According to my pocket Italian / English dictionary, the definition for Ferragosto is:-
Ferragosto takes place in Italy anywhere between the 1st and the 31th of August, plumbers, electricians, butchers and anybody else that you need on a day to day basis or may need in a crisis, leave town and either head to the mountains or the seaside for 1 to 31 days. It is not uncommon for towns and villages to become temporary ghost towns.
Last year on the 17th of August our boiler decided to go into meltdown. Mrs Sensible contacted our landlord and asked if she could organise a plumber. Ten minutes later, the landlady phoned back and told us the plumber was on holiday until the 28th of August, she added is Pecora Nera any good with boilers.
Mrs S asked me if I knew anything about boilers, I said, I understood they blow up if you don’t know what you are doing and poke around inside them. Mrs S then broke the news to me that we would be taking cold showers for the rest of the month; unless I knew how to fix the boiler. So armed with a screwdriver a large hammer and wearing some overalls I went to have a look at our boiler.
I stuck one finger in one ear and holding my screwdriver at arms length I poked and played with things I really didn’t have a clue about. After 30 minutes of cursing the boiler and the plumber who was sat on some beach drinking pina colada I gave up. Mrs S phoned the landlady and said I had failed miserably and was there any other plumbers in Italy? The landlady said she would send her husband. It was at this point that I decided I needed to be somewhere else, maybe at my favorite bar which I had calculated would be outside the blast range or maybe better still on a flight to England.
The landlady’s husband turned up with his own screwdriver and an even bigger hammer than the one I was holding. He poked about inside the boiler, he hit delicate bits of pipe with his hammer and explained to me what he thought was wrong with the boiler. I didn’t understand a word he was saying, not only because I don’t understand Italian but by this time I was stood with fingers in both of my ears just in case the boiler decided to go boom.
And then miraculously, the boiler hissed, farted and started working. We decided to celebrate by drinking a glass or two of grappa.
So if your boiler breaks down, or your cooker starts smoking during August drop me a line and I will send you the landlady’s husband.
I have been informed that our crazy group of expats bloggers (COSI Group), are having a Google Hangout Q&A session at 13:00 EST, 19:00 in Italy on Sunday the 3rd of August. I haven’t a clue how to do this but I will try to be there with a glass of wine in my hand.
Please go to my COSI page and follow the links to other bloggers from COSI who are uploading their thoughts on Ferragosto
- COSI: Ferragosto! Pirates, Family, And Eating Until You Explode – Surviving in Italy
- Ferragosto in Rome – Rick’s Rome
- Ferragosto link coming soon – Girl in Florence
- Ferragosto link coming soon – The Florence Diaries
- Ferragosto link – Unwilling Expat
- Married to Italys thoughts on Ferragosto
Great post!! You summed up the entire Ferragosto frustration with one perfect example!
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It is the usual Italian madness
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I read an article in the Telegraph yesterday about this. Apparently, the English are now doing the same and trotting off to the Old Continent or Barbados for the month of August. Must say, it has its attractions – unless you work in tourism during the period, of course!
Nice overalls. Aren’t those what Italians wear when the mercury dips below 20c? Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
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I wish I had the money to go away for the whole of August….. I hope we have a cold winter this year, just to kill of the mosquitoes, they are killing me this year
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Too bad you don’t have the workaways there now. They could have palm frond fans to wave to keep the mosquitoes away from you.
Of course Mrs. S may not have gone away and left you alone with them for long.
You need another cat to keep you company (and to torment you ) while she is away. I have a big black one here that I could probably box up and ship.
On second thought, he would be sorely missed by all of us who have been feeding him for years.
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We had a mild winter and a very wet summer so the mosquitoes are breading fast and eating everyone. Thanks for the offer of a cat but I think I will get a big daft dog
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You couldn’t get away with that here – so many regulations and certifications (which equal eye watering bills) are necessary. God forbid a non registered plumber should dare to tinker with the boiler – the warranty is null and void…are you off anywhere for the entire month of August?
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I wish I was, Mrs Sensible has gone to Sicily and left me home alone. At the moment I am deciding which flavour crisps to have for my dinner
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my dear Pecora Nera–I have decided that I desperately need some clarification. You are a relatively young chap are you not? Perhaps what we refer to here in the States as able bodied? You keep mentioning workaways—past and present, and somehow I believe they will be there in the future. At first I thought, I supposed these workaways to be perhaps some sort of exchange student. Students from the US and UK who were in Italy to study and would work perhaps during holiday in order to earn some spending money by helping with various chores around ones house/ farm even to assisting with babysitting (as in your case of poor Scooby Do) . . .but then I noticed these workaways of yours are all women— appearing to be young pretty woman might I add. Such hires here in the US usually refer to a similar expression of “working girls”—as in women of the night—capiche??
