Indiana Jones--Italian style!

Today was another sunny day in Italy. So Joey and Drew decided to go the Aqualandia water park near Venice which boasts of having the tallest water slide in the world. Although it took about 2 1/2 hours by bus to get there, they had a great time and said it was well worth it.
The rest of us headed to Oderzo to meet with family and tour their city. We all gathered at the home of Valentina and Alberto Camilletti where we had some refreshments including the delicious cookies called "Desert Roses" that were made by Valentina. She gave us the recipe so we can bring a little bit of Italy back home with us. She also gave each of us a lovely bouquet of lavender from her garden as well as a darling container of bonbons.
We got back in our cars guided by Louise who was taking us to the Aida Wine shop that was run by her son Enrico Cammareri. There we had a wine tasting of Il Faggeto Prosecco wine which was very good. He also talked about the different wines in his shop and other specialty items there. From there we were graciously treated to lovely lunch by Antoinnette Casonato and family. We started with a lovely lasagna made with a bechamel and ragu sauce followed by a course of spareribs (which were just grilled with salt and rosemary--delicioso!!), sausage, chicken and pork chop with salad and grilled vegatables. Then we ended the meal with gelato covered with coffee. No one was going hungry today!!!
Our interpreters for the day were Valentina's daughter Donatella and her husband Alessandro Cappellotto, a darling couple. After lunch, they took us to the Museo Archeologic Oderzo where we were introduced to our guide for the day--Francesco, our Italian Indian Jones. He is an archeological expert and with great passion explained the meaning of many of the artifacts in the museum. Then he took us to see actual excavations in the city. The most fascinating was at a restaurant called Gellius located at Calle Pretoria 6 in Oderzo. This particular restaurant owner decided to allow the excavation of an historical landmark to be preserved at the site he was placing his restaurant and built the restaurant around the remaining ruins which showed evidence of medieval and roman artifacts. It was very impressive.
Then we went to the town square for a brief refreshment and continued our tour of Roman ruins that have been excavated and preserved below apartment buildings and underneath other buildings around the town. We ended the night at the pizzeria ristorante where we had lunch. We all gathered with Valentina and Alberto, Donatella and Alessandro and their children Laura, Giovanni and Damiano, Anachiara and Luca and their daughter Emma and Louise and Julius with their son Enrico. We started with two types of bruschetta, chips and wine followed by all of us ordering individual pizzas. The generosity of these families continued when we were each given a beautiful photograph taken by Alberto of the town square with the city flag flying and a beautiful scarf from Louise. Molto Grazie!!! We ended the evening with small frozen drink of a lemon sorbet that is mixed with vodka.
As we end this time with our Italian families, we realize how blessed and fortunate we are. They have been more than generous with their time, talents and treasures sharing with us their love and pride in their families and this beautiful country they call home. Con molta gratitudine e amore per la nostra famiglia italiana!!

Too much Wine-ing for me!!!

Today we awoke to another bright sunny Italian sky and had another great breakfast at our hotel. Then 16 of us boarded a bus with our tour guide Rebecca for our wine tasting tour of the wine region of Treviso with its making of Prosecco wine, the number one manufacturer of this type of wine in the world. The first vineyard we visited was the Villa Sandi. It was an absolutely gorgeous restored villa with accompanying vineyards and production facility. We toured the stored bottles in the tunnels below the villa that were orginally excavated under the home so the Italian soldiers during the war could safely move underground to the river without being shot by the Germans. In fact, it was a double decker system of tunnels which had been filled in with dirt and then unearthed and completely restored to aide in this company's wine production. We had lunch in the quaint historic town of Conegliano where I had the experience of going to a public toilet. Let me tell you I now know the reason why Italian women wear dresses. You have to squat and bend down to urinate over a hole in the ground. How gross!!!!

Then cousin Nancy and I hiked up to the Castellona (an old castle) for a beautiful view of the area and then the bus took our group to our second wine stop at the Case Bianche (white houses). There we were able to see the entire automated production of prosecco wine. It was fascinating to realize that there was very little manual labor except for actual picking of the grapes and the wine master's daily and constant evaluations of the wine from the autoclaves (big giant cooled stainless steel vats).

