International couple finds home in Markleeville

When Ruggero Gigli was growing up in Italy he used to dream that one day he would take the train to Russia then cross over to America on a raft. It turned out that on Jan. 7, 1959, when he was 26 years old, he was on the first Pan American flight from Rome to New York drinking free champagne.

Ruggero was born in 1932 in Borgo San Lorenzo, near Florence. When he was 8 years old the Americans started to bomb an important half-moon shaped railroad junction near his town. They never hit it; the Germans did that later on. Ruggero's brother was camping in the hills above the town with the partisans, Italians who were on the side of the allies. Ruggero used to go up there and help wash the dishes. During the war, Ruggero's father died of diabetes just before the Americans arrived with medicine.

At 11, Ruggero took a job at the local bakery to help support his extended family. Every day from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. he used to bake for no pay because he was learning. From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. he was paid for delivering the bread on a tricycle. When he was 15 he was moved to the Florence branch of the bakery and within two years he became head baker.

On Sundays, housewives were permitted to use the bakery ovens to cook their pigs and lambs and other large pieces of meat for the big meal of the week. Ruggero would inhale the savory aromas and ask how they had made these delectable dishes. Some of the women were reluctant to part with their secret family recipes but when Ruggero teased them saying "No recipes, no oven," they relented, probably omitting important details.

When Ruggero came to New York he wanted to divorce his wife in Italy from whom he was legally separated. A New York lawyer advised him to go and see a lawyer friend of his in Carson City. When the plane landed in Reno Ruggero beheld the Nevada landscape. He supposed that a great fire had swept through eradicating all signs of greenery.

As he was waiting for the bus to Carson City he tried his hand at the slot machines. Suddenly there was a big noise and red lights started to flash. He could only imagine he'd done something wrong and was horrified when a uniformed gentleman strode towards him.

As Ruggero spoke no English, the "policeman" beckoned him to follow to an office where he was presented with 150 silver dollars. After he'd been granted the divorce he returned to New York with a fondness for Lake Tahoe and an incipient appreciation for the desert that would draw him back in 1961.

In 1962 Ruggero met his future wife, Gina, at a party in Carson City. When the time arrived to ask Gina's father for his daughter's hand in marriage the older man said, in so many words, that to take on her boys, aged 11,12 and 15, would be nothing less than foolhardy. Ruggero took the risk and, throughout the subsequent years has nurtured a good relationship with his stepsons. He and his wife have one daughter, Dina-Marina, now an investigator in Italy.

In Carson City, Ruggero and Gina ran a spa, beauty salon (Ruggero trained as a hairdresser in New York) art gallery where Gina displayed her art and gave classes and a restaurant where they served lasagna every day. They moved to Markleeville welcoming the prospect of a less hectic life. Gina first visited Grover Hot Springs 75 years ago and remembers someone grabbing her hand to keep her from slipping on the pool's slimy bottom.

She came by her artistic talents honestly.

Her father, Frank Green, was the architect of several Reno casinos and restaurants including Harvey's first high rise, The Ponderosa, Vario's and Eugene's. When he was designing Harvey's the owners complained that he was using more steel and concrete than was necessary to which he replied that he wanted to be sure that when he was in heaven the casino would survive any catastrophe. In 1980, after Frank Green's death, the building withstood a bombing.

As you leave Markleeville on the Hot Springs Road glance over to the right and you will see a charming complex of buildings comprising Villa Gigli. Frank Green designed the house.

The cozy restaurant offers oudoor seating with a view of Raymond Peak. Go inside and admire Gina's beautifully displayed artwork: masks, Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, grape leaves, The Green Man, to name just a few of the themes.

We look forward to next season when art show openings and theme dinners will be held on the first Saturday of the month, May through October.