Every morning begins the same: we have a cup of espresso using the small Lavazza pod machine we purchased our first day here. We sit in the shade on the terrace and check our phones to catch up on what may have transpired overnight in the US. 

After our espresso (#1) we walked around town and met:

• Tamara who runs a salon 
• Cinzia who has a salon two doors down from Tamara, and she’ll color my hair on Friday (yay!)
• Aldo who saw us look in the window of his printing/photocopy shop and followed us down the block to see if we needed help
• Aldo (the aforementioned Aldo’s cousin, we think) who runs a barber shop
• Ana and Claudio in the flower shop which create floral arrangements and personalized favors for weddings and other functions. They offered us espresso (#2) and sugar covered almonds while talking with Paul about their relatives in Rhode Island. 
• Domenico who runs the meat market
• And we peered into the bakery where bought lunch on one of our first days here. 

As we walked through the center of town we saw Stefano, Ricardo and Gigiotto outside the bar having espresso. Paul met Ricardo and Gigiotto in April. Already two cups in, we declined joining them. Stefano said the outdoor table is “his office” and as our neighbor Biaggio walked by, Stefano joked Biaggio is the secretary of the office. 

We also met Mario who wanted to be clear that he speaks American versus British English. He used to work for the American company Firestone and appreciates the directness of Americans as the British style of speaking is more locacious and harder to follow. 

After stopping by the fruit and vegetable market (which is separate, but next door, to the dry goods/cheese/meat market) we walked back up the hill. Steps away from our front door we saw Ana on her balcony who invited us in for espresso. How could we say no to her and a third espresso of the morning?

For an hour we chatted with Ana, first in her living room and then her upstairs kitchen which she said is more suitable for entertaining than her downstairs kitchen. She told us about her children; her husband, her ailments, and how she is turning 90 in March. We heard of her pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, where she bathed in the waters only to come out of the water not needing a towel as she was dry. A miracle! In addition to the espresso (#3) which she made on the stovetop, she poured us two glasses of her homemade liquor. The dark colored liquor was stored in a tiny bottle in her fridge, When we tried to tell her that her homemade liquor is better than Paul’s homemade limoncello, she proceeded to pull a small bottle of homemade limoncello from the fridge. 

By Noon it was almost time for siesta so we hopped in the car to drive 15 mins away to pick up Damian’s suit jacket. While we were out we stopped into a different supermarket chain which  was more spacious than a Conad but had some pre-made sandwiches, bags of salad mix, and a large aisle dedicated to all types of alcohol, so D stocked up on 4 Euro bottles of liquor to bring home. 

The sounds of the cicadas and lull of the fan trying to cool down the bedroom was all we needed to take an afternoon nap. Briefly I woke up to the sounds of D playing the guitar, but otherwise D just hung around the house today, sweating and itching since he got eaten alive by mosquitos (aka zanzare pronounced zahn-ZAH-reh) overnight. It’s the only day that the house has been hot — it’s 90 degrees out. 

Late afternoon we looked at paint color samples, had an espresso (#4) and rested some more before driving D to Sperlonga to stay overnight with Andrea, a friend he made on our trip a few years ago.

Upon returning to Pico, we saw the neighbors next door who gave us eggs again and peppers that she jarred. We explained that India, the dog, has warmed up to us and they told us how India used to keep the prior owner of this home company. 

For dinner, Paul made us pasta with tomatoes and garlic with local olives we bought at the market yesterday and the peppers from  our neighbor Angela. Mari joined us via FaceTime for dinner so it was nice to catch up with her. 

After dinner we walked through the medieval borgo, meeting more locals. So many people know the home we bought and comments on the beautiful terrace. And so many people ask if we’ve met Gina, an American artist who bought and is restoring a large property near us, or the Americans two doors down, but neither of them are in Pico currently. 

It’s 10pm and the feels like temp is 78 degrees, but we forgot to open the shutter door to the bedroom when the sun went down so it’s warm inside. Hopefully it will cool down shortly and the mosquitos will stay away as Paul ends the night reading a book on the terrace.