All this in a gentlemanlike manner, but, I would say, not as pleasant as I might have hoped. In the end it all worked out for the best, but we still remember, and in later years we also discussed this with Stefano himself, the feeling of slight uneasiness we felt upon leaving his house.
Well, Stefano was indeed special, an extremely gentle and reserved person – I read Deirdre McCloskey describing him as “aristocratic” in her moving obituary – and yet at the same time a very harsh and demanding one. Once you got to know him, you discovered a genuine treasure. The problem was that this process was not quick, nor easy.