In Abbateggio, eggs symbolised fertility. The villagers offered Maria so many eggs that she didn't know what to do with them: they ate three for lunch and three for dinner every day, and she even sent a caseful to her mother-in-law in Rome, but there were still plenty left over.

A woman called Filomena was assigned to help Maria around the house, cleaning and going to fetch water from the well. 'Sell the eggs,' Filomena said,

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but Maria felt she could hardly dispose of such kindness in this way.

'Give them to my mother who will sell them,' Filomana said, 'then you can buy a pig with the earnings. That way when you have a baby he will not lack food' It seemed like a good idea, but Maria did not fancy keeping a pig on her balcony. A deal was done, and Filomena's mother kept the pig at her home, in exchange for half of it when the time came to slaughter it. It was fed on scraps from the doctor's table, and extra offerings which could not be consumed.

The fertility rites worked, and in May, a month after her wedding, Maria became pregnant. In November the pig was slaughtered, and and plenty of salames and prosciuttos were hung in Maria's kitchen for curing.

When my brother was born in February, there was plenty of food for a party for the whole village, and lots left over.