I have gotten the itch to write about the Lunigiana. I should be there in a week or so. I’m excited.
Today let’s talk about water. The water in my village that comes out of the tap fa schifo, (is disgusting) sometimes.
Last year at a dinner with my neighbors, someone mentioned the town water. Cell phones came out. Videos started playing. The air was full of the sound of water running in basins.
All the videos showed the ugly brown water coming out of the taps. Yes, everyone had a video of how the water runs sometimes. Except us.
So what do they do? They complain to the authorities. I do nothing, on account of my poor Italian. All of us get the same results.
So how do you get good, clear, tasty water for drinking, washing your clothes or dishes—or yourself? The answer is over there to the right, in the pila.
Spring water feeds the pila. It runs and runs—and never brown, as far as I know.
We don’t have to buy mineral water, the water here is fine. Well, except that it lacks the bubbles that we like.
Yes, older folks still use the pila for communal washing. It’s near the church, so when there’s something food related going on, as there often is, the pila can be used to rinse things off.
You might think of this as primative, but’s not a bad fall-back position—especially on the odd occasion when your water runs the color of tobacco juice.