I Had A Dream | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

Ah… figs…red inside, dark on the outside, that sweet, round and comforting taste I remember so well. Around this time of the year, that sweet taste takes me far away in time, in the company of people who are no longer in this world.

My father and his friends got all the kids up early in the morning, prepared our breakfast, got us all dressed cozy and warm for the woods, and out we went to pick fresh figs. The life span of figs is very short, thus we went often to pick figs until they lasted. Hundreds of fig trees filled the vast land cultivated with olive trees, walnut trees, and other fruit trees. We got closer to the figs and embraced the tree first. It was fun and lovely, I felt the earth vibrating, my young friends told me they felt the same vibrations, so, I was not imagining.
The adults picked the figs up high in the tree, us kids harvested those close to us. In the morning, figs were very cold and had drops of dew on it. We grabbed the baskets, covered the bottom with the large fig leaves, and gently aligned the delicate figs.

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After we filled our baskets, we sat down on the grass, leaned on the fig tree, and started to peel the figs, cut cheese, added prosciutto slices, cracked almonds, and ate them until our heart was content. We lost our bearings for a few hours, we were in heaven. It was life’s greatest pleasure! We listened to the adults talking adults matters, it was fascinating, and kept eating in silence.

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We spent a few hours eating and drinking warm stuff until the sun started to get too warm for the figs.
We had to remember to take home at least a basket full per person, otherwise, our moms would have not let us in the house.

The tastiest fruit of Summer is also one of the agriculture erotism, I think! After the figs I ate in Puglia, I have never found a similar experience anywhere else.

I woke up, it was a dream, I was there, in Puglia, under our usual large fig tree with my father. Ciao.

Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Valentina Cirasola is a designer, author, TV producer, and a storyteller by nature. Stories told through shapes, lines, forms, and colors are very important to her design career to convey ideas that contribute to the making of a personalized home, reflecting the life’s experiences of people living there. As an author, she writes non-fictional books, about practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, travel, and cooking. Find her books on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.