Trips, Pics, and Tales

Saturday, June 29th It’s time to go home. I got up early today so I could enjoy the last morning somewhat before the rush of leaving. I got up and dressed and then sat out on the beautiful terrace. Our apartment was perfect. Our entire trip was amazing. One that I will never forget. I hope the kids have memories that they won’t forget as well.  People often say they get to go on trips of a lifetime. In this case, I think ours really was. There was nothing I would have changed. Looking back, every single day was perfect. We are lucky. Very lucky.  Alessandra came by the apartment right on time, at 8:30. She did a quick run through and told us that we left everything just perfect. I could tell she was pleased. She returned our security deposit. I told her that if we ever returned, we would certainly stay here!  We walked out the giant doors and our driver from Rome Cabs was waiting right there for us. Right on time, at 8:45. We left Rome, and arrived at the airport....

We did it, we navigated the streets of Rome, in the dark on our own!  We made it to the Trevi Fountain, which if you can manage to get past the craziness of the crowds and the people trying to force roses upon you…is really a stunning site all lit up at night!  Alex, Megan and I made our way down to the actual edge and tossed in our coins. We will be back! This was our insurance!   You know the legend right? Toss one coin in the fountain and you guarantee a return trip to Rome!  Two coins and you come back and fall in love, three coins and ...well this is where it gets a bit fuzzy.  I've read that you'll get married, and I've read you'll get divorced.  But the one that's always consistent is one coin and you come back! And then just go toss as many as you want, and then  Euros are donated to the local food bank or to the poor, and foreign coins are donated to the Red Cross. It was a crazy mad scene though!  The crowds were tight an...

I left off after our fantastic trip to Fallo...here we are, our last evening in Rome! Our trip is coming to an end, and fast! We returned to our apartment and had some time to relax for a bit. We looked through the various booklets that Alessandra had left us and tried to decide where to go for dinner. We had recommendations from our guide yesterday, Mike, and we also had our list from our first night – our tour with Bruno. So many options! It was our last night – we wanted it to be special. While we tossed ideas around I also did most of our packing. I didn’t want to have to come back tonight and deal with it.  We knew one destination for sure tonight would be the Trevi Fountain. So off we went, walking towards that direction. We had the address of one of the restaurants that Mike recommended, a place called Macerone. This would have been perfect yesterday! But they only had pasta – makes sense given the name right? We all had pasta for lunch and while really I wouldn’t have h...

So, we left the courthouse in Fallo, with an escort from the Sheriff so that he could show us the house, the house that was owned by my ancestors! – the American family escorted down the street…what a sight we were!  We followed behind our new friend, the Sherriff of Fallo, and our guide for the day, Vincenzo. The Italians started looking out their windows – who were these people in our town? He’d call up to them – in Italian – you could make out some words – “America” “DiVito” “familia” And then an “ahhhhh”! He’d ask them if they knew Patrizio – well of course not – he left in 1910! They did know the DiVito who recently passed away though! They’d wave to us and smile!  So we walked up to the house – it was charming! Lovely! It’s currently vacant if anyone is looking! We walked through town... We saw the town church – it’s beautiful inside! Then the sheriff left us to just wander around the town a bit. It didn’t t...

After some lively conversation between the man we found in the court house and Vincenzo, of which we could understand not really one single word, the gentleman went to find the County Clerk. She came back all smiles! My mom and her got along as if they were separated at birth. However, neither could understand a word the other said! Not one word! As I stood there it was as if I was watching a movie – we walked into the room with these big books and boxes of records…. As I look back at this picture, I have to wonder just what was going on here!  G-pop took the picture and that's Vincenzo there in the hallway behind us.  Remember, he's our translator!   Now, you see Mimi is obviously talking to our County Clerk friend, and Megan and I are deep in thought trying to figure out just what is being said, because I know the only words my mom knows in Italian are words for food!  Think pepperoni, prosciutto, ricotta!  It's such a serious picture! So at some point,...

This is it!  The big day!  The day the entire trip was based on really!   It’s the day we’re going to Fallo! This is the town where my great grandfather was born. And it’s actually the town that several other relatives came over to the US from as well.  But  today is also our last day in Italy. Such a bittersweet day, I'm not ready to go home! This has truly been the most amazing time ever. Anyway...on with the story!  This particular adventure is going to have to take more than one post.  It was quite an adventure going to Fallo, a tiny village in the Abruzzo region of Italy! Originally we thought about driving to Fallo on our own. It’s a good thing we didn’t! Not because of the drive, but as we’d later find out – we would have been absolutely lost once we arrived! As luck would have it, during my research I found out that Rome in Limo, one of the most commonly used tour companies for cruise passengers, happens to do a tour called “Back to ...