Yesterday was a turning point for me.  I went from a starry eyed little schoolboy to a …….. Nahh, not really…..scratch that thought.  Let’s just say that after our wonderful picnic lunch in Monte San Savino that was topped off with Gelato and a cookie from the Gelateria in the background of the picnic photos, we were ready to start moseying back home to our villa in Pergine Valdarno.  We climb into the BMW and try to find our way home over a road we haven’t traveled yet.  Everything is going well when Doug spots this little village up on a hill off to the right.  It was called San Pancrazio.  I remarked at the time about the word crazy in the name.  Little did I know how true that was.  Doug proceeds to pull the Beemer up into the town at 90 kph scattering the locals, and then parks right in the town square.  My first clue that something was not quite right was after I opened my car door to get out, no one else in the car moved.  “Are you guys coming?” I asked.  No one responded…..it was like they were staring straight ahead into nothingness.  I don’t understand.  Okay, I told the blank faces with the faraway looks, I’ll be right back.

I walk up and around a corner trying to get a picture of the church with the steeple but no good shot is available.  I return by the car where I take a picture of the main square and town hall.  when I post the photos, you’ll be able to see in the foreground of that photo our car which holds Doug, Barb and Lynda.  Note the zombie-like looks on their faces.  I walk over and snap a shot of the valley far below this hilltop perch.  I take one more shot and then notice the townspeople milling about our car.  As I walk back to our car….the crowd parts and allows me to climb in.  No words are spoken.  Like a robot, Silently Doug mechanically starts the car and begins to back out to return down the road we came.  The trance like state that Doug, Barb and Lynda seem to be in is something out of the movie, Children of the Damned.  They said nothing of what happened when I was gone.  I begin to wonder if the townspeople sprinkled some magic dust on them or something while milling about our car.  Lower down the road, as we drive past two old folks sitting out in their field (I now think they must have been the lookouts)  I ask Doug to stop so that I can get a photo of the church tower.  He silently stops the car and I again get out and walk back up the road without a word from the other occupants.  It is not a great shot of the tower but in the lower left of the photo I can see the farmer and his wife sitting out in their field, so I snap it anyway.  As soon as I did, they jump to their feet and begin shouting at me in in Italian in rapid fire fashion and waving their arms.  Translation of the actual words they were saying was beyond me but I did think at the time, Hmmmmm, and as Jemma says, “That’s not good!”

I race back to the car and jump in.  It’s like the trance has been broken.  Doug, Barb and Lynda are all rapidly chattering at once.  Looking like the wheel man from the movie Drive, Doug now chooses to tell me that from his watching the Discovery Channel or the History Channel or whatever the hell other channel he watches, he’s learned that these townspeople think when people snap their photos, they are ACTUALLY stealing their souls.  Uhhhhh, hello?  Do you think that might have been important information to share with me BEFORE I got out and did what I did?  In any event, we made it home without problem and then returned in the dark to Civitella for dinner.  I’ll admit that while eating dinner, I kept expecting to see swarms of villagers carrying torches and pitchforks to start milling about outside the restaurant door.  Actually, however a very nice and enjoyable Tuscan meal was had by all and we returned safely home afterwards.