An Evening Spent in Portalbera

Saturday, March 25, 2011 (Part 5)

Our last night in Italy was spent in Portalbera. Antonia had invited us for dinner. We were picked up by Carluccio and made the short drive to Portalbera where Antonia and Carluccio live with Angela in a beautiful home in the center of town, right across from the church.

Antonia and Carluccio have two children, Lucca, age 22, who is studying business at an English school in France, and Roberta. Roberta is 29 and works for a consulting company in Parma. We were in for a very nice surprise tonight because Roberta was home for a visit, and so we were able to meet her. It was especially nice to have Roberta here because she speaks very good English -- which is always so helpful for me and Katherine. She was able to play "interpreter" for us. We had a lovely evening visiting with all of them.

Carluccio is a very interesting man. As I understand it, he was once a professional football (soccer) player, and he was very good. Nowadays, he seems to have many interests. He is a farmer and owns a good amount of land in and around Portalbera. We drove by some of his fields where soybeans and wheat are grown. Carluccio also has a band! He plays the

electronic saxaphone, and I think he sings in the band as well.

Antonia, like her mother Angela, is a very gracious and wonderful hostess. She served us the perfect, light supper. We enjoyed a wide variety of crudite: celery, carrots, onions, artichokes, etc. We also had some sort of spinach torte and cold shrimp in lemon and olive oil. There were also breadsticks and olives on the table, and we drank several bottles of a local white wine. The bottles did not have labels. I think they were made from grapes harvested from one of Carluccio's properties.

We were also served something sweet. We started with fruit salad and yogurt gelato. This was followed by a peach tart (really beautiful) that Angela made. And finally, Carluccio opened a bottle of Proseco. It was wonderful.

We had the best time visiting with Angela, Antonia, Carluccio and Roberta. It was a lovely evening and a great way to end our day.