On Friday night the basketball court was used for a martial arts demonstration. On Saturday night Pinocchio came to town. The entertainers arrive, set up, and leave in a matter of hours. On Saturday there was also a magician in the piazza and a live band playing at the stairs up into the borgo. Lots of energy and free entertainment with people milling about everywhere.

Saturday morning there was also an outdoor market selling everything from underwear to bath mats to clothes, shoes and jewelry. Paul’s favorite vendor was Il Gigante Della Carne, which translates to “The Meat Giant” and essentially was a rolling butcher shop. There wasalso a vendor selling fruits and vegetables that was extremely popular with the locals. Are the alimentari and fruit stands on every corner not enough? Apparently not.

We spent Saturday afternoon at the beach again. We’ve seen the same people each day at their assigned umbrella. Each umbrella has a small table and built in ashtray, but there less people smoking on this trip compared to prior visits to Italy. A lot of vape pens, though.

Dinner tonight was in the borgo at Bar La Piazzetta. The waiter brought us Tiello (or Tielli, plural) to start. They are unique to Gaeta and the this area we are in. One was filled with octopus and olives and a red sauce while the other was all greens inside and tasted like the spinach pies Grandma Mary Ann brings from RI. Miss M had gnocchi sorrentina, D had a platter of prosciutto, melon and mozzeeella, Paul had a platter with various cured meats and cheeses, and I had Frisella which is basically a round toasty bread like a crouton consistency with tomatoes, mozzarella, olives and tuna all dressed in olive oil.

The waiter also brought over two baskets of bread. None of us have enjoyed the bread on this trip as it’s very dry and flavorless. One thing we noticed on this trip was some restaurants offering little packets of olive oil at the table (like a ketchup packet), along with the salt and pepper. We don’t recall ever seeing these before and wondering if it’s a new thing due to COVID.

We’re two thirds of the way through our trip at this point. Munich feels like it was a month ago. We’ve met many people, but one thing has stuck out to us: the people in this region don’t smile as much. From what we can recall, everywhere else we’ve been in this country, we’d be greeted with a “buon giorno” or “ciao” or a smile, but when crossing paths on the way to the beach, or taking part in the passagiatta, there’s been very little of that.

Paul recalls being with some folks in Pico on his last trip where there was a similar conversation over dinner about the people from Lazio, this region. I guess it’s just their way.