Carnavale!

This fine settimana was very unique. The train each way was 5 hours. Il mare (the sea) was absolutely stunning. Rita recognized me from the train window and was beaming as she swept me into her arms. I'm really getting spoiled with quasi royal treatment over here. 

The weekend took and unexpected turn when Rita's mother broke her arm on Friday, so a lot of plans changed accordingly. Rita was at the hospital a lot so we didn't get to spend a lot of time together this time. I'm excited to come back in the summer so I can put that sea to some practical use. Rita did shower me with new clothes and a purse, which was quite a surprise. Belated birthday gifts, I suppose.

Leone is something else. I can see why he likes my grandpa so much. They are kindred spirits when it comes to joking and eating. Leo wouldn't stop talking about Zia Marietta and all the great times they had together. Apparently, she only ate figs. (side note: figs and dates have each become an achilles heel for me so if I ever face off with a Dried Fruit supervillain, I won't stand a grapefruit's chance in a chuckee cheese ball pit.) Dinner on Friday night was very elaborate. Everyone ended up with 5 different bicchieri from all the different types of alcohol we tried. (one white spumante, a red one, mistra, one with dessert, one special one from under the counter) It was pretty wild. For dessert we ordered 7 dolci (for 6 people) and then shared them. My favorite was the coffee creme brulee with cream. mmmmmm

Gionata and Leone were great tourguides of Offida, Grottamare, Ascoli Piceno, and Patrignone (even if they didn't recite the cities' histories from memory like Federico). We saw 4 different Carnavale events during the course of the weekend. There were a lot of cute kiddies in costumes (bambini mascherati) running around throwing confetti everywhere. When I come back to the area I'm sure everything will look totally different, cast in another light of enchantment.