Rick and I are in the 3rd week of our 5 week return trip to Italy and Simionis.
We started with Castelfranco Veneto, and Alice's family -- we proceeded to go on a cruise with them on MSC, the Italian cruise line Alice works for. While Bari, Greece, Turkey, and Croatia were nice to see, the real joy was the fun we had with her family as her parents Emanuele Simioni and Renata Zampieri celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
The most fun was trying to communicate with them for 7 days and nights when they speak no English, and we speak little Italian! We had to create word games which became quite hysterical! Of course Alice, our fluent English/Italian speaker, was quite busy most of the time!
After the cruise Rick and I spent a few nights in Venice. Rather than just "see Venice" (we have visited on 2 other day-trips) we choose to rent an apartment back away from the crowds. We roamed quite streets/canals, but also went to visit St. Mark's Square with the basilica and Doge's Palace. (Be sure to use the time-saving tips for avoiding the long lines for tickets and entry. Ask me. We walked right in!)
I found this article written by someone who stayed in the same district we did, Cannaregio, and also rented an apartment. She writes much better than me about why we enjoy getting a more local feel for cities we visit. Yep, we are still tourists, but try to be respectful visitors.
live-like-a-local-in-cannaregio-venice
After Venice we returned to Simionis and Castelfranco Veneto.
When back on land we spent time with Alice's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and especially enjoyed the polenta festa! (We went twice!) We were surrounded by hundreds of people from local villages and all their families. A taste of not only great "poenta" (the Venetian dialect for polenta) but real Italian life.
Our main reason for visiting Castelfranco Veneto has been to trace Rick's father's family. We have not found any Simioni relatives, but this year we found a cousin! Rick's aunt's son, Alfredo Fior, right in Salvatronda! (See more on "Finding Desiderio" blog.) We could not have done this without Alice and her father taking us to Alfredo's home and introducing us to him in Venetian dialect! It was something special!
Still, Alice and her family ARE our family now! Maybe not by blood, but by the heart! We love these people! And I will continue to investigate upline since we also have more info (birthdates) of Desiderio's parents... maybe we will connect up a generation or 3!
While staying in our Castelfranco apartment, we drove to Thiene/Sarcedo and visited the families of Roberto and Francesco Simioni again. Francesco organized a family pranzo at an agriturismo which provided a fantastico meal. We ate and drank for 2 hours of course! Giulia Simioni was home from her NYC job for a few days, so we all enjoyed a reunion! New babies and toddlers, food and wine, english and italian.
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| Francesco let Rick take the controls a bit! |
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Rick and I spent two days alone in Verona, with a great spot right over Piazza Erba, and across from Torre Lamberti! We met a British couple we share breakfast and wine with on our hotel balcony both days.
Here in Bologna we've had another special treat as our San Diego friend, Lisa DeLucchi, who is spending 7 weeks in Florence, came here and spent 2 days with us! We've talked about this for months with our Italian language meet-up groups and friends, and we did it! We met right on her birthday and went out for terrific tagliatelle ragu, and tortellini en brodo!(at Eataly -- followed by some ridiculous singing of "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..... yep, got it on video!)
Add that our Bolonese friend, Alessandro Cipressi. He gave us a personal tour as he did last year, but the sun was shining this time! And we then had a fantastic lunch (although that is not difficult to do here in Bologna!)
We soooo love the food here, and Bologna is such an interesting town, but really, we are here for the food! :)
... more to follow....
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