A detour from Matera to Lieutenant: Rome!

During spring of 1946, dad and Uncle Stefan passed all requirements for officer training, they were now Lieutenants of the Polish Army. Their first assignment was to leave Matera and report to their respective bases back near Ancona.

Fortunately, they had a two week break before reporting for duty. Dad tried to talk Stefan into going with him to Rome, but Stefan had other plans. His fiancée Sonia, a young lady from Rome, was awaiting his return near his base. She lived in a rented house on the Sea with her sister, who also married a Polish soldier,

Like my father and uncle before me, I'll leave Matera with warm memories. I mostly stayed away from tourist areas, lived 4 days with new friends from the Sassi.: the local cafe owner and my neighbors. This elder gentleman lives across from where i stayed, and invited me in their shared cave storage area where he stores his wine. We shared generous offerings of moscato. The young man lives above where I stayed and was housing a couch surfer from the Ukraine. People don't have much but he invited me up and insisted I try his pasta with a cold Italian beer the night before I left.

And of course I have to leave my roomie Mimi behind. I'm not sure who's going to miss who more after I leave.

So good bye to this magical mystical city. My father received answers and enlightenment in Rome; that will be my next stop.