I’ve been lying – unwittingly. I suggest on Ways With Words publicity that our courses in Italy are perfect for a peaceful, quiet holiday. Not true. It can’t be denied - Villa Pia is very noisy. We’ve been coming for about 15 years so I should know that but I always forget. When I sit in a deckchair in the courtyard in these hot autumn days I enjoy the sunshine; the symmetry of the knot garden; the views through the wisteria of hills, cypress trees, olive groves – but not silence. The four Italian chefs shout all the time. Maybe they are shouting instructions to each other as they bang about in the kitchen; maybe it's gossip. My Italian is not good enough to tell but I do know it is friendly and from the kitchen come pleasant cookery noises of chopping, stirring, simmering, pans clattering. At meal times there will be a vast collection of delicious, home-cooked dishes; nothing is spoilt by the noise. The cleaners here never sweep and mop in resentful silence but instead keep a flow of loud, cheerful conversation. Often we walk across their newly mopped tiles but no problem. They shout welcoming greetings. Soon one of the course members will decide to make a cappuccino. The beans are whizzed in the electric machine and ground to powder. Next the large plumbed-in coffee machine starts to splutter and pour. Upstairs shutters bang. Footsteps ring on the tiled floors. Another opens the fridge for a beer. Bottles clink. However the writers and painters can find quiet corners to think and create. Some disappear onto leafy terraces to look and record. Others go to swim and wonder at the Umbrian landscape. They swish gently up and down the pool. Many pour a glass of wine and read. It is possible to revel in quietness but most enjoy the familiar cacophony of Villa Pia. Yet the English are reserved. They whisper to each other. Even hoots of laughter are quiet hoots. Maybe that’s what we come to Villa Pia for. Besides the wine, food, heat, pink skies, fields of sunflowers and golden mornings we want the babble of Italian voices and the crashes of shutters and doors in this large tiled villa. I’ll stop promising peace and quiet. That would be lying. A mark after the first week for noisiness would be: Italians - 10 out of 10, English – 3 out of 10. If you would enjoy the noises of Villa Pia we shall be returning next September 22 for 2 weeks of Ways With Words courses on writing, art, book groups and ideas-based discussions. All details on website or by phoning the office and talking to Bryony: 01803 867373
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