La Località Italiana (The Italian Village) – Part 4

 Read more from Kay here. / Read part three here.

In the meantime Lizzy was busy getting ready for the opening night at her little art gallery she called ‘Veduta', meaning ‘landscape'. Lizzy poured over Italian art books to find the right name and was excited by her choice.

She had invited some of the locals she had got to know and word soon got around about the young woman painter who had moved into the village and opened her own gallery. The villagers were very curious.

The evening went splendidly. Champagne flowed and the guests raved over the food the sisters had created for the event.

During the evening a dashing young man named Tito made himself known to Lizzy. He was charming. The compliments flowed and soon it became apparent he was keen to purchase a number of Lizzy's paintings. Lizzy was taken aback; she had sold a couple of other small paintings, Sergio bought one and one of the local wine makers bought the other, but this was her biggest order by far.

"I want to put your paintings in my gallery in Milano," said Tito, "they are quite outstanding and I can see great potential for your work mia cara…"

"Why, thank you…" replied Lizzy, feeling quite flattered by the whole encounter with this suave young man.

"We will sort out all the details tomorrow, buona notte" Tito said as he kissed Lizzy's hand on his way out.

Lizzy walked over to Jemma and Miles still looking flushed.

"Did you see what just happened?" she said, still trying to gather her wits.

"Well I saw you talking to a cute Italian Lizzy. Did he ask you out or something?" giggled Jemma quizzingly.

"No, no don't be silly, but he did buy six of my paintings to put in a gallery in Milan. I honestly can't believe it!" replied Lizzy.

"That's wonderful Liz, you deserve it" replied Miles as he gave Lizzy a pat on the arm.

Lizzy smiled and wandered off muttering "wow, I need another drink…"

Jemma and Miles laughed.

The next day Lizzy arrived early at the gallery and not long after opening the doors Tito arrived.

"Here we go Lizzy, here is your cheque. You can clear the funds first and then have them shipped to my gallery" he said as he sat down at her desk.

"Thank you, I will do that", replied Lizzy, still trying to contain her excitement.

"We must go out to dinner this evening before I leave tomorrow," said Tito, "I want to get to know this very talented artist more…".

"That would be lovely Tito", replied Lizzy, blushing a little.

After the gallery closed at four-thirty Lizzy rushed home to get herself ready. She tried on many different outfits before deciding what to wear. In the end she chose a pretty blue fitted dress that showed off all her curves. Lizzy had bought the dress while the girls were in Lucca.

As soon as she arrived at the restaurant she could see Tito sitting at a table on the balcony; the view over the valley was breath-taking. He smiled a brilliant smile when he saw her.

"I have taken the liberty and ordered a bottle of vino bianco, I hope you like It" he said, standing up as Lizzy took her chair.

"Thank you, what a beautiful view…" replied Lizzy.

"Not as lovely a view as the one in front of me. You look beautiful" said Tito, reaching out for Lizzy's hand.

Lizzy pulled her hand away, a little embarrassed by the attention.

The evening went well and Lizzy began to relax. Tito made polite conversation and was very attentive. After the delightful meal he walked Lizzy to her front gate as he said goodnight he kissed her on the hand again.

"I will be back soon Lizzy. I will come and see you and I hope you have some more paintings for me to buy" he told her as he walked off into the night.

Jemma was still up and was sitting in the lounge with Miles having a glass of wine when Lizzy walked in.

"Well?" asked Jemma.

"Well…I had a nice time that's all there is to it, nothing more", answered Lizzy as she bade them goodnight.

Jemma gave Miles a look and shrugged her shoulders.

A week after the dinner with Tito, Lizzy got the art works ready to send. The cheque had cleared and her bank balance looked a lot rosier. She would now be able to make some more changes to the gallery as well as buy some works from other local artists.

(Continued here)

By Kay Rayner