Leaving Ventotene

Leaving Ventotene at 6 am in the morning on lo scafo - hydrofoil. Had dinner with Maria, Felice, and Federica. 1st- pasta con ricotta, e poi, meatballs and sauteed peppers and olives, et poi, fruit -peach/melone (cantaloupe), et poi Perugina ice cream.

Also went to la Chiesa di Santa Candida. Went to mass at 7pm. Indian preacher. Santa Candida portrait in front. Evidently she was from Northern Africa, and her dad didn't approve of something (her lover maybe) so he put her in a boat. She ended up landing on Ventotene. Ended up a virgin, martyr, and saint.

Yesterday saw Villa Giulia, the ruins of a small villa on the tip of the island (where it's windy) where the Romans built a sort of resort for philosophers and writers and dignitaries, as I understood. Later it was used as the place of exile for Augustus' daughter, Giulia. Later used as a place of exile for people. Other daughters/wives were sent here too.

James B-M, Cale, Lisa and I have met many of Elisa's friends. Elisa is Alba's granddaughter and she gets to spend every summer here on Ventotene (not working). Sucks for her. Nice friends too - Benedetta, Adriana, Angela, Angelo, Salvatore.

There are many gelato places on the island. I have only eaten at Il Giardino - the place owned by the Impagliazzo's. Best flavors: Noccioli (almond) e cafe (coffee).

Everyone's related to us. When Serafina goes anywhere, she is constantly stopping to talk. The lady at the pizzeria on the left side of the port, someone at the bakery I think, there's a Gargiulo at the "Conad" grocery store - her daughter Filamena Gargiulo wrote a book that I found in the bookstore. To top it all off,

This morning Lisa was asked out by some guy on the beach. Turned out to be her third cousin (on the Impagliazzo side).

Nonno's old bar is now next to a very vibrant bar si chiama "Vento di mare" (wind of the sea). Sandro Pertini (a political exile during the war and the president of Italy for 2 terms after the war) frequented this bar where he would ask nonno for a "slow coffee" to give him time to chat with another activist who had been exiled by looking at a mirror opposite the bar. Pertini who had 2 bodyguards (actually overseers to ensure he didn't talk to others) who stood outside the bar b/c there wasn't room for them inside, eventually cosigned a document that gave way to the founding of the EU - having done all his collaboration in that bar.

Evidently some of our ancestors (I forget either Gargiulo or Romano or Impagliazzo) came from Ischia, it's an island you can just barely see across the ocean past Nave di Fuori (one of the rocks several hundred meters off from the beach). Federica says it has a bigger city than Ventotene.