Day 7 cont. - When in Rome do as the Romans do - but first, you have to find some Romans!

It's our last evening in Rome.  We have seen what we can, and spent time with those who are living here but who are not from here.  So the thing to add is find some Romans who can fill in another blank on living in this city, espcially as Italy itself is days away from celebrating 150 years as a united nation.

Thankfully, we don't have to kidnap anyone off the streets or atttach ourselves to some unsuspecting family out for a Sunday stroll.  My cousin married a woman from England, whose sister moved to Rome, married a Roman and has 3 Roman children.  A family connection - excellent - they can't escape!

We got picked up in a rattly Pugeot and driven south-east before turning down a lane and parking just where the lane stopped and a steep hill began.  We slipped past a gate and came upon a tiny pink cottage hugging the hill, a large apartment building built right up its backside and a vista of green heath stretching out below and to the horizon, a huge regional park .  Lemon trees blazed fruit, a small stone fireplace emitted the sole warmth of the house, fuelled by sticks picked up from the trees and shrubs just beyond the patio, and a family of 5 welcomed us into about 1000 sq. ft. they call home.

Three beautiful, school-aged children - one boy who plinked away on a guitar and unselfconsciously answered all our questions, a girl too shy to talk and who mostly closeted herself in her bedroom with a book, and a younger girl who dumped a collection of coins on the floor that she immediately set about cleaning with an old toothbrush and soapy water - and their parents who run a coffee bar (him with her help) and teach preschoolers (her part time) gave up one of their precious evenings together on our behalf. 

The girls had made an absolutely delicious lemon drizzle cake which we had with English tea served in tippy ceramic mugs Momma had made, sitting on whatever seats we could all find - a few at the small kitchen table and a few in the sitting room adjacent.  Two huge dogs lolled about.  Shelves were filled with books and pottery and odd bits of memorabilia and daily schedules. The fire smelled of the outdoors and the indoors smelled of damp.  Does this place really exist in Rome, barely 2 miles from the Colosseum?  It felt like we were in some enchanted hovel deep in a fairy tale.

They all added thieir opinions about Rome and Italy of today.  They are embarassed about prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's antics, but mostly because they know the rest of the world laughs at him and thus at them, which is worse.  Since adopting the euro in 2002, Italy has become poorer and harder to make a living in, with a huge gap between salaries (unchanged from before) and goods (vastly more expensive since).  Everyone works harder for less and envies the ones who left for Australia or America before the change, which is ironic because at the time those that left were often pitied as those who had to leave in order to seek their fortune. 

They deny there is an economic problem in the country greater than that of other countries and had never heard the acronym PIIGS (referencing Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, countries in danger of economic meltdown and requiring financial assistance from the European Union/International Monetary Fund).  We learned about the school system, the differences between the different types of secondary school:  Liceo Classico, Liceo Scientifico, Liceo Linguistico, Liceo delle Scienze Umane, and Liceo Artistico, and heard from each child of their plans and challenges. 

Their life is simple - there is not a lot of money around for holidays or fancy clothes or electronics - time off is hanging around at home with books, guitars and a coin collection, studying, or running around a soccer pitch with neighbourhood friends.  The hands of the parents show a far greater age than their years would indicate, and they can't sit still for long, never having had the luxury of practice.  

It was a lively, wonderful slice of family life.  As night drew in, Papa went off to his bar to turn the coffee machine on for the early morning rush (it takes hours to heat up) and Momma filled our arms with fresh lemons picked on the way back to the car before we were rattled home to our spacious top floor flat where we packed our things for our early morning flight back to London.