Add a Seat to the Table

Another great opportunity we have while studying in Italy is to have a dinner with a local Italian family. The families who host us have children who study in the high school on our campus. So this past Friday everyone who signed up for the event met outside and waited for the Italian families to come pick us up. Most families hosted two students and either took them out for dinner or had dinner at their home. In my case, I got placed in a group of 6 students who went to have dinner at a family's house. Two cars came to pick us up and it turned out that four female Italian friends who went to the high school made dinner for us and the parents left! Melania was the name of the girl whose house we were eating at. (We later came to find out that this house was her family's weekend/summer home and their other house was in the next town -- We really do live in the wealthiest region of Italy!)
(In picture: Vanessa, Michael, and Francesca)
When we pulled in, we were greeted by their two beautiful dogs. The house was really large and we stepped into the basement where a long table was set up for us with appetizers (bread, salami,
cheese). We were asked if we'd like beer, wine (prosecco), or pop and
I had the prosecco which was very good. Another one of the girls, Vanessa, sat at the table and talked with us while the other 3 worked on preparing the dinner. They came out with two plates of pizza (cheese, sausage, and ham) and then after that we had pasta. We asked them how often they ate pasta and they said everyday for at least one meal and then families usually went out for pizza on the weekends. Melania's father also made his own wine for the first time last fall so we got to try a little bit of that and some homemade grappa as well.

After everyone had finished their food, I thought it was time to go home but we were surprised to find out a fire had been made outside for us so we all went and sat around the fire while Melania made hot wine for us. I had heard of it but never tried it before and it was really cool to watch. It was a pot of her father's red wine mixed with cinnamon and apple slices and then cooked over the fire until the alcohol on top caught flame and the mixture started bubbling. She then took it off the fire and poured it in glasses for us. It tasted very good and eating the apples in the bottom afterward was even better. The guys who were in our group were having too much fun singing songs that Francesca (another HS Italian) had on her iphone. After sitting around the fire for about an hour, the girls' parents came back to pick us up and take us back to campus. It was a really great experience and I came back with 4 new Italian friends!