no Bellotto

After walking around the cemetery and taking a picture of every Bellotto and Antoniol marker there was, I walked back into town. I wanted to find some old folks and ask them if they knew of a Bellotto family still in town.

I went into the local grocer and asked her to make me a panino made from regional products. I got a very satisfying salami and cheese sandwich. I told her about my quest and asked if she knew any Bellotto. She said she couldn't think of any, but to ask the older residents. She stood outside the store with me for a while waiting to corner someone, but the streets were empty. Then some people appeared down the way and she told me to go talk to them.

I kept walking until I saw the handyman I had seen earlier that morning working on a car. He was fixing some woman's window. I figured I'd sit down and eat my sandwich and wait for him to come out. He seemed as good a person as any to ask about my ancestors.

Eventually I mustered up the courage to talk to an old woman at her window. I asked her if she knew a Bellotto family in town and she said she couldn't think of any. I thanked her and went on my way.

Toward the other edge of the town, near where the bus picks up, there was an even older lady outside. I decided to ask her if she knew any Bellotto. She said there used to be a woman with that maiden name who lived up the hill but that she had died years ago. She said Zorzoi is only about 200 people and it's shrinking; everyone is dying and there aren't many children being born. She told me to go find Catina down the road because she wrote everything down and she'd remember. She took me by the arm and walked with my about halfway to Catina's house. I couldn't quite understand where she was telling me to go. I walked around and looked around, but I didn't have the courage to knock on any doors.

I walked back toward the edge of town and my new friend was still outside, talking with a neighbor. She asked if I had found anything. I said no. She told her friend about my quest and they both said to go up the hill and knock on the door and see if the daughter of the old Bellotto woman knew anything. They said they kind of remembered a Bellotto who was killed in the war, and I took out my crude family tree and tried to explain that Romano's brother was killed in WWI.

At some point the little old lady looked at her watch and ran off - maybe she had something on the stove. Her friend encouraged me to go up and talk to the woman with the cane (or the dog).

I went up the hill and looked around. I rang the first doorbell I found and a rude woman looked out her window and told me she knew nothing and couldn't help. I don't know if she was the right person, or just a housekeeper or something, but I scurried back down the hill and walked out of Zorzoi.