I can no longer see the castle from my room.
I cannot buy a delicious pesca tabacchiera anywhere.
Food just isn’t the same anymore.
Italians walk, a lot. And then they keep walking.
Tuscan and Umbrian hill towns are spectacular.
Hill-climbing skills are indeed your good friend.
The architecture is beyond words. Everywhere.
The Pantheon is in mint condition. Inside.
Prego has a whole new and more complex meaning.
No place will ever have this amount of nuns or priests.
Olive oil will never, ever, be the same again. Ever.
Nor ricotta, pecorino, or buffalo mozzarella.
I can no longer buy flour directly from the mill,
Nor heavenly pecorino from the country farm.
Oddly, I never saw a tomato plant, anywhere.
Handmade Italian artisan chocolate is scrumptious.
The Pope no longer lives across the street from me,
Nor his Swiss Guards.
Pinocchio is still doing quite well (I saw him often).
Gelato is delicious. Good gelato is more delicious.
Fresh anchovies are not that bad.
I am in love with cacio e pepe, two great companions!
Pizza is not that complicated. Coffee is not that simple.
Spaghetti and meatballs do not exist together. Ever.
Handmade pasta is more delicious than I ever dreamed.
Garlic and onion rarely get married in the same dish.
Salad is typically served after the main course.
The sun sets around 10 pm and rises around 5 am.

While I am no longer living in a beautiful Italian villa,
Nor in a room looking over Vatican City,
My life is richer and more delicious than ever.
I think I’m gonna need a bigger kitchen.

Wow!

The cathedrals in Italy are breathtaking. They are ornate from floor to ceiling; every inch filled with colorful frescoes and paintings, sculptures, tile and stained glass. Famous painters from all over the world and from various centuries have made their mark on these Italian masterpieces including Michelangelo from the 14th century (In fact, the towering Siena Duomo we visited with striped gray and white stone was the home of four sculptures made by the young Michelangelo). Every year restorations of churches take place to keep these buildings beautiful to attract tourists from all over the world — including us. As the tourists pay the fee and walk through the turnstiles, they are blown away by the architectural beauty of the place. They spend hours touring the churches taking countless photos (if permitted to) and then leave the church, but, not before going to the gift shop! These religious buildings are absolutely beautiful and filled with SO many people. Yet, they feel so empty and I left feeling empty myself.

I left with a completely different feeling after visiting Abbazia di Montelabate, an old abbey where monks lived, worked, and worshiped. On the same grounds is the abbey’s olive oil mill in operation today. When we walked through the old, wretched doors of the church, I was astonished! Not by the ornate floors or ceilings, but by the destitution of the building. Scaffolds were present on either side of the church evidence of the need for restoration, but, it was evident that these scaffolds had remained untouched for years. The walls were nearly bare with fading paintings and broken molding connecting the walls to the ceiling. The alter was a wreck with cob webs stretched out over the alter pieces and dust covering every inch. Upon seeing the state of the church, we learned of the reason why. The abbey and its olive mill operate to create income but not to spend on the physical building. Instead, they invest their profits into research for kids in a nearby hospital.

Wow. THAT blew me away. That blew me away more than all the flashy gold embellishments and colorful, recently-restored frescoes of the other churches; this church was the MOST beautiful. Unlike the other churches that were beautiful yet empty, this church was empty which made it beautiful. This church was alive! The church was not just a building, the church was an active people reaching out to those in need. Instead of leaving with empty pockets and an empty feeling, I left the abbey inspired and filled thinking, “Do I spend more time building a beautiful life or being empty for the sake of helping others?”

Walk into the Italian world, 
Ingredients natural and flavors bold.
Four to five ingredients in one dish, 
Tasting the foods is the wish. 
Taste the food — it is good! 

Why combine herbs, onion, and garlic?
The only Italian response is “sick”!

Don't cover up nature with sauces, 
Italian chefs will tell you they are the bosses. 
They know the ways of their mother and grandmother, 
And don't consider doing things by hand a bother. 

“Keep it simple,” they say! 
Prepare it well, 
And enjoy it with friends with whom you dwell. 

Italians treasure the preservation of their culture. They love their deeply rooted history — how they developed into what they are today. They build on the lives on the shoulders of their ancestors — LITERALLY. They have built many of their cities on top of ancient cities especially in the region of Perugia. Walking through the humongous doors of the underground train station in Perugia, we witnessed with our own eyes the layers of the underground city as the current town was built on top a 1540 medieval city that is now “frozen” underneath. The interesting thing about Italians is that they choose not to clean the slate, but preserve what was and build on it.

Likewise, their countless cathedrals are preserved through the continual process of restoration. Restorations of the structure and decorations of ceilings, walls, and floors are made in order to preserve the 15th & 16th century churches. In addition, very ancient churches were undergoing excavations to unearth what was for the sake of learning and preserving.

Preservation of culture was not only seen in their physical cities and religious institutions but in their celebrations and traditions. The crazy "Festa dei Ceri" is held every year on May 15th in Gubbio. The locals carry on the religious celebration of carrying three heavy wooden ceris or pedestals that represent candles. Three teams of locals race to carry the ceris around the city and up Mount Ingino while other locals run around like they are crazy. It is a deeply rooted ritual where men train for years to be a part of a team and they train their kids to be a part of the tradition and, literally, carry it on.

Carrying on of culture is not only evident in the streets during celebrations, but in the kitchens at all times. No recipes are to be seen there, only the ones ingrained in the memories of the chefs: the recipes passed on from generation to generation. No formal culinary skills are evident just the methods they mimic from the people they observed. No written rules of cooking are hung on the walls, just the oral rules that are etched onto the hearts of the chefs. In fact, we only knew rules existed when our chef from Naples, Rosa, identified violations of the rules. She would say, "Forbidden! It is a SIN." Mixing onion and garlic in the same dish was among the greatest of sins followed closely by mixing fish and cheese or, worse, fish and onion. These food combinations rules were clearly not learned from a book, but rather learned from the palate and then passed on from mouth to mouth.