Going down memory lane

(Cover Photo: Paolo and Maria Laura Pandolfini with little Francesco 1961)

What better way to celebrate someone than by telling something about them?
This is a fact for everybody, it is especially true for those who are no longer here with us...

I begin by telling you not one, but two particular facts: our father - Paolo Pandolfini - was born on Christmas Day (Christmas 1920) and passed away on All Souls' Day (2nd November 1998), and already in itself, they are quite exceptional facts, but please don't be sad, the things I’m going to write below are to make you smile a little, just like they make my siblings and I smile too.

The many boxes stored at our parents' house over the years are full of photos, papers and documents, sometimes you come across 'pearls' like the one below: a birthday card written to dad by a friend "a few years ago" , a friend who had moved from Prato to Cantù, in Lombardy.

Christmas '62
New Year '63

Christmas and New Years are approaching. Even though I'm a thousand miles away. I’m thinking of you together with your family and remembering your birthday. The romantic memories make us who we are, We think about Prato, Florence's daughter, of friends who are now a year older, to the good Paolone (“Big Paolo”), with thick eyelashes. From Cantu, a northern city, us 4, and all with our hearts in our hands, we wish you a merry Christmas, a prosperous and beautiful New Year and affectionate, even from a far distance, our hugs will reach you.

But the note continues with an even more beautiful lyric (I'll transcribe it exactly as it is in the note):

Florentine exiles who came away from Prato, having become Canturini, under the Lombardy sky, with the arrogant panettone that is always in front of us we miss the brutti buoni biscuits and the red Chianti wine. Florentine exiles we don't have many demands, but we dream of the biscuits that only a Pratese can make. In regions so distant, under the Lombardy sky, of your Mantovana cakes we feel nostalgia These Milanese desserts are cinnamon water compared to those, from Prato, that produces “Mattonella” Long live the King of Biscuits Paul I Pandolfini!

Kisses, hugs Happy birthday and best wishes, Marcello Vera Paola Roberta

Isn't it beautiful? Unfortunately, the sender's surname is not written and to date I have not found any other letters with the same handwriting.

 Now, I know this sounds crazy… but my siblings and I really wish we could find this family again!
Maybe send a gift of our products that they appreciated so much. Who knows if someone who reads this will be able to help us… If so, write to us at info@antoniomattei.it

Letizia Pandolfini