GP says he's suffering from RSD, Religious Stress Disorder.  Nonno passed away yesterday and it's been non-stop since then.  There are two types of bureaucracy here, Church and State.  The non-practicing people such as ourselves would normally skip the church but with the older generation that is impossible.  It is as complicated to die here as it is to live.  Thank God, (no pun intended), we have a sense of humor.  There is a law that funerals and burials must be held within 3 days of death dating back from ancient pre-refrigerator times.  The funeral, therefore, is tomorrow.  This morning both the church and the government had to be notified and the services arranged.  I say services in plural because it begins tonight with The Rosary, tomorrow is The Funeral Mass, and according to GP another Mass said weekly well on into the future, (as in years).  This is how they keep priests employed.  Every year of course there will be the Anniversary of his Funeral Mass.  Then there are the Public Notifications, something that dates back to medieval times, where a poster is put up informing the public that a certain person has passed.  Though something called the telephone and internet has been invented, many people still use this ancient form of communication.  It's sort of like the town crier.  GP just left for The Rosary that fortunately somehow Grace and I have escaped, being pagans.  The one thing that surprises me is that there is no food involved.  There is no 5 hour dinner to attend, no wake, no coffee hour.  It seems so incongruous in this country where food is everything.   I'm making up for it by drinking a lovely bottle of Bonarda, to Nonno's life.  xxoo me