off to the Palazzo Pubblico, where inside the Cortile the Mayor had just unveiled the August Palio banner, which is the prize for the victorious Contrada in Tuesday's  Palio.

                                       
 And tomorrow morning starts the Provas, when the horses and the fantini can try out the race course around the Campo.