Love in the venetian province by Pierantonio Foltran

Author:Pierantonio Foltran
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788869494017
Publisher: Mnamon Editore
Published: 2019-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Fabrizio and Matilde (1)

At twenty to ten the next morning, Fabrizio was at Matilde’s door. When the bell rang, Matilde was standing barefoot in front of the bathroom mirror, hairbrush in mid-air. She looked at herself one last time, smiled at her reflection, and, wearing jeans and a soft white sweater, went to open the door.

- Hey Fabrizio, come in. Would you like some coffee?

- Oh, no thanks, I’ve already had breakfast.

- Me too. Great, I’ll just get my jacket and then we can go.

She peeked into the girls’ room before going out: the two girls were awake but still under the covers.

- I’m leaving. Make sure you have breakfast and clean up after yourselves.

In the hallway she put on her shoes, slipped on her jacket and called out: - Here I am, ready!

When she was standing in front of Fabrizio, he smiled at her and zipped up her jacket. - It’s still cold outside!

They took his car and within a few minutes they were driving out of Conegliano and towards San Salvatore Castle in Susegana. They parked in the lot at the bottom of the hill and took the road that climbed it, leading to the entrance of the castle.

The first part of the road was steep and winding. Medieval walls lined both sides of it, and on the left stood a row of centuries-old trees. They started off at a quick pace, but after a few minutes they were forced to slow down. Matilde sat on the wall to catch her breath and Fabrizio joined her.

From their elevated point of view they could see the surrounding towns, the railroad, the Piave river. All around was the beautiful countryside: plowed fields with their dark, rich soil, vineyards as far as the eye could see and, right below them, a big olive grove that reached all the way to the castle walls.

As they feasted their eyes on this glorious landscape, the sun came out from behind the clouds, shining its warm rays on them.

Matilde, still sitting on the low wall, beckoned to Fabrizio:

- Come here, let me tell you something about the castle.

She continued: - To this day, it still belongs to the Collalto family, of Longobard descent, who moved here from Treviso in the 12th century thus founding the San Salvatore manor. At the end of the Middle Ages it was one of the largest in northern Italy. Since the Collalto family kept close ties with Venice, this place attracted painters, writers, artists. When the small chapel was erected, it was decorated with frescoes by Pordenone, one of the greatest painters of the area. And that’s not all: the rooms of the castle are filled with artwork by great masters like Cima da Conegliano.

In the 1600s Santa Croce church was built and after that, Count Odoardo erected a new palace, bringing the compound to its maximum splendor.

Unfortunately, World War I was fought on the Piave river and the castle was heavily bombarded. At the end of the conflict, the palace was gutted and the walls and the hamlet were terribly damaged.

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