Accept this.
Your spouse is an individual, first and foremost. They will have their own deeply ingrained set of coping strategies. Be sure to communicate these early in your relationship to better equip yourselves for when such situations arise in the future.
And remember, sometimes a reassuring embrace can speak volumes.
trentuno
Sarah slowly waltzed her way through the aisles of Fiorellino’s only supermarket. She knew the shelves and their contents by heart, as things were rarely purchased, let alone rearranged. Most locals, she had come to learn, preferred to purchase from the weeklymercatoheld down the valley, or venture into neighbouring towns. There was a stagnant stale energy she couldn’t quite place: the tiny deli counter at the rear, the fresh bread stand right next to it, the same arrangements of flowers, day in, day out.
Nothing readFiorellino made. Nothing was locally produced. She was hard-pressed to find products from Umbria. Why that was, she wasn’t sure. Surely the milk and fresh produce were sourced locally, but why were they not marked as such? She paid for her two cartons of milk, box of teabags and freshly ground coffee beans, stashed them in Bianca’s basket and began her journey home.
Turning onto the road which would take her back to La Viola, Sarah caught herself distracted by the view of the usually viridescent valley to her left, which had started to change colour. Shades of green were now brandishing gold and brown tones and the foliage-rich landscape had begun to grow sparse. The purple brushstrokes added by La Viola’s once plentiful violets had also begun to fade. She sighed. How was it that such rich earth and people of such agricultural passion and skill had so very little to show for it?
‘Are there food festivals here in Fiorellino?’ she asked Margherita that afternoon.
‘Bella domanda,’ Margherita acknowledged. ‘Not really. Not like I am sure you can picture in your mind. Here in Italy, we have celebrations calledsagre.La sagra. Una sagra. Singolare, femminile.’
‘La sagra,’ Sarah repeated, noting it in her exercise book. ‘What is it?’
‘A celebration usually dedicated to a particular dish, or ingredient or way of cooking. For example, there’sla sagra del tartufo.’
Sarah winced through her mental translation. ‘Thesagraof the truffle?’
‘Esatto.’
‘You literally have celebrations for a solitary ingredient?’
Margherita’s hands made the ‘what do you expect, this is Italy’ gesture and nodded. ‘Thetartufois a very special, treasured and rare ingredient, found only in very specificzone. Not just anywhere can havetartufi. When you think oftartufi, you think of Toscana, Umbria, Piemonte . . . not Sicilia,eh?’
Sarah mulled over this point. ‘So, what you’re saying is that thesesagrehave greater meaning because of their specificity? Their significance in community might change completely, or have no meaning whatsoever in a neighbouring town?’
‘Bravissima, Sarah.’
‘And what does Fiorellino celebrate?’ She sat poised, pen at the ready.
Margherita exhaled a sharp curt laugh. ‘Niente. Ni-en-te!’
‘But why? Look around us!’ Sarah stood and moved to the window, indicating to the valley and fields below.
‘Fiorellino is only small. We share many borders with other towns. The lines are very blurred.’
‘So, if Fiorellino doesn’t have anything specific to celebrate, perhaps this region, the land, the valley and hills do?’ Her gaze returned to the view.
‘La comunità?’
Suddenly, Sarah caught a glimmer of inspiration.Comunità. Community. ‘What kind of relationship does Fiorellino have with its neighbours?’ Margherita was certainly the one to ask, as her former role at themunicipiohad given her plenty of insider knowledge.
‘Onestamente? Not wonderful. No thanks toil Sindaco. Other towns have invited Fiorellino to share insagreand such in the past, but many years ago now. They have stopped asking. The answer was alwaysno.’
‘And if there were to be a communitysagraof sorts, who would need to approve that?’
Margherita thought on it for a moment. ‘Dipende. How large? Who or which organisation would fund it? Would it take place oncomuneland, or private prop—’
‘Here. At La Viola.’
‘Depending on the size, either no approval,comuneapproval orregioneapproval.’
‘Regione, as in Umbria?’
