............FOOD, PIZZA, & RESTAURANT COMPARISONS BETWEEN OUR 2 COUNTRIES ....
Marco and his wife, Giacinta, took Settimio and I to a great little restaurant in Trastevere, where the pizza was very good! But one big difference we've seen is that NO Italian pizza is piled high with stuff like our American pizzas often are. Likewise, the portion sizes of entree dishes are much smaller in Italian restaurants in Italy, as are the "side dishes" too. Another difference: In America, more often than not, the menu lists COMPLETE meals (i.e., Entre`, salad & side dish), ALL included as one dinner under one price. Not so in Italy; Almost always each food item must be ordered separately, ala carte, and are priced separately. The concept of smaller portions is a good thing (something most Americans can benefit from!).

....WATCH THOSE CALORIES IN ITALY! ...We were amazed that MOST people in Italy were not considerably overweight, and truly most of the YOUNG men & women were slender and in good shape! (and of course fashionably dressed!)----which always surprises me because ITALIANS DO EAT, and put a 'ton' of oil on their dishes, and consume a LOT of fried, battered foods. When I lived in Italy in my early 20's, EVEN the pizzas were DRENCHED in oil !! So much so, that I often asked for a separate plate to POUR some of it off ! I also ALWAYS cut the fat off all my meat at the table, (still do of course) against the loud protestations of an Italian family member (now deceased) who considered doing that a waste of "good" food! YES, believe it or not!! So I tried to eat a healthy diet even in my young days in Italy, but it's SO hard to avoid oil in Italy, it's everywhere! Nowadays the pizza makers, at least, seem to have lightened up on the oil. So, I ordered mushroom pizza a few times, which is usually served in Italy as individual pizzas in restaurants, and by the slice at snack bars. I almost never eat pizza in the U.S. anymore, but in Italy it is very popular and everywhere in many different varieties, so we wanted to try a few different kinds!

....MORE ABOUT FOOD! - At THIS restaurant with Marco, I got 1/4 chicken with a side dish of potatoes, instead of pizza, just because I finally found chicken on a menu! (More elsewhere about why it was hard to find). VEAL is extremely popular in Italy and served many different ways. We also ate veal, even though Sonia and I had some reservations about enjoying the taste of "baby cows". I often wanted to order vegetables in restaurants, but the choices were limited, and what veggies they had were either loaded with oil OR battered and fried - naturally! Marco and Settimio liked the fried/battered artichokes specialty one restaurant served near our apartment. Antipasto items are also always present on Italian dinner tables, and include many items that Americans put in salads,... whereas most salads in Italy contain lettuce and little or nothing else. (Nobody could make a WHOLE MEAL out of an Italian salad, the way we Americans often do!) I absolutely know that upon seeing everything many Americans put all mixed together in their salads, most Italians would say, "CHE SCHIFO!!" (That means, "How Disgusting!!") It was really at the snack bars for American & other tourists that I saw the most "substantial" salads. They appeared to know what we like!! The various sandwiches were quite good there and warmed up or toasted when requested. There is a photo of them at the top of this Blog, before my introduction --- and also piles of sandwiches pictured in the Venice section.

...WINE & DRINKING: Another big difference of course is that WINE is nearly always a fixture on every Italian dinner table, (not nearly as much in America) but you already knew that!! Teenagers are normally allowed to drink wine at home with dinner too. Perhaps because of this, they don't consider wine or alcohol SO special or forbidden (like American under-age teenagers often do) so as a consequence tend to have less problems over alcohol than our 'youngsters'. Just my opinion. IN THE PHOTO BELOW, you can see the pizza man busily making the pizza crust. (Sorry it's so blurry - in fact all the photos taken in this restaurant came out strange -- blurry and yellow - I don't know why!) I'm also sorry to go on & on so much about food and restaurants in Italy, especially since I also talked about this at length at the end of the NETTUNO "CHAPTER" of this Blog - but that was primarily to rave about the wonderful dinners that Settimio's sisters made for our benefit! HONESTLY, I didn't come to Italy to eat! ;-) Wink, Wink


.........MARCO & GIACINTA....Below are some views of the street life in Trastevere, with Marco and Giacinta and me. Also a bakery we stopped in where Marco bought some sweets for his equally sweet wife! They have been married about 10 years, (Giacinta is Marco's second wife) and we could tell how happy they are together, always kissing, hugging and holding hands. They have much in common as a couple too and we enjoyed our visit with them SO much! They also invited us to dinner at their house where Giacinta cooked a wonderful and very healthy meal, including fresh fruit from her parents' orchard & vineyard. Their apartment was super nice, with an especially beautiful and spacious kitchen. Marco showed us the various collections he has and we all enjoyed a most enjoyable time together. Settimio and Marco have been good friends since their school days, and this is the first time they've seen each other since our last visit in 1984. Although when we sent Sonia to Italy in 1995 to visit her Italian relatives and see Venice and Rome, Marco was kind enough to spend a couple days with Sonia and her friend Laura too, showing them around! Again, what a nice guy!!



...........WHAT KIND OF TENOR ARE YOU??....I forgot to mention something that really belonged BELOW where I spoke of a different restaurant in Trastevere (with Italian/Spanish cuisine) where Irene invited 11 family members to be her guest. There was a large painted mural of a country scene behind our table. There was also a very portly middle-aged Spanish singer there who hung around 'forever' at our table, singing to us, and telling what "he thought" were funny stories and jokes. Of course, I always politely watched him attentively, often smiling and showing appreciation. But I'm afraid I may have offended him (without meaning to!) because when he asked for song requests, I said, "Can you sing "GRANADA"?? But then when he hesitated, I quickly added as an afterthought, "Oh, never mind, that might be too difficult for you, because you're NOT A TENOR!" [I did mention previously in this Blog that I'm a HUGE fan of Tenors! ] This Spanish singer didn't have a good voice to begin with, and certainly was NO tenor, but I quickly realized that was the WRONG thing to say! He did look a bit offended, and Romana hid her face in her hands, in mock "embarrassment", but really just to hide her laughter, I saw. Hmmm, sometimes I can be too "blunt" for my own good (or someone else's)!

..........MORE RESTAURANT WOES!....We all had fun enjoying everyone's company, but the really bad surprise came when Irene got the bill and (we were told later) it was 550 euros, ....that's close to $900 for 11 people!!! (Must have been because of all that "great" singing!!) Afterwards, everyone agreed that the food also left MUCH to be desired and wasn't what anyone expected. I heard mentioned that even the attitude of our waiter was a little "off". I said nothing negative to Irene of course, but inside I felt SOOO bad for Irene whose intentions were pure gold, but she simply chose the wrong place to dine as an alternative, after her first choice was unavailable (which would have been "Meo Patacca" (sp?). She knew nothing about this other Spanish/Italian restaurant, (whose name I forget). I'm sorry to even mention this here, but it bothered ALL OF US, really, SO MUCH that she was taken advantage of AGAIN, (SEE MY LAST "CHAPTER" ON "ANZIO") like this by another VERY over-priced restaurant. I guess a clue was the fact that we were just about the ONLY people there!! Thank God we didn't eat at many restaurants on our trip, but instead had much better food and enjoyment dining at Settimio's 4 sisters' homes, as well as Marco's home!! And besides, that's what it's all about for us - the love and good times shared together with family and friends, and what better place than at home!! Nobody needs to spend a fortune to do this. WE WERE ALL SHOCKED at how much the prices had gone up in Italian restaurants since our last trip. I was told though that the ones out in the COUNTRYSIDE, even nowadays, often have far better food and prices!