Wednesday is gradually becoming a black letter day for residents and visitors to Barga Vecchia who would like to have a coffee at some point during the day. In the height of the summer season, it is not really a problem finding a place to sit down and eat or enjoy a drink but during the winter months it can get slightly more difficult.
November now seem to be the worst month of the year for services as many places shut for a well earned rest after the long summer season.
The bar outside the main gates run by Paolo Gas, which is famous being, more or less always open and the last to close, is shut for their annual holidays.
Inside the walls, the Altana is shut on a Wednesday, so too inexplicably just further down the road, is the Gelateria, so no coffee there either.
Piazza Angelio, which has been a hive of activity right through the summer from Easter onwards, is now almost deserted as Riccardo from L’Osteria has shut up shop and gone off to holiday in sunnier climes* He will be back the first week in December.
In Piazza Salvo Salvi the situation is no better with Capretz shut as Beppe and Laura take a well earned rest apparently on a cruise ship around the Mediterranean sea and the unofficial cultural centre of Barga – Aristo’s is shut on a Wednesday.
Further in to Barga Vecchia we find the Verdeluna, the restaurant specialising in food from Puglia, Sicily but not today as they too are shut till December.
All in all, Wednesday in November is a disaster.
Once upon a time all the bars had staggered days off so that a situation like this could be avoided …. so what happened ?
Maybe things will get easier for the coffee drinkers as the winter progresses and we move into the new year … hmm, maybe not, anybody remember last year ?
*sunnier climes ? he was last seen in a bar in Cardiff in Wales before leaving to tour England by car all the way up to Scotland … anybody any idea what the weather is like in Wales this week ?
Così chi d’estate si prodiga a denunciare il troppo trambusto ora gode. Oltretutto il caffè mantiene svegli e “qui c’è gente che vol dormì! Fatela fenita!!”