Hi, I’m Fran and I assist Gretchen and Judith on Poggio Verde. I’ve been one of the voices of Poggio on Instagram, the Newsletter and sometimes also here on the blog since October. If you have booked a stay in Poggio Verde this year, it’s highly probable that you know me.

On top of being Assistant, I also happen to live in Nothern Italy.

My beloved country has been under the spotlight more than ever due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We at Poggio Verde want to add something to the news everyone has been reading about the Italian lockdown.

Being indoors for such a long time can get to you, but I am amazed by how Italians have been reacting positively to the lockdown. The internet was flooding with practical ideas on how to go shopping, how to get permission to walk the dog or go care for you grandparents and so forth.

But people have understood from the first the importance of a positive mindset to see it through. So we’ve been deluged online with ideas on how to stay positive, by reading, taking up yoga and listening to music. Still, I guess we all missed the feeling of doing something together physically.

Hence was born the biggest party Italy had ever seen.

And that’s how we ended up, from Milan to Naples, on our balconies singing our hearts out. People played the guitar or their tambourines, others took the opportunity to give us an amazing opera performance, and others just started to sing while hanging the laundry out.

It was meant to boost morale, but it didn’t just do that. We felt connected. We felt alive and happy to be here, safe and sound, still capable of appreciating music and company. If this is not silver lining, I don’t know what is.

For once we have a good reasons to be the “loud Italians” we are. Louder than the bad news and louder than sadness.

Gretchen and Fran having their daily meeting to stay in close to our Poggio Verde friends.