Pre-trip work!

 April 2, 2025  Last Day in Italy 😢 

Today, we said goodbye to the acquaintances we made in Varese. We like to frequent the same shops and shop owners get more and more friendly each time we come in, even the ones that don't speak English! The lady at the coffee/pastry shop had our morning order memorized very quickly. We never learned her name but when I told her, through Google Translate, that it was our last day, she hurried around the counter and gave me a most sincere hug goodbye! 

The cappuccino lady.

We walked home through the pedestrian gate. The whole gate opens for cars.  I wanted to show that process. We only had to do it when we took the car out. The alleyway is narrow and a blind pull out. Collin is giving Rod the "all clear" signal. 

Collin coming through the pedestrian gate.

We had a little time hanging out with a fellow guest, John, from Madison, Wisconsin. He's had a very busy life! He had taught French at the college level and was in the process of learning Italian. He was looking at apartments to buy while staying at the villa. He currently works in computer coding. He was a lot of fun to talk to! Here he is playing piano.

Click on me for John playing

Next stop was our favorite gelato shop. It was family run and the grown son, Frederico, was fluent in English because he attended an international school in Spain when his family lived there. His dad is Italian and his mom is from Argentina. He patiently coached us in our Italian when we ordered. Here we are practicing our orders in the car before we went into the shop.

Frederico and the gelato gang!

We topped off the day with one more Italian dinner out. We asked John, our fellow guest at the villa, to come along to visit further and to be our translator. He was happy to help out the best he could. We walked a little ways from the villa for our 7:15pm Wednesday night reservation. They take reservations because Italians take such a long time to eat dinner, it's a single seating operation. A dining table doesn't turn over several times in a single night like America. We were there until 9:30 and they were beginning to close down. 

Here comes the fun part! The chef brought out a raw, grey, slippery, whole fish in a pan for our approval and wanted to know if he could cook it for us. It would serve four people. (Paul and Clare opted not to come with us.) We said yes. It was a Branzino fish, or European seabass. This is a picture off of Google.

Then he disappeared for awhile and we ate our pasta course, drank wine, and talked. The chef re-appeared with a very large pan, steaming hot with a white "log" in it. It was the fish completely covered in crusted salt. See the video to find out what happened next!

After the fire went out, the chef abused it to break it free from it's salty prison, click the link below to see!

Breaking out the fish

He scooped out most of the salt crust, picked the fish off the bones, and plated it up. It was served with vegetables. The chef's parting words were, "Only oil!" (Olive oil.)

The veggies.

The fish. Sooo goood!

The chef.

John from Madison, Wisconsin

Rod diving in.

Collin reaching for his fork.

One thing I have been waiting to share on Italy are the names of streets. Apparently, "Maple Street" is just too boring, I guess! We don't think the Google Maps lady is pronouncing them correctly either. Just a hunch.

Finally, here is our wonderful hostess, Valentina. An avid gardener, a soprano in her husband, Adriano's, choir which takes them to Milan every Wednesday for a two hour rehearsal, and still working as a literary agent besides running the Airbnb.

Thank you, Valentina! It's hard to say good bye!