Italy Schiavon --- Schiavon, Italy (AP) - Concluding observations are a perfect appetizer activity.

Caffè Centrale, a major obstacle to the Pope's favorite Veneto home town of Pietro Parolin, is filled with locals and journalists, waiting for the first sign of Wednesday's smoke.

A large TV screen shows images of chimneys on St. Peter's Square and the Sistine Church, where 133 cardinals voted for the pope, locals in the Veneto town of Schiavon, near Vikenza, in wineglass.

Giacomo Bonora said: "We are waiting and we are cheering him on."

Bonora said when Parolin returned to the town of 2,600, he asked to be called "Don Piero", a way for parish priests to solve Pietro using the Veneto dialect, rather than "Eminence" instead of "Excellent."

Parolin, 70, is a senior diplomat, who is Secretary of State Francis, essentially the Prime Minister of the Pope and the second place in the Pope.

Outside, a city worker stopped to show the parish sacristan pictures of Paloring, when the town celebrated his secretary of state 12 years ago. Everyone is hopeful, but officials have been instructed not to talk to the media before the election of the new pope.

Angelo Cisalto, a priest at the Parish Church of Santa Margarita in the town, is returning home to keep an eye on the smoke in the chimney.

If it is white, it is his job, and the church bells ring. Cisalto, 84, remembers Parolin when he was a child, and he was 14 years old in his junior year and was always pious. Cisarto recalls: “He used to dress up as an altar boy, at home, in his garage, he had a small altar.’’

Back at Caffè Centrale, customers ordered cold cutting boards as Cardinal's closed meetings dragged on for a long time in anticipation. The broadcast time of the TV reporter has passed, all night. Finally, the black smoke appeared.

“Tomorrow, we will do it again,” Bonara said.

Locals recall that Palorin often went to his mother before her death last summer. His father died at the age of 10 and entered the seminary near Vicenza at the age of 14. For some time, he was a parish priest in the foothills town of Schio and then joined the Vatican diplomatic legion.

Palorin was closely related to Francis' religious beliefs, but was more individual and diplomatic than the leadership style of the Argentine Jesuit he served, and he knew where the Catholic Church needed corrections. Many believe that he embodies Francis’ pastoral message while being more open to conservative views. Although his career has been spent in Italy, his work as a Vatican diplomat has seen him travel the world, giving him a global perspective.

If he is elected, he will return the Italians to the Pope after three consecutive outsiders: St. John Paul II (Poland), Pope Benedict XVI (Germany) and Francis (Argentina).