Paolo

[Colin Davidson]

[Colin Davidson]

Paolo from Leonardo's Leather Works - Florence passed away about a year ago.

[Vicar]

That is sad news, he would not have been very old. No more details on how he died is there?

Several times I have retold a story about him and his little girl as she was at the time. I had taken a group into the shop where Paolo, Margaret, daughter and Paolo's dad were present. As we entered his daughter, who was about 4 at the time, was speaking in Italian to her grandfather. A short time later she had recognized were were speaking English and asked her dad in English who we were? Alternatively she spoke English and Italian depending on who she was speaking to.

Struggling even to speak English properly I asked Margaret how her daughter coped with both languages? Margaret said they decided to teach her both languages and if she ever became confused they would cut back to one. The little girl grew up knowing there were two words for anything. Wow! At 4 and she was very capable at both.

[Colin Davidson (Shirley)]

Vicar,
You can find all the information on his FaceBook site  " In Memory of Paolo Fortini ".  You can join the group.

[Vicar]

Here is a link for others who may wish to visit his testimonial Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118600918207761/

Others may see faces and names there they can relate to. I found one by the way of Brain Cossar. He travelled parallel with one of my overland trips. Brain worked for Contiki. Looking at his photo he too, like so many of us, has been grazing in a good paddock since I last saw him many years ago.

From the date the page was established I deduce Paolo died towards the end of 2010.