Visiting Famiglia in Italia

This morning we said goodbye to our Roman apartment.  What a great experience!

Today we are visiting family!  Daniel’s mom happens to be here visiting her sister.  We arrived at Zia Emma’s house around noon.  This is the first time I’ve ever met her and the first time Daniel has seen her since he was nine years old.  She lives in the most amazing apartment!  This picture is not her building, but it’s in her neighborhood.  We had a small, very Italian style lunch with Emma and my mother in law – meat, cheese, bread and fruit.  Then we went for a little stroll around the neighborhood.  There is such beauty everywhere here.  You walk around a corner and see unexpected, spectacular architecture.  I also love how the modern and ancient are all mixed together.  After a little rest, we went to the Borghese gardens and museum.  There are several masterpieces here with such interesting stories.  We were fortunate to have a friend of Zia Emma’s – Fabrizio – to be our personal guide.  He knew lots of stories that we wouldn’t have known otherwise.

This is Antonio Canova’s Paolina Borghese. She happens to be the sister of Napoleon.  

Bernini’s David…

Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne.

Daniel’s cousin, Orietta and her daughter Maria drove from Genoa to be with us for the museum and the rest of the evening. After the museum, we all walked back to the apartment.   We laughed and talked and Zia made a wonderful dinner.  We had bread and olive oil, wine, spaghetti all Amatriciana, Italian meatloaf, peas with ham, and a lemon strawberry tart with coffee.

It was delicious, just as every single thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here has been.  After dinner, we got to Face time with some family members back home.  We decided we needed to take some pictures together, so naturally (??) my 80 something year old mother in law comes out of her room with a selfie stick.  She had just bought it, so needless to say, this was quite the adventure.  It was the most wonderful evening and we will all cherish the memories that we made.

Tomorrow, we will leave early to pick up our rental car and drive to Florence.  I’m very excited to see more of this beautiful country!