(Sung to the dying strains of an American classic, with apologies to all the members of the Western Writers of America, not to mention without sincere regard and my abiding respect for a fine Italian tradition. I just couldn’t resist!)

As we walked about in the streets of Spoleto
As we walked out in Spoleto on multiple days,
We spied an old hill town, all draped in white linen
And every other bolt of fabric a clothier would buy.

“I see by your outfit, that you are a tourist,”
These words they did say as we slowly passed by.
“Come stand here beside me and hear my sad story,
For I’m a-fishin’ for business or else I will die.”

“Oh once to the Market I used to go dashing,
Oh once to the Market I used to go gay.
First down to Rosie’s, and then to the art house,
Took a big hit to the hip, and now here I lay.”

“Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
Someone please pay the piper as you carry me along;
Take me to the green valley, there try to restore me,
For I’m an old cowboy and I know we’ve done wrong.”

You should have heard the lady with the dog, finding herself in the middle of a petish accident on the sidewalk past Piazza Garibaldi, share with us her outrage.

& you should have seen the recognition in her eye when, a stanza of contempt later, she saw our sympathetic yet deer-like looks of modest comprehension.

(For those who know how to draw the lineaments of that familiar visage, insert a fair approximation of our selfie in the spacious confines of this blog post below.)

Everywhere we look: Saldi Saldi Saldi. So far Rebecca has played her part quite well: acquistare acquistare acquistare. Even Grazia had to laugh at all the bags.

My time will come. But for now I am going back to my Italian lessons, applying myself this time to a Reader’s Digest version of All the Books of Summer 2018.

The top line: 1 for 3 (with a walk online to check my Latinate best guesses)
Next up: 2 for 2 at the start (before the idioms starting throwing curve balls)
On the verso: I breeze past the White House, knowing what the meaning of is is.
On the recto: faith and science go together like “Spahn & Sain & Pray for Rain.” I am most intrigued, however, by the way fede goes from “wedding ring” to “faith” in the course of my transcription of the individual words into Google Translate.