Posted by chase on Sunday, May 21, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

I was invited by my classmate Peter to hang out with his family that lives here in Sicily in a small, triangular town surrounded by mountains and beautiful open views, named Ventimiglia (of which Peter’s aunt Antuonella specified was not to be translated literally as ‘twenty mile’, but as the name of the former ruler of that land). We started the day by meeting up and heading to the farmer’s market at 8:30am. We searched around for small food gifts to bring to his family and landed on classic ricotta cheese and salame.

 

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— MikeyP (@michaelbpelleg1) May 21, 2017

 

After Peter’s cousin, Nino, picked us up around 10:00, he took us on an hour-long excursion to his olive farm. When we arrived, it first seemed that nothing was really there—the house was very old and the donkey stables appeared empty…or were they. When we got out of the car, Nino led us behind the house an revealed a huge field of olive trees running all the way down to a beautiful lake in the center of a valley. All the talking we were doing attracted a few donkeys out of their old house, then the rest followed suit. They were all really cute and some were to shy to be pet. I was elated when Nino offered to let us ride one of his trust mules, Theresa. He continued to lead us around the open land and I don’t know about Peter, but I felt like a little girl getting to ride her first pony on Christmas morning. After that, Nino showed us around the house that he now rarely visits to tend the farm. Peter was emotional viewing the house and seeing a picture of his grandpa proudly hanging on the main wall of the living room area.

 

Nino then took us to his house in Ventimiglia. I met Antuonella and their 10-year-old son, Sebastiano, colloquially called Sebi. Sebi was quite excited to see Peter and to show off his English speaking skills. Unsurprisingly, Antuonella had been cooking up some amazing Sicilian food awaiting our arrival. Peter’s aunt and uncle, Tina and Sebastiano, joined us for a delicious 3-course meal consisting of ring-shaped pasta covered in cheese, meat, and red sauce, a heaping plate of beef rolled in cheese and veal, and fruit, coffee, and ice cream. Stuffed to the brim, Nino asked if Peter and I wanted to drive another hour to the beautiful town of Caccamo, which holds an old castle overlooking the vast and fertile farmland surround by mountains. When we arrived, I gazed upon the land and cherished the perfect scene of light beams hitting the many lakes and mountains. We explored around the castle and Sebi energetically ran around speaking Italian and enjoying the scenery as well.

 

Before heading out to eat, yet again, Sebi threw on the Italian Harry Potter The Prisoner of Askaban, and we watched until the family was ready to go. I noticed how Nino would honk every 30 seconds as he went past all the people he knew throughout the town. Since everyone knew each other, I felt a little out of place, but still enjoyed the strong sense of community. We drove about 10 minutes to the family’s favorite restaurant. Sebi, Peter and I were still quite full, but I knew I had to eat all that I could out of respect for his family’s generosity throughout the day. I ordered pappardelle alla brascaiola and almost had a heart attack as a giant plate of delicious pasta was set before me. Man, these Italians really love to eat! After we finished and I was stuffed beyond belief, we said our goodbyes to his loving family and arrived back in Cefalù around 11:30pm.

 

Again, I find myself so attracted to the strong sense of family that Italians have. I love being surround by people who care about social interaction over materialistic things. I’d like to give a shout out to Peter for letting me join in on a perfect day and for sharing the little time he had with his awesome family. Also, shout out to Sebi for letting me play with his spinner toy all day like a little kid!