Happy new year from Italy.
Just arrived home 2.00 am smile from a very small celebration at a nearby friends house. His house is actually the old tower of Mandello that probably dates back to Roman times. It was already in need of restoration when it was mentioned in the earlist know document in about the 11th century. It has solid stone walls 2 metres thick! and was once surrounded by a water filled ditch and futher out other defensive walls and towers, and a moat,

First we had some cold meats, patè and smoked salmon, followed by, amongst other things, lentils (supposed to represent money for their round flat shape) and cotechino (a sort of big boiled sausage). These plus dried fruits, fruit, nuts, cheese to finish. All washed down with a reasonably restrained quatity of wine (walking distance from home wink ) and the obligatory bottle of champers at midnight.

yawn goodnight

Peter

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