oct 6 nano prep

~ Arduino Mancinelli ~ Florence, Italy ~ May, 1963

It was a disaster. Arduino had just finished a tour of the ‘property’ left to him from his great-aunt Sofia Benzoatti. He couldn’t believe his aunt had actually lived in this crumbling excuse for a palazzo. Indeed, she had actually lived in only a few of the rooms that were on the ground floor, her bad hip prohibiting her climbing the stone steps throughout the house.. He had heard about this place his entire life although he had never actually been here before. His aunt had always come to visit the family. Now he thought he understood why. Still, she had been his favorite aunt and as she knew his love of old buildings and fostered his endeavors as an architect, it was logical she would leave this once gracious palazzo to him.

Standing on the third floor balcony, Arddy turned from the expansive view of the countryside on the outskirts of Florence and once more looked at the massive room. Arched stone encased leaded glass windows, each crowned by stained glass scenery. The cracked and chipped walls were painted with faded and ageless frescos that had probably last been attended to some seventy-five to a hundred years before. The villa itself, dated to the mid 18th century and had once belonged to the Count Benzoatti, himself. A mid-level lordling who had had the luck or foresight to be in the right place at the right time, he had spent the largess of thankful peers in building this home far from the politics of Florence and had immersed himself in being the patron to a variety of, and here Arddy grinned to himself, less than successful sculptors and painters.

Walking again to the open balcony, Arddy looked out to what once were long, narrow reflecting pools, but now were overgrown concrete rectangles resembling more a mosaic of cracks and chips than anything else. Still, ranged along the lengths of the pools were a variety of nude sculptures of lesser known Roman gods, scientists, and even one of a sheep walking with a parasol! He shook his head at that one. Why would anyone even think to sculpt that? ‘Twas no wonder his befriended artists never became well known and revered! No Michelangelos here, that was for sure.
He carefully made his way back down to the main floor where his aunt’s solicitor was patiently waiting. Guillermo Santacini was seated in a beautiful leather chair in his aunt’s, his now, he supposed, library. It was one of the truly elegant rooms in the palazzo and was instantly his favorite. Tall, eighteen foot high wooden bookcases lined three of the four walls, the last wall being split between floor to ceiling windows flanking a monstrously oversized fireplace with a life-sized bronze lion sitting proudly in front of it.

“Così, Arduino, che cosa ne pensi della tua generosità Grande zia?”

“What do I think of what Auntie Sofia left me? I think I have inherited a crumbling pile of rocks with elements of absolute delight scattered amongst the stones! It will cost a fortune to bring this place back to what it deserves to be. But oh, what a joy it will be.”

“And one day, you shall bring your signora future moglie, your wife, here to raise your children, si?”

Arduino laughed, a deep laugh that grew from somewhere deep inside. “Look at me, Guillermo! Do I look like a prize catch to you? I’m what my mother calls abysmally thin, what my sister calls ridiculously tall, and thanks to my father’s side of the family, losing my hair at the age of forty-one. I spend all my days cooped up in a basement office peering at blueprints, or drawing plans for some newly rich Americano who wants to return to his ‘roots in the old country.’ I am growing stoop-shouldered from bending over my desk; my next pair of glasses will surely be as thick as my finger, and my fingers seem permanently blue from smudged ink. No, Guillermo, I think I am happiest, returning home to my cat who doesn’t harangue me if I am late or forget to eat. As long as il mio piccolo gatto has his bowl of milk, mice to catch and my occasional lap to knead his claws into, he and I are happy.”

Guillermo rose to his feet, and offering his hand to shake said, “Avrete il vostro bel da fare per voi qui. And it will be much work, although I expect you will love every bit of it. Sofia knew what she was doing when she left this place to you. She told me once that your vision potrebbe rendere brillare di nuovo; could make this place shine again. I have faith you will do exactly that.

“Oh, before I leave, I understand tua sorella, your sister, is getting married and moving to America?”

“Yes, Isabell is marrying her Frankie in August and they sail for the US immediately afterwards. I do not know him all that well, and with their moving away I don’t expect to, but he seems like a good man. Papa likes him. I think Mama is just glad that her ‘old maid’ daughter finally snatched herself a husband! Personally, I think she was wise to wait until she found the right man. She is only thirty-four, after all, but oh did Mama ever wring her apron worrying about it!”

The two men laughed companionably together. “He’s a lucky man then,” said the solicitor, “she is a beautiful woman and I hope they will be very happy! All the paperwork, the deed and Sofia’s notes are all on your desk.”

As the two men walked outside and just as he was opening the door to his car, a wren swooped in low, dropping a white stream of liquid which landed on Arddy’s shoulder.

“Ah, vedi, la fortuna sorride su di voi già! Even now good fortune is smiling at you!”

“I will need all the good luck I can get,” laughed Arduino as he waved goodbye and then turned to reenter his Great Aunt Sofia’s home, his mind already busy with plans for remodeling, potential craftsmen and gardeners to contact and wondering where his cat was currently hiding.