We thought Montepulciano had a lot of hills but then we got to Spoleto! We immediately went to see Zia Maria Anna and Zelda and their beautiful new-ish home. Zelda is the cutest and the kids proceeded to spend the week vying for her attention. Luckily for their sibling rivalry, we’re pretty sure Dennis won.
Uncle Hank came from Rome for the weekend, Zia Maria Anna gave us a tour of the town, and they both introduced us to some wonderful places to eat (and eat again). We were particularly excited to visit with Maria Anna’s family and her sister generously invited us over to her house a couple times. The kids all played well together, Dev learned the Italian rules for hide and seek, and Mira got to practice the drums on a real set. Maria Anna’s sister is an amazing cook – everything is easy to her – and Mira had a blast learning from her.
The kids also got to pick up Zelda from school and once even went to drop her off. Only Zelda could get them up that early! For our last night in Italy we drove into Rome. We booked a room last minute and when we walked in, we realized we had rented a room in the same exact building thirteen years ago when Mira was a baby! We walked around the coliseum and learned something we didn’t know before – that it was paid for with plunder from the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and built by Jewish slaves. As Mira said, I think that means it’s basically ours? We finished off our trip with a lovely dinner with Uncle Hank at one of our favorite spots where he taught us about things Americans do that are not actually Italian and we taught him about the latest slang.
Tomorrow we’re off to Casablanca, Morocco.
(Click on the photos for a full sized slideshow.)
This Is Not Brooklyn. 