The Battle of Pietramelara (cont 4)
By this time I knew I was in a Fellini movie. I should have been wearing a full suit and vest, with one of those
high-collared shirts and ascot, my face turning purple with rage as I shook my fist at the heavens. I almost lost
it laughing.
One of our hosts ran up to the gallery and said "Play something loud and end this!" So I roared my way through
Callaerts' Toccata in E minor, shut off the organ and came downstairs.
As we exited the church we saw an amazing tableau. On the big porch in front of the church were symmetrically
arranged a large group of young people, all in spectacular Medieval costumes. Front and center was a beautiful
young woman wearing a crown, obviously the queen of the festa, surrounded by boys holding pikes, halberds, axes and the
like. They stared at us in amazement like, "Where did you come from?" I wished all of this could have been
filmed. What a hoot!
The whole audience took us to a bar near the church where we drank grappa and ate sweets. They were all so nice,
and terribly apologetic. "No need," I said, "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."
As we drove back to Naples, we reached a sign demarcating the town borders. One of our hosts spoke his first
words of English: "Bye bye, Pietramelara!" --TW
