Thinking about a short piece describing my street house by house, today I went down Borgo and made a list of all the houses and its inhabitants. It stretches from the loggia on the lower square, just under the town walls, to the so-called Gothic gate on the bottom. Looking from the square, there are fifty-two houses on the right side of the street, and fifty-three on the left. Well, this is not exactly true. Two of them to the left across the street from the loggia are only sheds. They used to be shops. Also, there is one empty lot on the right side of the street, as well as four on the left. The five missing houses are completely gone by now. All told, there are ninety-eight houses in Borgo. Only eighteen of them are permanently occupied. Of all the others, five are empty, three are being refurbished, and all the others are used only from time to time, usually during the summer months. I counted thirty people who visit regularly, but there might be a few more. Now, of those living permanently in my street, there are exactly sixty adults and sixteen children. Of the adults, fourteen are elderly. And Borgo is the second most important street in the historic core of Motovun! Before Gradiziol, it used to be the main access to the town gate. At some point the area around Borgo got its own wall, as well. One day soon I should make such a list for Gradiziol, as well. The picture will not be much prettier, I bet.

Addendum I (January 5, 2007)

Few people in Motovun are surprised by my findings. Although the precision of my count does have its effect, seventy-six people strikes everyone as about the right number. However, many of the people I have talked to think that Gradiziol is in an even worse shape than I think. A proper count is thus warranted. But the main issue everyone takes up is how many people used to live in the hundred-odd houses on Borgo—say, a hundred years ago. The lowest estimate so far is four people per house on the average. The highest is seven. That is, the estimates range between roughly six and ten times the present number. Wow! That is much worse than the plague ever got.

Addendum II (January 26, 2007)

Having put together a spreadsheet with all the inhabitants of the old town, today I printed it out and brought it to Klaudio’s around noon. Several people helped me with the count, but Sandra Caligari was the most helpful among them. As a teacher of many years, she knows Motovun well. Although the final count of all the permanent residents will need to be checked with Dragan Vivoda, who has been working for the municipal office for several decades, I have a feeling it will not change by much. To begin with, there are eighty-nine adults and fifteen children in Gradiziol, or one-hundred and four people all together. And there are two-hundred and sixty-one adults and forty-five children in the old town. All told, that is three-hundred and six people, almost fifty people less than the usual guess. Now, the story goes that Motovun used to have two-thousand and five-hundred inhabitants in its heyday. That is more than eight times the present population. Eat your heart out, plague!

Addendum III (January 29, 2007)

I just spent a bit less than an hour in Dragan Vivoda’s office. He was most helpful. As I expected, the final count differs little from the previous one. Now there are three adults and one child more in my spreadsheet than before the meeting. And that is that. So, there are three-hundred and ten people who permanently live in the old town. But there is one piece of good news that everyone mentions the last few days: there will be one more child among us in a few months. One recently married woman is pregnant. The happy couple lives on Borgo, too. Soon we will beat Gradiziol by as many as five children. Hooray!