Day 9

During my travels in Italy I spent some time with Jim Romagnesi who is an ex Interchange host and for many years a board member at Interchange. Some will remember his partner Lynette who worked with Balance. Anyway for 3 - 4 months of the year Jim lives in Italy in a apartment in the little town of Varsi from which he runs small tours for Australians. The town of Varsi is where Jim's dad was born and Jim spent time there as a child. While in Varsi he told me the story of his aunty who is remembered as a war hero. Loretta Romagnesi was a partisan working against the fascists throughout the war. She used to assist airman who were shot down, escaping pow's and disrupt the fascists by blowing up stuff. Towards the end of the war she used to feed the Australian troops who were hiding in the mountains around Varsi. The town was controlled by the Germans but the mountains were controlled by the allies. The Germans began to retreat from Varsi and as the town came out to celebrate a retreating soldier fired randomly towards the town. The bullet hit Loretta and she was killed in front of Jim's dad as they were celebrating. The town put up a plaque to commemorate their war hero and a street in the town was named after her. It was amazing to hear the story and then stand in the actual places that it happened with a family member. 


And so to today and we headed off for Orta on Lago Gada. As Isaac said this is what he was looking for. An alpine Italian lake with villas cascading down the hill to the waters edge - just beautiful!! So more shopping - Isaac and I took off and climbed the hill to get a better view - more eating Gelato & pizza - then back to base. Alanna decided to Skype home at 3.30am Melbourne time - morning Nadia & Vince - apparently she was to ring anytime!! Early night thank goodness as a big day tomorrow - off to Parma and a pasta factory.

Ciao


Fred