A Gen-Del Futr’spatch from Italy, Post-SARS-CoV-θ: "We Made It Through!"

Dateline June 16, 2080 – Father’s Day

Dear great-great grandfather,

I am writing this to you (or it is meant to seem like writing) because when we learned we could travel in time, or rather we could go back in time, not forward, or rather we could send things back in time, not ourselves (yet), this seemed like a good time send this communiquést.

First, Happy Father’s Day, for without you, I wouldn’t be here. Secondly, thanks to the advances that have been made in the last 60 years, we’ve been able to finally get past COVID-79 and hopefully a few years of breathing space.


Little did we know how you and your living generations got past 19. It must have felt a little like what your great-grandfather, my 5th great grandfather, was experiencing. It moved fast in 1918, faster in 2020. In 2060, the year I was born, there was a global anomaly, and some of us were born with immunities, which scientists in Antarctica discovered came from less than 1% of our ancestor’s DNA. I guess I have to also thank Assuntino, along with you and everyone who passed along the immunity (I should send him a “letter” too). I’m sorry you didn’t live to see this, but now the miracle of time travel allows me to send you back some good news.

I am living in Truscana, in a small village called Libbiano. We generate most of our power, still, from the hydro electric activity here which is so strong. But we also have gotten completely off of petro-dependency. And even with seasonal heat spikes, we have adapted. And so have the vines. In fact, it seems we have a small retro-climate, which allows for both Nebbiolo and Sangiovese to thrive in and around our locality. We have become one of the most important wine producing areas for Italy, especially since the horrible Strombolian episodes of 2029-32. Etna wines are but a memory, as are wines from Campania, Lucania (yes, we went back to the old name) and Calabria.

And while central Tuscany can still make good enough wines, the Golden Age of Chianti and Brunello are but memories lingering in cellars.

Piedmont, too. The 2nd 21C pandemic wiped out so many vineyards in the Langhe, and the temperature shift created a virus that scientists didn’t have time to address, so intent they were on trying to grapple with the human coronavirus. Again, many of what we think about Barolo and Barbaresco are now from wine vaults. That era has ended.

But we made it through! And our little region is thriving. The geothermal area was truly a “sleeping beauty,” and it shielded us from the maladies of both the North and the South. The Italian population has altered, and we’re much more diverse than when you or Assuntino knew Italy. We now speak a version of English we call Linglesiano. That you can thank the American computer industry, for killing our language. But seeing as we sit in a place once made famous by Dante, the understanding is that language is like steam, and sometimes it can be very useful, and sometimes it can be very elusive.

I have about 250 words left so I musn’t waste them.

I am the benefactrix of all of you who came before me. We are living in a world that was brought to its knees, made to relinquish to the collective good all that had been purloined to the few for whom the pursuit of personal liberty (and materialistic gain) drove many Italians into the volcano, much like our ancestor Empedocles, although for different reasons.

My generation, Δ, is ready and able to treat this wonderful planet, Terra, with the respect which it deserves. And to the people, all of them, as well. Not just the rich. Not just the white, not just the adults. All people. As you used to write in 2020 – Every. Single. One.

We made it, dear great grandfather, even if some of you were more part of the problem than the solution. And we hope, by sending this back to you, that you will understand that your hope, your good will, your desire to open the world up to everybody, will grow. And we know it will, because here we are, back in the Garden. Paradise wasn’t waiting for all of us. Many died. Many suffered. Over many years. But we are here, we made it. We made it!

Love to you and everyone around you. Mother Akna is safe. I wish you well.

Assuntina Scaev-Alora

P.S. We are working on sending you back a bottle of our wine. Should be about to do this in less than a year. Don’t go anywhere!

written and photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

wine blog +  Italian wine blog + Italy W