We headed off in a heavy rainstorm to visit (second) cousin Marco and his family. They live in a fairly remote village in the Garfagnana, a rocky, mountainous region north of Lucca in the Italian Alps. They moved there several years ago in search of a simpler lifestyle, while at the same time committing to a new business in workplace psychology.
In conversation, the subject of websites came up: they need simple one, they say, but have been quoted in excess of 1,500 euros to have one created. (Perhaps to my regret) I convinced them that I could do the same for them in a few hours -- so they will be coming over next Wednesday to let me have a try!
I think it might be fair to say that Italy is about in the same place vis-a-vis the internet that the U.S. was about 8-10 years ago. Very few people have broadband in their homes, and mostly only young people are "hip" to creating websites or blogs.
There was a nice lunch at their rustica perched high on the hillside in the small village of Pescaglia, and afterwards we went to the Chestnut-Tree Museum nearby, which seemed to have been opened just for our visit. We were given the full tour by one of the proprietors, in a Italianspiel which was a little fast for us but from which we understood the great majority.
After another session back at the house, with coffee, we were off down the hill in the dark and rain, and in our fatigue we relied on our TomTom GPS to guide us; after a bit we realized that it was taking us on a "direct" route through country lanes, and we had to stop and persuade it to take us back on major roads.
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