Meeting Mr. Berenson on his walks (in Italian)

Translation

AP - I spoke to him on many occasions. Every day – nearly every day – Berenson took a walk with Miss Mariano. They made the driver – old Parry – drive them to the road that leads to the Papiniana. At roughly half way along the road there’s an iron gate, and there was a well-kept path there… that Berenson would walk along…it was well- kept …and it led down to the villino. And shortly before midday…every day they would take this little walk. As they walked down to the villino, we would often be there working in the fields, and they would stop to talk to us. They seemed to be very interested in our work, our situation, if things were going well or not so well. Yes, they were very interested.

LP – And did Berenson speak good Italian?

AP –Oh yes, very good… very good. Sometimes (laughs), I was the youngest, and he would say to me: “You’ll soon have to do your military service, right?” “Yes”. “And are you happy about that?” “No!” (laughs again)

LP – and did you do your military service?

AP – No, no I didn’t. Because there was the rule at the time regarding four brothers, I was the fourth and the fourth brother benefited from this law, so I didn’t end up doing it.

AB – And when you replied to Berenson that you weren’t keen on military service, did he say something, or..?

AP – No, he just began to laugh and said “I understand! I understand”. But this type of meeting happened often, because we were usually at work in that area, and they would walk past very often, almost every day, and he would stop to talk to us. It was a real treat…he stopped to talk.