great story. but as someone who spends a lot of time in italy i always wonder how the bastards manage to present themselves as a nation of partisans fighting on the allies side. i mean to say, from the spanish civil war onwards they’re all out for the main chance, cruel, nasty, smarmy people, and then in ww2 they acquire simultaneous reputations for machine gunning bailed-out pilots under canopy whilst generally fleeing prospect of combat, etc and we all seem happy to pretend they were always our friends. sorry for the rant. i’ll have a cappucino, per favore, giovanni. btw: spaniards are the genuine article. none of your prancing bella figuro bullshxx.

bill