Christmas in Italy is a dream for many but for me was a family affair I had to endure. Follow me!

Yesterday the equivalent of the peste bubbonica or the bubonic plague has finally court up with the impertinent collector, who despite being smashed down by Covid for the first time, today finds the energy to take us down memory lane with his family memories of Xmas at home back in Italy. Join a story that mixes humor with historical figures and the treacherous affair that was surviving a domineering mother and a stiff father that affectionally often called him coglione in private and not. In truth we were fortunate to have the family we had, and despite the inevitable ups and downs, by comparison ours is still unmatched. And yes, my sister still doesn’t know how to cook lol!
In this video we talk about family, food, wine, Xmas, the Pope, taxes, and living in style because nobody remember who Clement the VI but he was the master of his own vices (loved every single one).

David here and welcome back to the impertinent collector Christmas special well we’re going to pay homage or horor tribute if you want to a couple of historical figures the first one is somebody called guak a doctor and a surgeon and his most famous patient the Pope Clement the six

Who had the Good Fortune of having guided sh Lu being his personal physician when the Black plag broke up in Europe in 1345 ah and gu sh was in fact a Scholars with many years of experience in the best university of the time bologna padwa Paris

Monier and he had come to the conclusion that the plag that was swiping across Europe and then it turned up to killing two3 of the population was not caused by the Jews poisoning the wells it was not caused by the witches cursing Christianity he was not caused by an

Alignment of Jupiter Venus and Uranus no it was nothing more than a viral infection carried by rats butts pigs and Men hey sounds familiar and when he come to this conclusion he plays the pop in a big room with Cathedral ey ceiling in his Palace in isolation for two years

With two massive fireplace constantly burning and where people could only talk to the pop one at a time while having no symptoms for two or three days and standing no more than 15 to 20 M away from the pope himself and that’s how he survived and why all this is

Relevant but is relevant my dear friends because after years of living in an isolation not dissimilar to the one of Clement the six yesterday I succumbed to to covid-19 just at the doorstep of the Christmas festivities and so I had to swap this For this and as I withdraw from the participation of all the Christmas party where I’ve been invited in order to avoid the shame that would fall to the OST in declaring me Persona nonr unwanted guest I decided to use this opportunity when I feel sort of round down to share with

You some of the most cherish memories of my Christmas time in Italy I say cherish but in an ironic way because I still remember remember that period as a dreadful three days marathon where everything was just trying to survive what my mom had prepare for the occasion those three days were normally

Broken down as follow at Christmas Eve at my sister’s place where she would try to gain the favors of the most ungrateful and bitching audience Ming my mom my dad and myself with the nonexistent culinary skills in attempting to do some exotic dishes that God knows why she have decided to

Prepare for the first time on that special occasion then on Christmas morning at my parents place we had the opening of the gift my sister initially wanted the gift to be exchanged in the smaller venue of her place when there was just us the close family plus maybe one

Friend but just mainly us but my mom had schem to have the gift open instead in our family house in the morning as a way to Master’s muscles for the millions of activities that will still have to take place before the main guest would show up around 12:30 for what was like a

Lunch followed by like coffee and tea afternoon following by a dinner ah why God the memories and then on the 26 we would have the followup in what we called in Italian Santo Stefano where everybody who couldn’t come for Christmas and wasn’t invited could then join us in the afternoon for

Lunch in the afternoon of the 26th bringing their own leftovers and guess what as my mom truly was in the a days a culinary wizard they will bring the leftovers and hit our leftovers and none of us wanted to hit their leftovers we still wanted to eat my mom

Leftovers this affair started in September October when we have different delicacy order from different places so we’ll have the panon order from the best bakery in Milan we would have like tortellini order from the best daily in par then you could have prut coming straight from fre from sanani then you

Could also have from Pama you could have like katello you could have Mortadella you could have you could have like Kino you could have all sort of winter type of dishes all choreographed by my mom in a quite Rich table where we normally be like 11 or 12 we always invite

Another family that had two kids slightly younger than me and my sister and then normally we would have also few other people invited could be like the old Auntie you know that is not an auntie he like three or four generation down the Past who was left alone and so we would invite

Or some other people but the rules was that you could never be 1 people around the table and so if we reach 12 and somebody we have to invited at the last moment we have to hand down the 14 guests because we couldn’t have the 13 people sitting on the table of Christmas

Lunch a tradition that goes back to the Last Supper of Christ when the third disciples was Judas and it would have been nice in our table to find out oh are you saying I’m the one who’s going to betray you well we were all vipers yes and that venon attitude

Started at my sister dinner with gossiping of between me and my father trying to say like oh God you know I say like Dad you know try not to eat too much tonight at Christina’s dinner and he would reply oh don’t worry there is zero risk of that happening you

Know or my mom calling her a couple of week before every day oh make sure you prepare something simple you’re not a very good cook oh we really appreciate that you having this dinner every year but you know cooking is no really your for and so on a custom barrage that

Would culminate you know on the evening of the 24s and God knows why my sister kept inviting us but I remember that the end of every dinner as my mom would say oh thank you dear oh it was a good effort and we appreciate that my sister would

Swear that that would be the last year she would have Christmas with my parents and with the family my poor sister is still having my mom for dinner in two days two nights time and so that is the history of the family Christmas a quite a aair where

People would come people will leave people will drink will bring cheap wine and drink the expensive wine that my dad you know had gone to Great lands to buy straight from the cell in pedmont of the father of Luca Cordo de monteo for the people who don’t know the former

President of Ferrari his father had his own Vineyard and my dad used to buy from him and then we would have together with champagne we would have more traditional sparkling wine coming from Northern Italy mainly proo K and Spumante and they would always add at least a couple of bottle of

Ferrari the Italian Spumante made in the French champag method that for many was the only known champagne served in the top restaurant in Paris for people tired of drinking the usual the usual Mo or D of what else with C okay and that’s is the story and

I just want to end this video with a couple of quotes one from Clement the 6 himself o at the time of being declared the pope by the conclave he was already happily living in Paris in luxury and when he moved to Aon when the pope was

Residing at the time it was horrified to discover that the Palace of the Pope that you can still visit today but as things being remade by him was in a very poor State of Affair there was really nothing nothing there that will suit a pope and so what he did he immediately

On the first day started taxing all the churches all the monastery all the Abes across Europe to the point that the most powerful Bishops wrote a joint letter to him in a vain attempt to resist stating that no precedent precedes as ever tax the churches of Europe to which Clement the six

Replied my predecessor never fully understood what it means to be pop oh what an extraordinary Divine arrogance ah you have to love this guy and in fact he was very much loved so that when many years later he died a Chronicle of the time wrote Today France lost a fine

Gentlemen a patron to the art a supporter of the poor but no saint what a wonderful way to go no I don’t intend to go because I got covid and I intend to be back on champagne shortly but for now this is all have a Merry Merry Christmas as I will be by

Myself happily and for a short period of time until next time goodbye my friends long life happiness and if you must endure your family ciao