Slowly, with a lot of very British dithering and even-more-British bursts of anti-social behaviour, our society is opening up. A few days ago, I went on the Tube: my first public transport ride since mid-March. Pubs are rumoured to be opening on July 4th, a date saluted by the tabloids as “our Independence Day” (demonstration, if ever there was a reason, that history is not a mandatory subject in British schools). Hesitantly, gingerly, we are starting to consider foreign travel. Which, for most of us emigrants, means returning home.
And what a funny place “home” is. I realise I’ve never really introduced it to this blog, though it featured on a few posts here and there: Biella, meaning “connecting rod” in Italian. Lying at the butt-end of the Po valley where the flat, alluvial land hits the Alps, Biella is a place renowned in Italy for its friendliness and openness. “You can stay there thirty years and not make a friend”, a saying goes. A Milanese chum of mine had a client in Biella, a guy whom he called “November 2nd” due to his particularly sunny disposition and outlook to life (notice for the non-Italian Catholics: November 2nd is the day of the dead, where you are expected to pay homage to long-lost relatives at the local cemetery. Think Dia de los Muertos but without the parades, make-up, music or mescal). Such is my hometown.
I won’t deny it: despite its gloom, the metre of yearly rain and the boneheadedness of its inhabitants I like my hometown. I haven’t lived there for 15 years now, but I still feel bieleìs. You will have me drooling over a good polenta concia, lament the lack of Amaro di Oropa, sneer at the French for daring to hint at owning the paternity of toma and I still check the results of the local basketball team.
Biella is a whimsical experience, a surreal place. Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner’s Roy Batty, came ‘round one day and got lost in our woods, so lost that he had to call the Carabinieri to come find him (they did). Michael Schumacher, one hot summer day, arrived as if directed by something, got an ice cream for himself and his son, and then drove off. Never came back, apparently. If you want more proof, here is some: titles from local news, pearls all from this year. And bear in mind they’ve been unable to go further than 200 metres away from home from February to May. God knows what else they could’ve done had it not been for some bat-eaters triggering a pandemic.
Man who called the Carabinieri to say he was in danger was only trying to check his phone reception
Gang steals two cigarette lighters
Man sneezes and runs away without paying for his groceries
Biella City Council’s website hacked by a Russian prostitute service
A man complains to the Carabinieri of having seen a child driving a tractor
Mayhem in Roppolo: an ostrich evades from its pen and goes walkabout
Two horses and a donkey stroll around Trivero in the night
Woman hit by a kayak on the sidewalk
“That bar’s music is too loud”: but it wasn’t true
An indignant reader complains: “There’s a barefoot man in speedos on the Oriomosso trail”
The newspaper headlines made my day, Fabrizio. I always find it interesting to hear about the towns/cities people are from and how they view them, so this was a lovely post. The ways in which the world is slowly starting to open up is quite interesting. I yearn to be on our land in Portugal, but it appears that it will take a while for the UAE to appear on the list of countries allowed to enter the EU . . . sigh! At least they’ve removed the orange cones from the beach where we live on Sunday, which indicated that the beach was now open and watersports allowed, so I’ve been out with the surfski every morning since then just after sunrise, hugging the mangroves to hear the birds instead of the hum of the city. It feels like a huge freedom. Will you be heading home for a visit then?
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Hi Jolandi, thanks for reading! Yes, I might go there – subject to Bonkers Boris’ announcement on quarantine… I hope you’ll be able to go to Portugal too soon!
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It really feels like the world has gone mad at times. I hope you’ll be able to make it home soon without the burden of quarantine when you get back. My chances to get to Portugal doesn’t look overly great at the moment, as the UAE has issued a decree a couple of days ago preventing citizens and residents from travelling this summer, unless they visit their home country. Anyway, we are pushing ahead with getting the last things done for the habitation licence and working on paperwork to make the ‘permanent’ move in the next couple of months if the restrictions will lift enough for me to get on a plane . . . Fingers crossed.
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Good luck Jolandi! Here Mophair Boris has announced that we can fly to Italy (and other places including St. Pierre-et-Miquelon, ha!) without being quarantined thereafter. But only if you live in England, Wales and Scotland aren’t toeing the line and no one from Northern Ireland has bothered to comment yet.
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Thanks, Fabrizio. That is wonderful news for you. Now you can start making plans. Enjoy!
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The funny headlines combined with the amazing pictures. It was like a comedy, I could imagine those characters in the small town. Great one!
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Thanks a lot MT! 🙂 I have to say, Biella can be pretty comical.
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For real???? A beautiful funny place— great combo. Hope the transition from first time back on public transit to international travel isn’t too daunting. I’m not there yet, on either.
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I’ll let you know how it went, Caroline. Wearing a mask (here it’s only mandatory if you are on public transport or if the shop mandates it) made me feel super sleepy so I’m probably going to snooze the entire flight…
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Wishing you a safe trip home Fabrizio!
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Thanks! Now waiting for a puff of white smoke to rise from No. 10…
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Those headlines are hilarious and the photos are gorgeous. What a fabulous hometown.
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In fairness Biella is often a lot duller than these headlines can hint at. For instance right now there’s a massive brouhaha on a roundabout. Yes, a roundabout. First page.
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Fabulous.
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Oh this is gold Fabrizio! Thanks for the laughs. And for the wonderful photographs. What a unique place you’re hometown is 🙂
Alison
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Thanks Alison for reading! We are a funny bunch aren’t we.
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Petrol in the cafetiere! Is that an accident, I wonder…
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A good % of my fellow Bieleis are, effectively, pickled in grappa. It wasn’t until I was 10 that I realised that in the rest of Italy people don’t drink espresso and a small glass of white wine at the bar, unlike most of our pensioners.
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Hmm. I’ll keep that in mind for when I turn into a pensioner.
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Me too!
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That’s quite a collection of headlines for one town. We generally turn to Florida when we want to read about oddballs. Good luck with traveling. Thanks to our “brilliant” leadership things are going from bad to worse around here, it may be another year before a real trip is viable.
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Yes, I guess this is a fitting ending for his presidency if you think about it.
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