BocelliOnline

[Em]

Thats good to hear..Your hubby is very wise..hahaha..My gentleman says, "I just can't compete"..TRUE...hes wise too...I think if I had a choise,Andrea or him for "an interlude", I would definetly choose Andrea, ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION THERE!!
PS. if he would understand THAT, we might just have"a winner here" of the wisest man EVER
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What you truly believe of another, you awaken within them

[angel]

Alberto, is very handsome too! I have to say that he is much more handsome in person!

[Willma]

I think Alberto is such a nice person and that's the best word I can come up with - he's NICE - and because he's so nice, I thought I'd share a few of the details of our meeting so you can see just how nice he is. Last year, my husband and I were driving around Lucca and Siena when I spied LaSterza on the map. (Please don't ask me how I could have been so ignorant as to where I was - I just don't know.) Anyway, I suggested we try to find the "winery" because I heard you could buy some of that Bocelli wine. Well, first we found Lajatico and thought it was charming. I went into San Leonardo's then walked around the piazza. This was just a quiet place - no indication of Andrea anywhere. Then, we went back to the only parking lot and this big guy was jumping out of what looked like a dump truck. I turned to my husband and said My God! I think that's Alberto Bocelli! And he looked at me and said "Who's that!" Well, the dump truck drove off and so did we, heading down the hill to LaSterza. We started asking at a gas station across from the Bocelli tractor store for directions to the winery. They kept pointing, saying things like "casa" - three fingers - that way. Then we get off the paved road and went pumping down a gravel road passing so close to a typical Tuscan farm house that we could look through the window and see an old man sipping something at a kitchen table. I gave him direct eye contact - I realy had no choice. We turned around, heading back to the paved road and found this old man now standing on his stone stairs waiting for us. I rolled done the window and said "Bocelli vino". He held up one finger - said "casa" and pointed down the paved road. We followed his directions and pulled into what I now recognized as not a winery but the Bocelli home.

We pulled in behind some kind of building and there was that same big guy doing something dirty like mixing cement. (At this point I was having difficulty focusing my eyes.) He stood up smiling as I got out of the car. Then I stupidly said Who are you? ( When I write this down, it sounds really stupid but I just had to hear with my own ears that this was Alberto. He was laughing and said "Alberto!" Then I said "vino" and he motioned to us to follow. We went into his office and he made quite a show of pointing out this floor to ceiling mural of him and Andrea. We all stood before it in quiet admiration as if at a shrine. Then my husband said "Let's take a picture." and I told him quietly to knock it off because I felt that was an intrusive thing to do. My feeling then was to tell Alberto that he was also special since we were just gaping at his big brother and I said - in English - that I saw him on some videos and said - "You play the violin." I think he thought I said "I play the violin" because he started pounding his chest saying "Me too." This was all said quickly and we were all laughing. Then I asked him if he could sing - as a joke - and responded seriously saying "Yes, I sing a little too."

Then he started going through his desk drawers trying to find the key to the tiny little winery. He ran back out of the office and shouted up an exterior staircase to someone but got no response. So he came back in and finally found the key. We went into the winery - very small, all the bottles were covered with dust - a dark little place. We communicated by fingers that we wanted to buy four bottles and he opened a glassfront cabinet and took them out. Then he couldn't find the cardboard carriers and let out a big, happy shout when he did. (This guy is high on life!) Then he gets out this enormous bottle of honey - a foot and a half high - and turned to me and said "millefiori?" I told him I couldn't possibly take that bottle on the plane and asked him if he had anything smaller. He got out four smaller jars - from two different runs, one dark and light - and I said that was fine. Then he went to a desk, open the drawer and took out a little ziplock bag with some Euros and we made the deal. He carefully zipped the bag and returned it to the drawer.

Then we all walked out blinking into the bright sun and my husband said "Alberto, could I take a picture of you with my wife?" Then he said - laughing - and, strangely enough in perfect English - "Sure but look at me - I'm all dressed in black." I told him he looked fine - as if my assessment of his grooming was a criteria for taking a picture (I told you, this sounds pretty stupid.) Well, I got into that identical position as Lorna then I finally found out, after years of reading Victorian novels, just what a swoon is. I thought I was going to faint. He grabbed me tightly around the waist - this wasn't a token gesture - and pulled me to his side - maybe he thought I was going down. I could hardly focus my eyes. He was smiling. My husband snapped it and then said - one more time just in case it doesn't come out. And Alberto grabbed me again for the second time.

Well, I was so flustered, I just had to reach for the stuff Alberto was still carrying but he wouldn't let me have it - and as I said - he followed me to the car and handed me the stuff through the window and we said - thank you and goodbye and he went back to doing whatever he was doing right there in the yard.

Well, I just have to say I just can fully express how nice, warm and natural he was and how very ordinary this home was as well. I think there may have even been chickens behind the main house. It was totally accessable. We drove away amazed at our crazy good luck like the Griswolds do Tuscany or something. Alberto's picture is now on my dresser and even my husband loves to tell the story.

[Melodie]

Willma, THANK YOU for finally sharing that story!! What an experience...and what a memory to savor.

[sj]

Willma, What a charming story! You have some great memories there. Thanks for sharing them! sara

[Lorna]

Thanks Willma for posting your experience!!
I was going to ask you a few days ago if you would mind 'telling your story'' ...I loved reading it.
I would love to see your photo too but maybe it wasn't a digital camera?

I don't think what you said was stupid at all, it is very hard to think of what to say when suddenly you are face to face (and trying to keep your cool) with this man who is the brother of OFT :shock: and is looking so damn good!!!!!
Thanks again Willma :wink:
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Andrea is Life, the rest is mere detail

[sj]

Lorna, You look great in your photos (as does Tina in hers, by the way!)--Both of you ladies look like you kept your cool very well! I don't know how you managed! sara

[Tina]

Sj, thank you! I cant answer for Lorna, but believe me, i was SHAKING!! Looking cool was the last thing on my mind! LOL! Tina x
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La tua voce e come un dolce dolores nel mio cuore! Non c'e nessuno migliore di te!!

[Lorna]