My Electrician Has a Nicer Purse than Me

So the electrician did actually show up to hang the chandelier. A day late. Not too bad considering our painter showed up seven months late. The electrician (a guy, about 35ish) had on grey skinny jeans and a Louis Vuitton messenger bag. He had his electrical tools in it. I’m not kidding. I like to think I can spot a fake and this looked authentic to me. It looked like this.

The electrician came with the owner of the antique store where we bought the chandelier which I thought was impressive. They really go out of their way to provide great service here. . . even if it takes a while.

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Unfortunately, I still have no chandelier. Turns out there is no electricity “No fili qui!” hidden behind the rosette on the ceiling. It was just a rosette covering a hole. Here is where it gets complicated. Our house is 500 years old the walls are made of concrete and the beam is make of solid wood. Not so easy to rewire (even if you have electrical tools in a fabulous bag).

They said they could run wire on top of the beam but I didn’t have enough Italian words to ask the right questions. I wanted to say that I don’t want it to look like a college apartment with wires everywhere but all I could say was “non lo so. Che bello?” (I don’t know. What beautiful?”) To which they just shrugged and said “si.”

And so, I called my Italian neighbor who came over to help me figure it all out. She in turn called her husband who is an artist and an architect and so would understand what would look right. So now there are five people standing in the living room, looking perplexed and staring at the ceiling.

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Turns out they are going to hang it with a very small wire covered in satin that matches the paint. They do it all the time in these ancient homes. So it actually will be bello. The whole thing took over an hour with four people speaking Italian (think very loud, lots of hand motions and pats on the backs) and me smiling and nodding and understanding very little.

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When it was all finished I said, I'm sorry I thought it would be simple and they all laughed and my neighbor said “Een Eetaly, nothing eees seemple.” Story of my life.