Italiano
Ciao Lucio
Daniele Cernilli and Lucio Tasca d’Almerita met over 40 years ago when they began a friendship based on reciprocal esteem and fellow feeling that has lasted for decades. It’s hard to believe that they will never see each other again.
The first time I met Lucio Tasca d’Almerita was during a tour of Regaleali organized on the sidelines of a conference of the Italian Sommeliers’ Association AIS, sometime around 1980. He met us wearing a very nice safari jacket that had lots of pockets. I made a quip about his look and he was amused and after that every time we’d see each other we’d make fun of each other in a friendly way which would always be followed by honest and hearty laughter.
I knew he had been an Olympic equestrian champion in a very difficult discipline and so I told him that, all things considered, if things didn’t go well with his wine he could always go back to the horses. He pointed out to me, underscoring my ignorance, that he was an equestrian and not a jockey. Touché.
When I would jokingly call him the Conte Tacchia d’Almerita, after the Roman folklore personality, he would show me his profile with his distinct nose and would say that, if anything, he was Conte Nasca (big nose) d’Almerita.
The reason why I am recalling all this is because we were true friends, our esteem and fellow feeling was reciprocal and we always enjoyed meeting up and joking around. The fact that we will no longer be able to do this makes me sad and it’s hard to accept that memories will be all that I’ll have left.
