Living with the Fenati-Raminella family in Milano certainly has its advantages, many in fact. One of these is that I was offered to opportunity to spend the break for Pasqua (Easter) with Giovanna's parents at their home in Roma and then south to their house on the coast of Lazio--the region in which you find Roma--in a small town called Circeo. Needless to say, I immediately accepted.The Thursday before Easter, we set off from Milano for Roma on a train, arriving in a mere three and a half hours (a big improvement from the slow train I took to get to Milano in January that took six hours). The taxi from the station dropped us off in the midst of tourist madness, and I felt immediately overwhelmed as I ducked foreigners rushing through with camera's and maps in hand while simultaneously repeating "No grazie"to the street vendors attempts to sell me fake Gucci bags. But as I took a deep breath and looked around, I realized just why this street was so chaotic--not thirty feet from the their front door was the Piazza di Trevi and the famous fountain. I didn't have much time to look around as we had to haul the bags up a couple flights of stairs and get everyone settled in. Being lunch time, we quickly organized ourselves to head back down for lunch. We didn't have to go far--across the street in fact to a restaurant owned by neighbors and friends of their family. That afternoon and the next day, I got some free time to explore by myself with a few destinations recommended by Giovanna's father, Cristiano, including the Fontana di Trevi (obviously), Piazza Colonna and the neighboring Piazza di Montecitorio where the lower house of Parliament sits, the Pantheon, the Quirinale where the President lives (not to be confused with the more powerful Prime Minister), the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, il Vaticano, Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps), il Colosseo, and il Foro Romano (The Forum), just to name a few ;)
I'm pretty proud that I managed to get myself around to see most of Roma's main sights in just seven hours total and am very happy to get to go back before returning to Colorado in June! I really like Roma, despite how touristy it can be at times. The culture is so starkly different than that of Milano, but in a way I liked, at least at first glance--much louder, much more extroverted, much more concentrated. It was certainly a quick journey through such an amazing city, but I can't lament getting to fall asleep with the sounds of the Piazza di Trevi right outside my window.
Saturday was travel day to Circeo. I drove with Cristiano and Stefania as the other car was already at capacity. It was a nice drive, not too long, and with beautiful scenery right through the car window. As we got close to town, we stopped at a market to load up on produce and a few other necessities. The market of the borghetti (little villages) are incredibly different from those of Milano, much less of Colorado, with all the produce of your wildest dreams grown ten minutes from where you're buying it. Going "inside" to pay, I discovered buckets of olives and mozzarella di bufala. On request, they dipped in a big slotted spoon and brought out three little mozzarelline for us to taste. I swear the world stopped when i bit into it. I thought I'd had good mozzarella here before, but THIS, this was something else. It may be the thing I miss most about Italia when I get back to the States.
After a short drive, we took a tight, winding road up and up before arriving at their gate with a little ceramic painted nameplate. We unloaded the car of the bags and groceries into their elevator--motorized cart really--that took everything down to the house while we took the cactus, aloe, and bush lined steps. The house was truly picture perfect: white stucco walls with bright blue accents and white tiled floors. The walls were decorated with varying stiles of ship and port paintings as well as giant windows that looked out onto the sea down below. Once everything was inside, they showed me to my room--or should I say house. Situated below the main house, it contained a big entrance room with a kitchenette, then a second room with the bedroom and a bathroom. Obviously there was no complaining on my part.
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| main balcony |
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| my little house |
After getting situated, I decided to go on a walk while we waited for the rest of the family, so I took the road that went around this big hill and down to the ocean. As I was returning, I even had a close encounter with another inhabitant of Circeo: the wild boar. Fortunately it crossed the road a good twenty feet ahead and there was no confrontation. As I got back to the house, Giovanna, Livio, and the girls were driving up so I helped them unload and get down. Everyone got settled in and we did a nice aperitivo before a dinner of grilled skewers.
Easter morning I woke up (looking out the window in front of me onto the sea) and headed to Mass with Cristiano, Stefania, and Ginny. The small church filled up--and then some--but it was nice to see a service in a small, community church. As incredible as the cathedrals are here, I sometimes miss that smaller, intimate feeling. After the service we struggled to make our way out of the church as the crowd for the next Mass was trying to get in and then we met up with the rest of the family at the beach nearby their house. The weather wasn't incredible but it was warm enough with the sun shining to hang out for a while, so the girls an I walked the beach, picking up shells in our own version of an Easter Egg Hunt. As Cristiano had been coming to this same beach from the time he was twelve, the family has a lot of history there and a lot of friends to see and talk with.
Stefania and Cristiano had to go to the nearby port to check on their boat, which I got to see as I accompanied them. Unfortunately the weather wasn't nice enough to take it out the whole time we were there, so I didn't get to see the boat in action. For lunch, we all returned home for a traditional Easter meal, much more casual and less complicated than our American one. The table was full of a mixture of cheeses (mozzarella, pecorino, provolone); meats (salame, prosciutto); a savory tart with spinach, anchovies, and olives; a selection of sottolio and sottaceto (artichokes, pearl onions, mushrooms kept sealed in jars under oil or vinegar), and of course bread and wine. After lunch, the girls opened their Easter gifts and the afternoon was spent relaxing at the house as the clouds and wind rolled in. The weather stayed nasty for the next couple days, so there was a lot of time hanging out at the lovely house, but I did get to take a small excursion with the family to the city center to get a cappucino, walk around a bit, and find a new swimming suit for Ginny. Afterwards we returned to the same beach for lunch at the little restaurant there of spaghetti di vongole (clams) which was wonderfully tasty. The girls played on the trampoline for a bit before we moved to a park. We then drove to see another section of beach, long and straight and perfect for walks when the weather cooperates, but it was too windy and we had to head back home. The rest of our time at Circeo was largely spent, like I said, relaxing at the house, reading, playing an English-learning board game that Ginny got from her grandparents, and me studying a new card game that they enjoy playing called, Burraco. We returned to Roma on the Wednesday after Easter to catch our train back to Milano.  |
| Tired Gaia--almost back to Milano! |
I was excited to be back as I was meeting up with my friend from Colorado, Cecilia! More on our adventures soon....
