A Day in the Life of an Italian Housewife

Day in the Life of an Italian housewife by Sandra Farrell

"Spending 2 months at my daughter’s home in Lerici, Liguria on the Italian Riviera, gave me the chance to watch a community very closely" comments Sandra who writes a charming dialogue on everyday life in her daughter's village

I am awakened at 7.00am by the bells tolling in the chapel, just across the lane from our little 300 yr old house. At the same time as it rings out the local dogs also tune in. A sure way to get me out of bed, fling open the shutters and give the dogs a piece of my tongue, raise the children and whilst they are washing I heat the milk to cover their sweet toast like crispbreads for breakfast. Hubby and I have a nice piece of sweet vanilla cake I baked yesterday and an espresso to give the day a kick start. Once he has gone off on our little black Vespa the kids are almost ready for me to walk them up the lane to the bus stop. The yellow school bus arrives with a Nun in her white habit to take charge of the children until they reach school. I wave good bye and say I will see them at lunch time.

Back home I pass other mums in the little village where we are perched up high, and they are all going back inside to do what we all do every day. If you were looking on at us you would probably see us all shaking out the duvets from windows and letting them air across the window sills. Today I will do a white wash of our lovely cotton sheets which are all embroidered along the top edge. Into the washing machine I have to put the soap powder of course along with an anti lime tablet and, a must is softener. Once finished I can pull in the line which stretches across the windows and hang the laundry on that or, for me I am very lucky to have a back garden in which I can put up the portable clothes horse. Whilst outside I take the opportunity to check on the tomato plants, courgettes and sweet little pears appearing on the tree. The one grape vine I have sits between the three olive trees. I am thinking ahead to October when I will pick those olives and put them with my father-in-law's olives and get them pressed. No time for daydreaming I have a house to clean and lunch to prepare. We always eat pasta at lunch time and today we are having a broth I made yesterday and will pop some tortellini into it. Remembering I need some focaccia, now is the time to go down the lane to the Panifico where the smell of all the breads is very tempting. Pauli,a who runs the shop, greets me with her toothless smile as she stands at a long bench making by hand her little pasta parcels.

11.30 and I have to get my skates on, run up to the car park, hop into the little Fiat and drive to St Xaviers to collect the kids. Today is one of the three short days they have at school , finishing at midday and as I drive up to the two storied solid concrete building I think to myself, wouldn't it be nice to see some grass around it as I see on TV shows in other countries. We trundle home arriving at the same time as Papa. Because he is in a government job he doesn’t go back to work today as it is Monday. I have some errands to do this afternoon so hubby can supervise the kid’s homework. The Supermaket is one place I need to go and as I cannot drive the car into the area as I am not a resident so I go on the scooter. Parking it is such a breeze. Putting the bag of groceries on the scooter with me I take off to get some paint. We have the unending task of painting the white plaster walls inside as the mould and mildew grows so quickly. This is my job and now I remember that I forgot to buy some more ‘Hippo’, the dehumidifier, to place in the wardrobes. The paint companies must sell tons of white, terracota, yellow and cream paint as of course we are only allowed to have our houses certain colours. One more stop to pick up some trousers from the drycleaners. But as it is only 3.20 I have to sit and wait as of course shops don't open again until 3.30. Back home I find the kids playing ball in the lane and hubby sitting in the little piazza playing cards with his mates. He will come home when they all realise their evening meal is on the table. Washing in, time to iron a little, make tomorrow morning's cake and a ragu for tomorrow's lunch and then I set about getting the meal. The fish had looked so good at the supermarket that I bought five which will cook nicely in the oven. Served up we each eat our little fish with bread to soak up the oil and tonight I have made a frittata to follow. Each of us has a glass of wine which comes from my father and again I daydream about September when I will be spending a day helping with the picking. Dinner over the kids, like any kids, want to use the computer and my nearest and dearest stays sitting at the table and is glued to the soccer. I wish I could have 5 minutes to phone a friend but must get the dishes cleaned up and kids into bed. The floors need another sweep and the marble tiles in the kitchen get so grubby that I need to wash them morning and night.

All that done I feel now that I deserve an espresso, maybe a chocolate put my feet up and watch my favourite programme - 'Desperate Housewives'.