Last updated: October 2026
I wrote this the evening I first met Otello.
I’m all excited at the prospect of buying a cosy apartment in an idyllic Tuscan hill village from a wonderful 93-year-old Italian named Otello.
When I met him today at the apartment, I couldn’t help but feel sentimental towards him. He tugged so hard at my heartstrings that I came away crying. Even as I type this, tears are streaming down my face.
A family home since the 1950s
Otello has lived in the house since the 1950s. He grew up surrounded by family in the other quaint village homes that sit beside his. His family no longer live there, and their homes have since been sold on.
He and his sister split their home into two apartments. Otello and his wife now live in town, which makes it far easier to get by, so their apartment hasn’t been lived in for a good number of years.
Captured in Tunisia, married in the village church
With pride, Otello kindly showed me around his possessions while my geometra (surveyor) was busy measuring.
He spoke some English, which piqued my interest, because it’s unusual for his generation in these hills. So I asked him how he knew the language.
He told me that in 1943 he was captured in Tunisia while serving in the Second World War. He was taken to America as a prisoner and came home to Italy in 1945.
A year later, at 26, he married his wife Aida, then 21, in the local village church. Aida is now 85 and hasn’t been well, and that’s why the time has come to sell.
Seventy years of treasures
He pointed out the things he was leaving behind: old wooden wardrobes, drawers, marble-topped tables, chairs, glasses, 1950s vases, 1970s bowls and cups.
Antique sooty pots and pans hung from the ceiling by string on a hook, and he told me their history and stories as we went. There was pizza-making gear, and an axe that hung precariously above our heads, with only a bit of string to save us from the worst. There was even an Italian football annual published the year I was born.
He showed me a box full of bright white, thick bed linen, the kind you can’t easily find in your typical high-street store. As I looked through it, he asked if I’d mind him taking two sets for his home in town. Then he tucked them into a plastic carrier bag he’d brought along especially.
Some of his belongings are up to 70 years old… and they all come with the apartment.
The roasting set behind the cupboard
To show me he still had his strength, Otello helped me lift a heavy cupboard out of the way so I could take a better look at the fireplace.
Hiding behind a cover sat an antique roasting set. It had seen plenty of dinners in the past, but not the light of day for many years. It’s now mine. (The cobwebs and their inhabitants will have to go!)
A stranger’s gift
Today, this man showed immense sincerity and kindness, leaving his cherished possessions to a stranger: me. I feel humble and fortunate, yet deeply sad at the same time.
All those years of holding on to things, and then, in one fell swoop, he hands them all over to someone he doesn’t know. Thankfully, I got a warm feeling that he’s happy to walk away, taking only his fond memories with him.
He kept looking at his watch. I expect he was eager to get home and be at the side of his loving wife of nearly 70 years. Alas, my geometra had finished, and we parted.
The next time we meet will be at the notaio’s office to sign the contract, when I take possession of his cosy village apartment and his collectables.
I truly hope I do his family home justice as I make it mine, for my little girls to grow up in. There will be a shelf saved especially for Otello’s treasures.
The bells
It’s been an honour and a pleasure to meet one of Italy’s oldest heroes.
I salute you, Otello, as I take a sip of Remole Toscano, listening to the village church bells ringing in the distance: the very same bells that married you and Aida some 67 years ago. x
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Susan
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