So we finally arrived in Rome after months of anticipation! The absolute luxury of our arrival was to be met at the airport by our Home exchange host himself, Dt Angeloni.
It is just so much more fun to be picked up, than to have to find you way around an unfamiliar city after a sleepless night on the plane, I love it!
On our way from the airport to our temporary home in theRieti Province, he surprised us with a few interesting history tales about the families and tribes of the area, and the actual founder of Rome, 500BC.
How amazing that you could know the history of your own country so far back in time! For us, South Africans, who have only a relative short history, it is quite fascinating.
When we met his lovely wife and two marvellous teenagers and saw the actual house and area they were letting us have for the week, I felt like we’ve hit the jackpot!!
Dr Angeloni, born and bred in this area, and his wife, originally from Bolivia, are the kindest, nicest people and they are going out of their way to make us feel as welcome as possible… we will have to pull out all the stops when they come to South Africa in August!
The house, probably hundreds of years old, has been modernised and is an awesome 3 bedroom house with every necessity available. The owner’s mother had been born in this house, and I feel so privileged to stay in a place that has such a rich history in a local Italian family’s lives!
Mrs Angeloni showed me some of the treasures they inherited with the house, which has been in the family for ages. Among others, she took out the fascinating pure linen sheets that were home-spun and – weaved. It must weigh about 2 kilograms for one! It is amazing it could have survived this long, still in perfect condition.
She also related how they used to have 12 sets of sheets for every bed, since there was only one washing day per year – in the spring, they went up into the mountains to wash the whole year’s linen in the springs of fresh water . Ever wondered where the term ‘spring cleaning’ originated from? Must have been a massive operation, so glad I missed that one!!
They treated us to a lovely meal in a local restaurant and showed us around the nearest town where to buy groceries, etc. and which restaurants they recommend, took us to see the gorgeous lake close-by and then left us to enjoy what they call ‘a beautiful mess’. Apparently the latest description of Italy!
The house is situated on 1000sqm of land, with lots of cherry, apple and nut trees, unfortunately all unripe at this stage, but we love sitting on the veranda watching the gorgeous sunsets over the mountains every night till dark – which comes around at about 10pm… It is so quiet, the only thing that makes you aware that there must be other people around you somewhere, is the bark of a dog, now and then.
Just about 500m from us is the nearest hilltop town with a population of roughly 150 people. What an amazing, different lifestyle than what we are used to. I feel utterly blessed to have a small slice of this heavenly place.
Thank you to the Angeloni family for doing a Home Exchange with us!!
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