I finally met Gary Vitti in his Settefrati

“See you on the 16th in Settefrati!”: this is what we said to each other last year when we got the wrong month and couldn’t meet.

So this year, when Gary texted me to come to Italy, and specifically to Settefrati, I immediately replied: “August?”. “Yes, August”.

And finally this summer we met.

I knew which house was his because his neighbor Tony Malizia from Toronto had shown me. A small white house on several floors with an entrance in an alley that leads to the main square and a floor below on a small sloping lawn that leads to the main parking lot of Settefrati.

“A company is coming to do some work at the house, I hope you don’t mind,” Gary told me.

“Don’t worry,” I replied, “I’m an engineer too and my husband and I had a design studio. I always feel at ease on a construction site”.

So, one morning I get ready to cross the whole of Ciociaria from north to south and arrive in the enchanting Settefrati just in time for a coffee and to meet Gary, his wife Marta and two very calm men.

They are father and son, the father is a retired surveyor from Settefrati while the son Federico Socci is an architect with his office in Rome but his heart in his hometown where he returns weekly. His English is perfect and his manners are those of someone who knows Italian culture but also American culture, he knows what he has to do to make the Italian descendants feel at ease who are forced to deal with the bureaucracy and the Italian administrative machine.

We have a long chat about the country and the feelings of the emigrants and the different generations of descendants. Gary tells the story of how he bought his father's house back from the family and how he would now like his children to establish ties with this country. He would like to transform the house so that his children can also fall in love with Settefrati (and Italy).

Then I let them make arrangements and go to see Marta in the living room where we laugh about Italian ways and her new job as a dog care and hotel.

“When Gary retired I thought about quitting my job and starting a new business at home to spend more time together. I have always loved dogs and I noticed that in our neighborhood people didn’t know who to leave them with when they went out. So, I started for fun and now I’m very happy with how business is going”.

After coffee and the explanation of the gift I had brought him, a box of Una Domenica Italiana by Donna Vittori, we went to the center to do the shopping but above all to meet Livia Mazzà.

Livia soon became the most important person in Settefrati after opening La Bottega Parlante, a small shop selling local products but also a meeting point with a corner dedicated to an internet cafe and a co-working space for young people.

The bet of Livia and her partners is great, they will be open all year round and it is thanks to them that the historic center of this town now has a point of reference. Livia comes from Rome and moved to Settefrati for love and was not afraid of being the only business in Settefrati, with her calm and serenity she is reassuring and I wish her much luck and to be the turning point of a new life for the historic center of this enchanting town nestled between the Abruzzo mountains of the Abruzzo Lazio and Molise National Park.