The owner: a short biography.

Massimo "Max" Melani was born in Florence August 5th, 1943.

After having spent his very normal childhood in the after-war Italy,   in 1963 lives for a few months in Germany, mostly in Frankfurt am Main, in order to improve his knowledge of the German language.

 Odd to say, since he used  to  work  with  Pan American, what  he really improved was the English language (with an American accent though). In 1964 travels throughout England and North Wales to settle temporarily down near Liverpool.
His buddy, Alberto Ranieri Antinori, is with him. They firstly met the year before in Germany and since then they became very good friends, both for temperament   and for  passion for music.   That kind of music whose sound,  right during those very  years,  was radically changing.
The first thing  they  bought 
as soon  as  they   landed  in  UK  was   an   old   "yellow limousine".         They both became   members  of  the famous "Cavern" in L'pool where   they  first  met  the Beatles.

After having  breathed the  Merseyside air of the 60's,  in 1965  they got back to Florence taking along with them that beat atmosphere... and an old large cave in a  16th  century  building  at  6,Via dei Conti became  a  cute  small  copy  of Liverpool's Cavern. Its name: Lady Elizabeth Club.

Alberto, with his skills in guitar playing, founded the group "La Setta" (believed to be the first ever r&b  Italian  group)  to play  steadily at the Lady Elizabeth Club,
where Massimo was spending most of his time. 
Unfortunately,  due  to  bureaucratic reasons, the Lady   Elizabeth's   life  was  too  short... what a shame...
In the meantime  the parents' "advices"  regarding studying and working   became insistently  heavy. Massimo eventually got his Accountancy Diploma and applies for a master in foreign languages at the University of Florence.

In January 1966, thanks to his experience  and to his knowledge of foreign languages,  he   starts working  as an assistant buyer with  the  Leather School  at  16,  Santa

 Croce Sq. in Florence. Two years later he marries Sandra and in 1970 they have their first son, Giacomo.
In 1975 he passes Government tests for a job with the  Tuscan  Region,  where  he remains   as  executive  accountant  for "Diritto allo Studio  Universitario"  until 

1997, when he voluntarily retires.
After moving to the new house on the hills of  Fiesole  and  the  birth  of  his second son, Giovanni, Massimo finds 
his interests mostly with,  in the order,

the Spider Rossa, competitive fishing, smoking pipe at the club, Fiorentina Soccer Team, gardening, culinary art.