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I first met Carlo Mancini in 1990 - my first visit to Pastrengo, Verona. He and other local ringers and village people were so welcoming and generous with wine and food. This hospitality was repeated on numerous other visits since then. We always left Pastrengo with a few bottles of local wine. One year Carlo gave me two champagne style bottles, no labels or indication of content. We raffled these amongst my coach party plus other bottles and gifts from our tour. Chris Pickford (or Mo Awkti) and I were the lucky winners. When we got home, we discovered that it was Carlo’s home made Grappa! Carlo put up with me bringing English ringers on my tours or practising prior to events in Verona with Eles Belfontani on many occasions. He loved to hear well struck Grandsire Doubles, so I tried to make a point of putting on six experienced ringers at some point during our visits. He also loved it if we rang Veronese system with some of his ringers, sometimes 3 English and 3 Italian. I and many other ringers will miss him immensely, particularly his normal filling loads of plastic cups with what he referred to as coffee, which was actually red wine. Rest in peace Carlo. Stephen Pettman. (Image: Stephen D Pettman)