Sunday 26 June 2011

The Hospitality of Strangers


Returning to the van from climbing in Arco one day, we got into a conversation with a local – a man named Marco, who had been born in that very valley, left to go to Germany for work as a young adult and now returns in summer to his hut here, to enjoy his garden and relax. 

Eager to practice his admirable English and show us the hut he has made and his pictures of the area, he invited us in for a drink … then for dinner … then to park in his driveway for a few days. Every day he'd have breakfast ready for us (embarrassing us greatly the first morning as we'd already left to go climbing and we didn't wake him up to say we were heading off!), and he would make dinner in the evening too. In true Italian style, this was not just simple pasta or risotto – it was delicious!

We bought wine and took photos of his place from the cliffs above to show him. Marco claimed we were good for his English, too – but we really don't think he needed our tuition.


After three days, it was time for us to move on. So, putting his business card in Jen's wallet, we promised to stay in touch and to send him copies of our photos.

Know this man? Please tell him thank you!
Shortly afterwards, that wallet and the business card were stolen … Marco has no post to his summer hut address, and so aside from his name we have no way to contact him to thank him for all his delicious food and wonderful hospitality.

If we just sent a letter with a good guess at Marco's summer hut address, would it get there? We've tried searching online, but haven't made contact with any of Marco's relatives yet … they must be out there, right? And so the search continues.

In the meantime, this post is all we can do. Thank you, Marco. You are great fun and a fabulous host. We hope to see you again.