While in Italy last August, I was able to meet with two special friends (Claudia and Roberta) who lived in Canberra in early 2000 teaching Italian at the ANU (position sponsored by the Italian Government).

As Roberta lives in Naples and Claudia in Brescia, we coordinated a get-together at Monte Isola, the biggest of the three islands on the Lake Iseo.  I should point out that Monte Isola was selected as one of the top three European destinations for 2019.   https://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/european-best-destinations-2019/

Monte Isola is well known for the manufacturing of nets for fishing, agriculture, sport etc…The nets are exported all over the world and used for international sport events such as soccer, tennis, volleyball and basketball.  With a small olive grove out of Canberra, we couldn’t do without our own custom-made Monte Isola nets.  They regularly come out of their boxes early May when it’s time to harvest the olives.

Back to our trio.  It was a pretty hot day and after a good walk in the beautiful surroundings, it was time to look for a cooler spot to have lunch.   Quite a few options to choose from: “What about this trattoria?”; “Let’s check out the menu of this place”; ‘Shall we stop here?” –  but we kept walking until we reached the perfect spot:  green grass, big umbrellas, tables and chairs by the lake.    Excitement was short-lived as the area was reserved for bar customers so no meals were served.  “Che peccato!”  (What a pity!).  Meals were served on the veranda so we were allocated a table there.  As we moved towards the table, Roberta spotted a vacant one on the opposite and more private side of the veranda and asked if we could have that table instead, followed by a  “Certamente!”   We took our seats and as I turned my head to the left, I noticed a brass plaque on the post, titled ‘The Australian Table’.

An Aussie table just for us?

A simple coincidence or were we magnetically drawn to the Australian table?

Too excited to think about whom, when or why, the phone camera was clicking away to capture the moment for posterity.

Francesca Foppoli