Our hearts are broken now because Renata is gone. She and Stefano drove away Monday morning leaving nothing but silence and too much emptiness in her place.

In the end, she allowed a going-away party at the regular Sunday night Giro di Pizza. It was very moving and she gave a little speech saying that we are a family. Alice organized a present for her and we all went in together -- a lovely necklace with a heart charm that is the key to unlock the necklace. She and Stefano seemed sweet together and loving and I thought about how hard it will be for him in Poland, where he doesn't know the language, etc. It is a situation I can empathize with. But it helps to be deeply in love with the person you are married to.

I cried a lot, of course. Ugo was very kind. "Ah," he said, "artists always feel things so deeply." In all my years of being a big crybaby, it is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Other people cried, too -- including Nonno. Renata hugged him at the end and spoke softly to him and then he left very quickly and Valerio, seeing it all, hurried out after Nonno to check on him and see that he would be okay.

There is some talk now about going to visit her -- all of us together on the train with a big hamper of Italian food for the journey. Maybe next summer.