As he had done throughout the meal, Adalio continued talking. We couldn’t have stopped him if we tried – which we certainly didn’t want to. He told us that at 94, his children felt he was too old to work and emphasized it was only their opinion, as he believed otherwise. He went along with them as they continued to work the vineyard and contribute to his support. Problem was Gina didn’t want him underfoot, he said while shrugging his shoulders, and holding out his hands as if to indicate who knew what women were thinking. So each morning, he walked the perimeter of the vineyard, occasionally chasing away pests that gnawed on the vines and sampled grapes to determine the stage of ripening. He made it a point to tell us that his children would never harvest grapes without first seeking his opinion as to whether they were ready. He mentioned that several neighbouring vineyards often called upon him for advice as well.
Adalio saw the Star of David around my neck and asked if I was Jewish. When I said I was, his eyes lit up and, pointing to his chest, said he was as well. He told us that Jews in Italy are the oldest continuous Jewish Community in Europe, with a record of Jews in Rome dating back to 161 BC when Jason ben Eleazar and Eupolemus ben Johanan were sent from Jerusalem to Rome as Judah Maccabee’s envoy. He thought he may have the names wrong, but shrugged and smiled, saying What can you expect from someone his age. I checked the names afterwards when we were back at the hotel, and he was exactly right. He mentioned that the Arch of Titus, located in the Roman Forum, has a famous carving on one of its columns showing Roman forces in a triumphant procession, with several carrying menorahs and other looted treasures, after destroying the Temple in Jerusalem. The Arch was such a powerful symbol that Italian Jews refused to walk through it for centuries, only starting to do so in 1948 when they paraded beneath it to celebrate the birth of Israel. He still refused to do so, feeling that it symbolized a tragedy that no one should ever forget not even today. His wife, however, implying that he had given up trying to understand her, had no such concern. She would walk under a waterfall, he said, if it would get her to her destination quicker. This was only one of the many instances confirming that Gina indeed had a mind of her own.
What was even worse, he continued, was what the Nazis had done with books. In their fanatic mania to collect books, fuelled by the desire to control people's lives, memories, and thoughts, and write their own version of history, purged Europe’s books by the millions and hauled them away in trucks and trains. Their goal was “Juden for schung ohne Juden“ – Jewish studies without Jews.
