My best friend Eleonora

I was the kid that hid behind books. I remember one time, sitting in a corner with my huge glasses on, reading as always, when the teacher of a higher class came over and invited me to take books of his class, as he was sure I had read all those from my age group already. Suffice it to say I’ve never been the most sociable of the bunch and never had a lot of friends.

So, friendship was something I didn’t expect to find on our lonely hill in Italy. I had Nicolas and that was enough for me.

But, from the first time we met, I had a click with our real estate agent Eleonora, always with a radiant smile, very sweet …

Soon after moving here I was invited to her birthday party and when she married in 2010 there was no doubt I would be invited.

She lived in the center of Cairo Montenotte, one of the least touristic cities of Italy, and she always told me she enjoyed living so close to her workplace, shops, restaurants…

A few years later however, things changed. She separated and to keep her occupied I invited her to the ravioli festivities in Merana. She had a lot of childhood friends here, and I told Marco, one of them, Eleonora was coming. I should have known what would happen next, as his eyes shined like I’ve never seen before.

They soon became inseparable and … she moved to my village, Merana. 15 minutes away from her beloved city. But it wasn’t that bad as expected, she said, and the drive home became a moment to leave all the work stuff behind. Of course, living on the main road was better than having to do the extra minutes to drive up our hill.

And then the house on the hill next to ours came on the market … Guess who bought it and is enjoying life on the countryside now? 😀