Ellen and Salvatore

January, 1982

I was in a restaurant with my friends with my entire class of 22 students, with our professor, and we had just arrived in Rome. Siena, Italy would be our final destination. The waiter asked me friend "Would you like to go arrrround Rrrrome?" So later that night 3 of us got in an Alfa Romeo with the waiter and his friend. It was a squeeze in the car. We went up and down the 7 hills of Rome with our waiter Lino. We stopped at a bar, and there we met Salvatore, a cute Italian with red hair. His job was carabiniere, a special type of police officer. His eyes immediately were burning into me. Lino invited him to join us. Then the Alfa Romeo was REALLY crowded. We drove to St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, where the Pope usually gives his sermon on Sundays. Being that it was the middle of January at night, the 6 of us were the only ones in the large piazza. Salvatore and I went off in one direction, and we exchanged a few baci. So romantic! That night my 2 friends and I got in trouble with our professor who threatened to send us home because we got back a little late. Salvatore had asked what I was doing the next day. I said we were touring Rome with our professor. The next morning at 8am Salvatore was in front of my hotel. He started to walk with us, and the professor told me that he couldn't join us, so I said ciao. The next morning I got on the bus to go to Siena with my group. Someone said "I see that red headed guy from yesterday all the way at the other side of the piazza." It was a very large piazza. I ran on the bus and hid because I didn't want to get in trouble. My friends said he came close to the bus and was asking "Dov'e Ellen?" Where is Ellen. They said they didn't know. So, we went to Siena, but a few weeks later a few friends and I went back to Rome, and as I was shopping for shoes on Via Nazionale, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Salvatore! Holy cannoli! We didn't spend time together, but we exchanged addresses, and we corresponded a few times, but then he wrote me that he was being transferred somewhere because he was a carabiniere, and he couldn't tell me wbere he was going. We never spoke again. Ciao ciao Salvatore.

Roma, Lazio, Italia