Party on the veranda

The table is laiden with summer dishes: ceramic bowls filled with pasta salad, seasonal vegetables, Caprese, ham and melon, tuna and salmon sandwiches, fruit skewers and colourful smoothies. The tablecloth hasn’t been put on, because the transparent crystal top of the oval table is beautiful as it is, and it’s a perfect surface for this aperitif on the veranda. It was organized by Francesca, who decided to welcome the summer with a party with her old friends out on her veranda. She has recently bought a house and the veranda is really wide: it has an outdoor dining table, with a metal structure and a glass top. Six comfortable chairs. There are also a few small coffee tables, colourful plastic chairs, some poufs and a parasol to shelter guests from the sunlight.

Sander Table, with an outdoor lacquered metal structure, a crystal or anti-scratch crystal top; Freak chairs, with an outdoor lacquered metal structure and stuffed pillows made of outdoor fabrics. Bontempi Casa

It’s a mid-July Sunday, a warm day, but fortunately breezy. The garden is a green corner coloured with purple and blue spots – Francesca’s hydrangeas. Guests arrive just while she is arranging paper napkins and water jugs on the tall white coffee table. “How wonderful!” – is the reaction of everyone coming to the veranda. “We just need some music” – and this is Omar’s task, he is the guitarist friend, who has always been in charge of playing at group parties.

Ines outdoor chairs and Vincent coffee table, both made in lacquered metal structure for outdoors and alucompact top. Bontempi Casa

“Do you remember when in school …?”, “And that time we…”. The afternoon flies, among memories, unforgettable and moving anecdotes, that ones that only old friends can share. “Off pitch songs, shouting to the sky up there”, selfies and photos taken in groups, some board games, and there are those who fall asleep comfortably on the lawn. Giada and Serena have not yet gotten up from the stools with soft blue pillows, placed at the back of the veranda: private chats between girls, as everyone knows, require some time.

Stool with a metal frame for outdoors and stuffed pillows made of outdoor fabric. Bontempi Casa

Evening comes and Francesca can proudly turn on the row of lights she set up with Paolo’s help along the perimeter of the veranda. The magic of an outdoor space can immediately become more intimate. The group of friends, delighted by the scent of hydrangeas and rosé wine kept fresh, keep the party going till late. Some get lost in summer readings, sitting on the poufs, others gather around the coffee table, where a portable stereo has been placed. While the lights illuminate the veranda, an elegant space, enriched by impeccable outdoor furnishing accessories. Even if the real protagonist of this story is friendship, lived in all its light-heartedness and to the rhythm of the summer.

Pattern pouf and magazine rack, made of lacquered metal for outdoors. Bontempi Casa