Often, whilst working at the telaio (loom, see this post), I find myself daydreaming. And so it was that, weaving and dreaming, a memory came back to me, a story from my mother’s childhood that she used to tell us when we were kids. This story would bring tears to my eyes every time I heard it. Here it is, in my mother’s own words.

“Cielo e Mar” Photo CC by nachans.

Era l’estate del ’41 o ’42, durante la guerra. La mamma e il babbo erano in Africa, la nonnina era morta e noi quattro sorelle eravamo in collegio a Pesaro. Siccome non avevamo parenti vicini che ci potessero ospitare, durante le vacanze scolastiche restavamo dalle suore.

It was the summer of 1941 or 1942, during the war. My mum and my dad were in Africa, grandma was dead, and we four sisters were at a boarding school in Pesaro. During the school holidays, as we didn’t have any relatives nearby who could put us up, we used to stay with the nuns.

In estate, quando il collegio era normalmente vuoto, le suore ospitavano delle ragazze cieche per fare le vacanze marine. Io avevo fatto amicizia con alcune di loro, e le suore mi avevano dato il permesso di portarle fuori a fare una passeggiata.

In the summer, when the boarding school was normally empty, the nuns used to have some blind girls staying with them for a holiday by the sea. I had made friends with some of them, and the nuns had given me permission to take them out for a stroll.

Un giorno portai tre o quattro di queste ragazze a passeggiare sulla spiaggia. Era il tramonto, e io stavo facendo toccare loro delle conchiglie mentre gliele descrivevo, quando vidi un gruppetto di persone venire verso di noi. Davanti a loro c’era un signore di una certa età, ben vestito e dall’aria importante, a braccetto di una signora.

One day I took three or four of these girls for a walk along the beach. It was sunset, and I was getting them to touch some seashells as I described them, when I saw a small group of people coming towards us. At the front was a middle aged gentleman, well dressed and important-looking, with a lady on his arm.

“Conchiglie” Photo CC by labete.

Avvicinatosi, il signore mi chiese chi fossi e cosa stessi facendo, così gli raccontai la mia storia, dei miei genitori lontani, e gli spiegai che cercavo di descrivere alle cieche la spiaggia, il mare, le conchiglie. Il signore si presentò: era Beniamino Gigli, il famoso tenore, insieme ad alcuni suoi colleghi!

Coming closer to us, the gentleman asked me who I was and what I was doing, so I told him my story, about my parents who were far away, and explained that I was trying to describe the beach, the sea, and the shells to the blind girls. The gentleman introduced himself: he was Beniamino Gigli, the famous tenor, together with some of his colleagues!

Commosso dalla mia storia, Beniamino Gigli per ringraziarmi si mise a cantare. Le ragazze cieche applaudirono tutte felici e chiesero il bis. Gigli cantò un altro paio di arie, e poi fece un duetto con la soprano, ma purtroppo ora non mi ricordo più i nomi delle canzoni. L’unica che mi ricordo con sicurezza è ‘Cielo e Mar’.

Moved by my story, Beniamino Gigli began singing to thank me. The blind girls applauded happily and demanded an encore. Gigli sung another couple of arias, and then he did a duet with the soprano, but unfortunately I can’t remember the names of the songs anymore. The only one I can remember for sure is ‘Cielo e Mar‘.