Playing a Spettacolo in the Piazza in Soriano nel Cimino

A few days ago, we played for an event in the town piazza - a celebration of the men and women in uniform from the various local services. We were playing Il Canto degli Italiani (the Italian national anthem) with a choir of children from town. Our mayor spoke, along with other public officials and the leaders of fire and police forces.

I was thinking about all the times we have sat at these types of events in the US, playing the Star Spangled Banner before we listened to speeches by public officials. Now we are doing it in a small hill town in Italy, under a different flag, in a different language… It's remarkable how much our life has changed, while at the same time remaining the same.

One huge difference was that this event kicked off with a band of trumpets and drums, from the Soriano neighborhood “Papacqua”, all dressed in medieval garb! They marched through the piazza, much to the delight of the crowd, to promote the upcoming Chestnut Festival. I LOVE these medieval trumpet and drum corps, and cannot stop myself from beaming ear to ear and clapping my hands until they ache whenever I see them.

I can’t believe we live here.

(Click on the cover image to learn about our memoir about moving to Italy)