The views tell stories and, through those narratives, we breathe life.
I often pause to look at Segni the place of my serene and carefree childhood.
Setting of the labours and sacrifices of my grandparents Francesco Milani and Giovanna Colaiori (Giulia for all) and their extraordinary adventure which has seen them, for almost half a century, managers of an inn first and a restaurant later (1960).
Inns and taverns were, and are, meeting places as are the bars. In a story they can also be used as an operations centre, the place where the adventure begins and where you find yourself immediately afterwards, to add, perhaps, details.
So it was with my grandparents.
[caption id="attachment_120698" align="center-block" width="750"]
The first inn was located in the historic centre of Segni, on the Via Dritta (Via San Vitaliano for instance) not far from the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. There my grandparents lived in their home, flanked by the Palazzo di Sor Domenico Milani.[/caption]
The rooms below were used as an inn. Even today, a wooden sign with the word Cantina Milani reminds us of it.
They stayed there until 1960, the year in which they moved to San Pietro on the path to Monte Pianillo where, in the meantime, the new Ristorante Pizzeria Bar Milani was opened in a privileged position together with the house perched on the rock.
The passion for cooking, hospitality and entrepreneurial spirit had dictated this new step forward allowing them to realize the dream of their life.
Taking advantage of a link with the most ancient traditions of the place you could drink local wine and eat tasty local foods, celebrate anniversaries and ceremonies of personal and popular life.
Inaugurated on June 7, 1963, the restaurant was immediately the focal point of the whole family completely absorbed by the activity that lasted, for over twenty five years, the (good) taste of flavours, pleasures, meetings, relationships.
Recurring were the dance parties in the dance-park. Yes, because, going up, to the space above the building, you arrived on the terrace and in the garden.
Up, in a point with generous access, between the earth and the sky, the horizon gave your gaze unparalleled space.
On one side, the terrace with a privileged view over the Sacco Valley, with residual views up to the Aniene and Liri Valleys. On the other, the garden circumscribed on the horizon by the peaks of the Lepini Mountains where Segni is set like a pearl.
In the magnificence of this scenario, the Grand Gala dance was held in 1970 for the granting of the Saracena D'Oro Prize 1970 to personalities from the world of cinema, theatre, music, television, journalism, medicine, meteorology, sports.
At 10 pm on August 29, 1970, Enrico Urbini for RAI TV opened the evening inviting well-known personalities from culture and entertainment to come on stage. In the guide we jealoof Segni, for medicine
Marisa Solinas and Soluy Stubung for cinema
Enrico Polito for music
Tony Del Monaco and Vareria Moncardini maestro composers
Nando Martellini for sports journalism.
The Lions group provided support and background music.
Even today the most beautiful memories stand on that hill, on the ancient Acropolis of Segni near the Roman Cistern and the Church of San Pietro, where the traits of the past experience, even among the rubble of the war, have always been characterized by a sense of strength, desire, justice, sacrifice and sacredness.
It is in the ruins of the old house that stood on the territory occupied by the enemy during the Second World War, that my grandfather (avid partisan, excellent interpreter of those healthy values that he preached so much and that he handed down to us with love) built his own and our mansion.
Headquarters still today for us as a family.
With stone in your hands, with stone under your feet: a metaphor for the meaning of a life.
Follow us