Tonight we stayed at the hotel and walked into town to the best pizzeria place I have ever been to named Mydo at Via Venezia 74 in Scorze. There was every different kind of pizza imaginable. Drew had one with everything on it which included a raw egg on top. Joey had a large vienna sausage pizza , and my pizza was called Romantica which was tomatoes, mozzarella, asperagus, gorgonzola and zucchini. Nancy was not brave and just had a plain cheese pizza.

"O Sole Mio"

Joey and Drew finally made it to our hotel at midnight. So today we awoke early to a wonderful breakfast included with our room charge. The rest of the family went to Treviso for a tour and lunch. The boys and I decided to go to Venice for a walking tour and gondola ride. They were going to have to do laundry first, but the hotel graciously agreed to do that task for them. So off we went on a bus from Scorze to Venice which took about 45 minutes. Again, a gorgeous sunny day in Italy. We found our way to the Rialto Bridge which one of only three walking bridges to connect us to the Piazza San Marco. On the way, we bought fruit at from a produce stand, some murano glass from a little shop and, of course, my daily ration of gelato!! I think I enjoyed our walk much more than the our walking tour although we did learn a little history and some other fun facts from the tour. Of course, the gondola ride was fantastic although Joey was getting a little queasy from the rocking of the boat when we were docking.

From Venice, we took a bus to Mirano where the rest of the family were gathering for dinner at the Ristorante dalla Lina at Via Vetrego 105, Mirano, where our cousin Alina was closing her bed and breakfast restaurant to the public to have a special dinner for us. Her mother Flora and all of her sisters were there--Edda, Carmen, and Raffaella, helping serve and prepare dinner as well as her children Sara and Simone. Again, with a room full of boisterous Italians eating, drinking and storytelling, a fun time was had by all. At the end of the evening, the Italian cousins gave each of us a gift that was made special in Venice--a beautiful carrying bag, a Carnivale mask and a bottle of special olive oil. Grazie di tutti!! After kissing and hugging and picture taking, we said our goodbyes until tomorrow when we gather for our wine tasting tour. Ciao for now.

Under the Venetian Star!!

Benvenuto!! Welcome to Bella Italia!!! My cousin Nancy Lamkin and I made the trip to Venice without any problems. US Airways is no Quantas, and the stewardesses need a little bit of customer service training. We flew over the Alps. In fact, we flew directly over the Matterhorn which was cool. We were met at the airport by Elio from the Hotel Antico Mulino in Scorze, Italy, which is a little town north of Venice, Italy. It is a quaint nice hotel with all the modern conveniences. The weather is sunny and in the 80's.

I am here as part of the Gaino-Casonato family reunion. For the next four days, we will be visiting the area where some of our family came from as well as eating, wine tasting and touring. Cousin Carol Gault was already here to meet us, and cousins Dave and Marlene Gaino drove up a short while later. Together we all went to a beautiful outdoor cafe Gallo for a lovely lunch. I had a fish pie which was really a type of long skinny noodled lasagna with a seafood sauce containing lobster, scallops etc. Dave had a gnochhi with a salmon sauce which melted in your mouth. He won the meal award at this restaurant. They also brought us a complimentary appetizer of grilled sardines which were really good...sort of like a salty potato chip.

Later cousin Margaret Gaino Ewing who organized the reunion along with all of the rest of the American family met for a special dinner tonight with the Italian side of the family. There were at least 50 people. The storytelling, eating and drinking lasted most of the evening. With a room full of Italians, you could barely hear yourself think. A wonderful time was had by all with planning for the next few days taking place.

Right now, I am waiting for Joey as he is having a great deal of difficulty getting to Venice from Prague on this latest of his European adventure. He said he started at 4 a.m and has already been on four trains. There is a train strike in Germany that is complicating his arrival.

In the meantme, here in Italy, they honor the tradition of Sunday as a day of rest. So most businesses were closed. However, we went to church, but since today is the feast of Corpus Christi they already had an early celebration and did not have regular mass. Go figure! So I lit a candle for Joe instead as today would have been our 30th wedding anniversary. We were planning a trip to Alaska this year, but instead I find myself in the land of the Tuscan sun with one lonely bright shining star in the Venetian sky tonight.