We bought our home in Fabro, Italy off the Internet. Sight unseen. Well, we saw lots of photos, of course, sent to us via email after email from our very nervous real estate agent in Ovieto. But we didn’t actually see the house until the deal was completed, the papers were signed and the money was transferred. Crazy? Most certainly. The “what ifs” still resound from time to time in our minds.
But our leap of faith paid off. The house was perfect for us (the restored stall of a 400-year-old stone farmhouse). In fact, it was better than we had imagined (not too big, not too small, a lovely garden of olive and fruit trees). And beyond the house itself we would come to find a gift that would forever change our lives. The Italians.
There is a depth to the Italian spirit that words cannot possibly capture. Much like the Italian language itself, words become simply pointers. “Piano, piano” translates to “slowly, slowly”, but in reality the phrase is used to convey anything from, “take your time” to “life can’t be rushed” to “stop and smell the roses”. In fact, the Italian language consists of an estimated 200,00o words while the English language chest holds more than 600,000. Yet with fewer than 1/3 of the words, Italians manage to say more. And they say it with a depth and passion that can only be experienced first hand.
So Lou and I began our journey to better learn Italian and to better know Italians. There is no destination. Only the wonderful, magical, always surprising journey that includes fast friendships with people who will never know how they have affected us and our lives.
Conversations with Le Donne dell’Italia is just a small slice of that journey, a tiniest peek at some of the amazing, hard-working, passionate women who I have encountered in bella Italia. Since it is virtually impossible to have a conversation in Italy without mentioning food and recipes, some of those are included too.
I hope you enjoy getting to know some of the special donne dell’Italia through these short anecdotes and through the recipes they have been so gracious to share. After all, there is no better way to get to know Italians than through the sharing of really good food.
Have fun reading, and buon appetito.
