MANGIA MANGIA MANGIA

“Mangia! Mangia! Mangia!”  says my host mother to me every single night.  I am not worried or afraid of getting fat with all this walking and massive hills (if you think you walk a lot in Blacksburg or up hills, no no, it doesn't compare), but she literally tells me to eat until I think I might explode.  “piena, piena” (full) I tell her multiple times before she is satisfied with what I have eaten.  She told me that when you are short and young, you are piccola (small), but that I am tall and piccola so I must MANGIA MANGIA MANGIA!  The food is always wonderful, but I had to explain to Graziella and LIvio about the bambino di chibo, or food baby.  They thought that was a funny concept.

Some of us enjoying some aperitivo

Last Saturday, we had a historical passeggiata, or walking tour of the city after class (yes, I have class on Saturday right now.  Corso Intensivo d’italiano = 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 3 weeks).  About halfway through we all went to dinner and had a fabulous meal of 3 different pastas, prosciutto and salami, and bread.  We then completed our walking tour at around 10:30.  It was quite a long day so we drank wine in the Piazza del Campo, the city center.

Vino and aperitivo

Around 7 pm along the road that circles the Piazza del Campo, everyone is just walking around.  It’s a social hour right after the aperitivo, which we enjoyed on Friday night – you go and pay for a glass of wine and they essentially have a buffet you can then enjoy from.  In the states, our happy hour is lots of drinks, little food; in Italy, it is a little drink and lots of food.  Regardless, it is buona.

After aperitivo, there are various bars to visit.  (Note: they also refer to what we think of as a café as a bar, i.e. you would go get your caffe latte or cappuccino in the 
morning from a bar).  So these bars are not simply open at night; some are an all day all night thing, and some are simply the café typle.  They have wine bars, shot bars, regular bars, pubs, etc.

the bar for some caffe latte, cappuccino, e cioccolata calda

To make you even more jealous of the Italian food: essentially everything is organic.  In the states, we put such a hefty emphasis and price on organic food.  Here, they simply eat what is in season and there is no “organic” version with a higher price tag.  My family even has their own chickens and garden, so I eat a lot of their vegetables, and all my eggs at breakfast come from their chickens.  Yes, the eggs just taste like eggs, but it is still cool knowing that I got that egg straight from that chicken’s nest, which hasn’t been injected with anything. 

And gelato.  Tutti i gionri.  Everyday (not really.  but let's be honest....) Need I say more?