Pensione Belletini 1973

This was shot through the wooden-shuttered window of our room at Pensione Belletine, which was run by two sisters, spinsters, Le Signiore Belletini. The mosquitos came in through the slats in the shutters, making it hard to sleep at night. We found a small plastic electrical gadget which burned a kind of incense stick, and that solved the mosquito problem. Pretty amazing, actually, considering the difficulty in controlling mosquitos in this age of West Nile Virus.

At night bats, lit by the lights of the Ponte Vechhio, rose squealing above the Arno and disappeared into the darkness like small rockets. We could hear them from our room and knew they were on our side, having their evening meal of mosquitos.