Now tell me my little blackened sheep—what exactly is your explanation of a workaway. . .? eh???
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I think you should go and look at the workaway site to understand the concept properly. Donna would be offended if she thought you had called her a woman of the night. We have hosted around 10 workaways including 2 guys. Thank you for calling me young… in the morning when I look in the mirror I sometimes feel very old
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Please!!!! no offense to the workways–but know that it is a term not familiar here and your images are not exactly of work, but of good times indeed 🙂
and to be honest, I have decided that I should probably be a workaway–taking me from my drudgeaway days here to some much needed and missed time in Italy—and I do believe you are considerably younger than myself–you are therefore young 🙂 and I am but young at heart—
apologies to any and all workaways–chalk it up to a language barrier and cultural terminology—cheers from cookie
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i like the combo of fingers in ears, and dilly dallying, and banging of tools and how it somehow all starts working again in the end.
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I don’t know how he fixed it, I kept expecting it to go BOOOM
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Great post! 🙂
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🙂 Thanks
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Y W! Have a great weekend! 🙂
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Thanks I will, I need to invite myself to someone’s house for dinner or it is a packet of crisps and a beer again
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🙂
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Okay, I was just visiting that Workaway site and it has me wishing I was 40 years younger!
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Why 40 years younger? You just need to be young at heart
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I also need to be physically able to do heavy garden work….the one I really liked was a 28 year old nice looking man who showed a picture of his black cat on his motorcycle….oh, to be 25 again….I’d be on the next plane!
And it should really help me improve my Italian….nothing I could use in public of course. Devil woman that I aspire to be.
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At our workaway you only need to be physically able to chill, drink wine, laugh a lot and help a little ish
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Ha ha! Exactly the same thing in Spain! This is why I decided to leave this year, too. If anything conks out… I just don’t want to be there.
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I am scared to touch anything in case it breaks!!! Where did you go to for August?
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“Home”. Germany.
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A hiss and a fart are always a healthy sign 🙂
AV
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😉
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I’d love to go on a ferragosto myself, and leave others to their own devices until I return! Glad you had your landlady’s husband!
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He was a bit of a hero. I have no idea how he fixed it, because I was ready to run or throw myself on the floor at the first sign of a possible explosion:-P
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Ah, ferragosta. Now I know why the restaurant we tramped all round Venice looking for in August a few years ago, because of a recommendation by friends, was shut. It seemed odd to be shut at the height of the tourist season!
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This is Italy, reason and common sense don’t play a large part of life here. The country is in financial meltdown but we are closed for 1 month
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In Venice one of the shops I wanted to visit closed for at least two weeks over Christmas. How dare they?
Wait, it’s their home….who cares if a tourist wants to visit and possibly buy something. And how dare your boiler break down in August….couldn’t it have waited till September?
Hope your mosies aren’t carrying any strange diseases.
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The mozzies love me. They don’t bother Mrs S too much, but I look like I have a bad case of the measles combined with a little chickenpox.:-(
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I’m gutted its Ferragosto as my favourite little coffee & cake bar has closed for the entire month!! No more cakes and croissants!! :’o(
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Oh no!! I don’t understand how they can all close at the same time. But this is Italy
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I know, and I do love Italy for all its funny quirks so I’ll just have to hold on till September!! Hope the webinar goes well tonight!
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At the moment I am concentrating on my glass of wine
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Good idea! Pity no video but answers are coming through so all is not lost!!
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You are watching???? Wow
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Well I’m reading rather than watching, but yes!! And have been following all on the COSI blog series too!! But not in a scary stalker way, just cos I love all things Italian!! ;o)
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Scary Stalkers are ok…..I am glad you are enjoying it
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;o) Good luck for the next one!
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We recently moved into an apartment with a broken oven. I’m hoping it’s fixed before Christmas cookie season.
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Gosh poor you. I remember, we moved into a house 2 week before Christmas. My wife bought a turkey ect and the oven was broken….. Have you ever tried to nuke (microwave) a turkey on Christmas day… A Christmas to remember, not
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Hi PN 😀 Wow. At least it’s fixed and you’ve had a drink ! I don’t have a boiler, just a solar panel with an electric element in the tank and I ain’t tinkering with that ! Spain should shut down in August, but with the recession villagers just have an away day by walking across the river bridge. Ralph 😀
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Hi Ralf,
The recession is here as well, but that has not stopped the Italians from closing up shop and disappearing for 2 to 3 weeks.
We will need a bridge here just to cross the garden….. we have had so much rain 😦
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Do people actually leave for 1-31 days? WOW!
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Yes it is complete madness here.
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Yes. They shut up shop and take a very long holiday. I have friends who have closed their flower shop for 3 weeks and not even gone away
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