#86: Polizia e Libertá

Ciao Nonni,

Hope you are well!

We've been enjoying a second summer of sorts here in Lucca for the last few weeks. October has really been quite beautiful, with only a handful of the very rainy, miserable and grey days that it is usually known for.

We've been able to enjoy plenty of bike riding, playground sessions and general time in the sun, which has been much appreciated by all. Particularly Dave, who was very excited to be able to keep the shorts in the outfit rotation for an extra few weeks.

Speaking of, David left on Sunday morning to head back to Australia. And with his exit came the rain. Even Italy is sad to see him go, it seems. 

I had a very entertaining moment relating to his departure though...

David's flight left from Florence early on Sunday morning. Due to the size of his luggage, and the relative compactness of our car, we borrowed a much bigger vehicle belonging to one of our very generous friends here.

The car in question is parked in a garage on one of Lucca's busiest streets in the centre. Obviously a garage in the centre of town is an enviable thing, but one of the drawbacks is that people will often pull up in front of it, with or without realising that it is a passo carrabile (aka a registered driveway, and an official tow away zone). 

Knowing this, I decided to go into town the night before to collect the car. Being blocked in at 5am on a Sunday morning before a flight seemed like something worth avoiding.

Of course I arrived to find a car parked across the driveway. I stood for a while and waited. Most of the time it is someone who realises it is a driveway, and being cheeky they take their chances knowing that they will be returning soon. No one came to claim it after about half an hour.

So then I went into the restaurant next door and asked, but it didn't belong to anyone in there either.

Finally I had to go ahead and call the police. This in itself was a process, where I was transferred four times, and had to explain the issue each time. Finally I made it through to the municipal office in Lucca, who told me that they would be there soon...

It was only about 20 minutes before two officers arrived, and proceeded to assess the situation. They were friendly, but reserved. After about ten minutes, the male officer came over and explained the situation to me. They couldn't contact the owner, as they weren't answering their registered phone number. Being a Saturday night, a tow truck would take hours.

So, he said, he'd calculated that it would be possible for me to reverse out of the garage, turn onto the footpath, and then drive 100m along that to the next gap in parked cars. But it would be tight.

It seemed to be a test. How badly did I want this car out? And was I a scared foreigner, or would I rise to this very Italian challenge?

Of course - I said - let's give it a go! While I had been waiting for them to arrive, I'd already assessed the possibility of escaping in this way and had calculated that the car would fit down the footpath. The primary challenge would be to actually just get it out of the garage, which is obviously oriented perpendicular to the path with almost no room for turning.

The female officer blocked the footpath, while the other guy guided me out. In the four wheel drive (which suddenly felt like the size of a semi-trailer) we executed about a 30-point turn. In this time he was dragging tables out of the way from the neighbouring restaurant, and moving bins and other obstacles, all while shouting instructions in Italian. Then they walked me down the path.

Being a busy street, we had an audience. Most of my nerves came from the huge group of about 20 Italian youths who found the entire thing highly entertaining. 

Idiot foreign blonde woman in giant car gets stuck on narrow Italian street! 

I just knew that is what they were all hoping for. The headline basically wrote itself. Luckily, this was not my fate. 

When I finally made it to the actual street, cheers erupted. The police officer shouted "LIBERTÁ!" and raised his arms in victory.

I thanked them both profusely and drove away, grinning at how these types of interactions are almost unavoidable in this country. 

The other thing we're experiencing at the moment in Lucca is the annual set up process for the famous Lucca Comics and Games Festival. What this means for local residents is that the town is taken over in the weeks leading up to the five-day-long event with giant tents and marquees everywhere. Literally every square metre of piazza or other open space now has a tent on it. 

The kids love watching the workers setting them up, as they use all sorts of equipment like cherry pickers, scissor lifts, cranes and other construction vehicles. 

It is quite an impressive feat of organisation, to be fair. 

The crowds will descend from this Wednesday through until Sunday night, during which time all the schools will be closed. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the kids, but we will come up with something. Most of the attendees to the festival wear the most incredible costumes, so I'm hoping that these will provide a decent amount of entertainment!

All my love and hugs,

Kate