“Ting-a-ling” the bells ring…the Relais del Maro has reopened its doors!

It is eight o’clock in the morning of a somewhat different 15th June and the bells of our church, here in Borgomaro, ring calmly. The grand reopening scheduled for the 2020 season was long in coming: nonetheless, we opened the doors of the Relais with great enthusiasm!

Of course, as you may imagine the already slow life of our town has been put to the test. In Borgomaro, as the good rural people we are, every year we await the arrival of spring with joy and hope: the fields bloom, the hills turn green, the long-awaited period of town festivals begins and finally…finally the Relais reopens! This time we knew it was going to be different.

Despite all this, can I tell you something? Unlike in the city, where silence and emptiness can be a scary echo, here in the countryside the rumble of the flowing river, the cockcrow and the laughter of the children in the square are the same as always.
Can we really say that something has changed? Yes, our smile will most often remain hidden by a mask. Yet it as well will be the same as always. And isn’t that what really matters?

Isn’t that amazing in the first place that the hens continued to lay eggs, the artichokes were born, as usual, the earth froze, then the rain came, that the sun always peeks east, the bed of the river has dried up to be filled again, that life has continued before our eyes, unaware? On behalf of those who live in the countryside, I can tell you that it was surprising to see how, despite mankind and all that derives from it, the earth has continued its indifferent course.