All Roads lead to Rome, but you can still get lost!!

On the first official day of the tour of Rome, we went to see St. Peter's Basillica and the Sistine Chapel. It is different from when I visited with my cousin Ginny in 1972 because you have to pay to get into the Sistine chapel which has been cleaned since we were there so the colors are much more vibrant and the main altar of St. Peter's is roped off. I remember being able to go right up to the altar then. But it was still magnificent none the less to be there.
Everything about Rome is magnifcent. When we went to the forum, we found that the center of the forum was mile market 0 in Roman days meaning all roads lead to Rome. But Nancy and I got lot anyway and with every missed turn, we found another masterpiece of architecture or history.
What I thought was the Pantheon was really the Italian National Monument with Victor Emanuelle on a horse in front of a huge white column structure. They call it the "wedding cake." Then we went into the Pantheon which really was originally a temple to all gods then a church built over the top. The top of this dome is totally open and it will rain in so there are slits in the marble floor directly below to catch the rain water and later use it.
The Italian really waste very little and are really very efficient. Many places do not have air conditioning because the buildings are so old. If they do, the a/c shuts off when no one is in the room. Also no kleenex. I guess they figure you use a handkerchief or toilet tissue. The cars are small or people ride vespas to get the most gas mileage. In fact today, I saw a man riding on a vespa with his beagle resting by his feet on the bike while he rode.
We also saw the Coliseum and Arch of Constantine who was the first king to recognize Christianity. Lots of bride and grooms were there using both as a backdrop for their wedding photos. I took a side tour to the catacombs which were totally cool...literally. There are 11 miles of catacombs. The reason they existed and started is because the Romans cremated their dead and since the early christians believed in the resurrection, they wanted to bury their dead. There was no room to do this as well as the persecution issue. So the catacombs were really their burial grounds as well a chapel to perform services.
July is sale month in all of Italy so many clothing items are up to 50% off. So when we went to the Spanish steps, there were hundreds of people waiting to get into stores like Valentinos, Lacoste etc. to get their bargains. Of course, we did the obligatory Trevi Fountains. Legend has it you throw one coin to return to Rome, two coins to fall in love with an Italian and three coins to marry that Italian love.
Then we headed to Piazza Navona. It has the best fountain in Rome...the one of the four rivers that meet and was made by Michealanglo and was in the Angels and Demons book I think. Also the church of St. Agnes that is there is one where are the dignataries get married. It is a happening place. I think I saw the best mime I have ever seen there. Best gelati ever was near there. It is called Della Palma with 100 varieties of gelato to choose from. The Pizza Buffeto had lines so we just got some pizza at a local place which was good.
To me, overall Rome is a fabulous place...it is the total package of history blended into the present.

Buon Compleanno to me!!

To continue on my eating odyssey here in Rome, we decided to take a cooking class. We were met at 9 a.m by our chef and driver Monique. She drove us to the small medieval village of Mazzano Romano about one hour from Rome where we shopped for our dinner as well as went to a garden to pick fresh produce.
We arrived at the apartment of her boss chef Fabio and began chopping all the vegetables--zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes. The butcher had already deboned, skinned and pounded the chicken we would need. We then made balls of flour and water which we would use later to make the pasta.
Bread was toasted and tomatoes and basil mixed with some olive oil and salt were placed on top for bruschetta. Then we stuffed zucchini flowers with mozzerella and anchovies and then lightly battered and fried them to make the crispetti my Grandmother used to make. Then we took the time to eat our antipasta with some white wine.
We took some of the pasta balls and cut them in half and then rolled them like a long stick. We then cut them in tiny pieces and then flattened and curved them into cavetelli. We cooked more tomatoes and the eggplant for the sauce for the cavetelli.
Then we used a rolling pin and pasta machine to flatten out the dough for ravioli stuff with cooked zucchini and riccota mixed with one egg yolk. We used the egg white to keep the edges of the ravioli together. We made a butter and sage sauce for these noodles.
We made a marinade of balsamic vinegar, apple vinegar, cane sugar and seasonings for the chicken and then cooked the chicken later on the stove for about 20 minutes. We also had potatoes we cut and cooked in the oven with rosemary and olive oil.
We ended with peaches tossed with sugar and white wine along with some cantaloupe.
The food was fantastic, the views were spectacular and the people were fascinating. All in all a good birthday except I did not have all the rest of you here with me to share in this experience.

Eat, Pray and Love has been officially changed to Eat, Eat, Eat!!!

I have a longer version of Thursday, June 30, but have had problems with the internet at this hotel. Will post longer version later.

We said our goodbyes to all and headed to the train station with Joey and Drew who were a big help to us in getting our bags to the right platform. They left from the same platform as us to continue on their journey to Cannes. We left a little while later for Rome. Our hotel was one block from the train station. We were hungry so we booked a reservation to Ristorante del Pallora which was recommended by my nephew Mike who just finished a little backpacking adventure of his own after graduation from Miami in May. The owner is a woman named Paula who looks like Strega Nona from the children's book. It is a prix fixe of 25 euros and she cooks what she gets at the market that day. We had antipasta of lentils in a special sauce, tomatoes and basil with olive oil, proscuitto and salami and Italian bread. Of course, we were served wine and water with our meal. Then we had a meatball made with minced veal along with a couple of rice balls fried and served plain. Then we had two types of pasta one with carbanara sauce and one with a yellow sauce of some type. This was followed by roast veal slices and potatoes along with a couple of mozzarella balls. Desert was a peach custard pie along with some peach juice.

Of course, after this we had to go to get our obiligatory gelato. We went to the famous Gioletti gelateria. I had watermelon and mango and Nancy had chocolate and lemon. It was good but nothing to rave about. An Italian lady told me about Della Palma which she said is the best gelator in Rome and is around the corner from Gioletti.

We have built our tour of Rome so far on our food selections. But with evey turn, there is another magnificent church or impressive government building or Roman ruin. It is magnificent and breathtaking. When you come out of the Termini train station, you see the city through a huge wall of windows. You realize you are in a truly spectacular place in the world and you are not in Kansas anymore!

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.