When we arrive at the supermarket, it’s closed. Through a chorus of groans, I drive to another, but that’s also closed.
“Dad, I’m going to faint,” whimpers Mabel.
“If I don’t eat soon I’ll die,” bleats Callum.
We discuss finding a restaurant but Theo doesn’t want to leave the car with everything in it. I tell him I’m pretty sure I left a few packets of pasta and a jar of sauce in the house.
He taps a beat on the dashboard. “That’ll do!”
We set off along the road that winds up the hill to Montemagno.As we drive through the village, it’s so dark I decide not to even point it out.
“Nearly there!” says Theo.
I turn left and drop down into first gear in order to mount the steep hill. This road is single-lane and whenever I drive up it I dread seeing another car. Once we reach the Fiores’ house, I know I’m in the clear. Relieved, I take a left turn, into our olive grove.
“This is it, gang!” Theo pipes. “You’re entering the Castello Montemagno!”
Very slowly, I proceed down a gravel lane that’s so narrow it’s only a few centimeters wider than the car—with a steep drop on either side.
“This is just a load of trees,” says Archie. “Where’s the castle?”
Before anyone can answer, Mabel screams.
I slam on the brakes.
A few meters ahead of us—emerging from the olive trees—two wild boars come trotting across the lane. One of them is clearly the mother, the other much smaller. The mother stops and turns to face us, blinking in the headlights. Her body’s black with long, white hair that looks bristly and coarse. Her piglet, on the other hand, is light brown, with even lighter stripes running down its body.
Theo whistles. “Well, you don’t see that in Manchester!”
“What are they?” whispers Archie.
“Wild boar,” Theo whispers back.
“Will they attack us?” asks Mabel.
“No,” Theo replies. “They’re much more frightened of us than we are of them.”
For a moment, we sit in silence, the five of us united in awe. Then the mother boar turns and trots off into the bushes, her piglet toddling after her.
“What about that?” I say, swivelling round to look at the kids. “Wasn’t that fab?”
But just like that, the special moment has passed.
Callum shrugs. “It was OK.”
Mabel flicks her hair. “If you like that kind of thing.”
I hit the accelerator.
“Who wants to know how to saywild boarin Italian?” asks Theo.
Archie is the only one who answers. “Me!”
“Cinghiale,”says Theo. “I know that because the first time we came to Italy, Adam and I ate wild boar pasta.”
“And it was delicious,” I add.
Mabel mimes the sound of retching. “You two are gross!”
