Roma: Day 3 Angelo's Villa

 What is more Italian than eating spaghetti at an Italian Villa with an 85 year old Italian gentleman that used to be a race car driver.  The Answer is NOTHING.

 Sometimes you just get lucky in life and that is what happened to us here in Rome.  We are staying at a nice but inexpensive hotel.  The reason it is inexpensive is because of its location.  We walk each morning to the metro station and it takes about 45 min to get to the center of Rome.  The great thing about this is we meet the real people of Rome and not just stay in the touristy areas.  On our very first day waiting at the Metro stop we met a very nice man named Angelo.  Steven got to talking to him (Steven speaks Italian by the way) so as we waited they talked and after about 10 min this nice old man, Angelo, invited us to come out to his home on Thursday for lunch.  I was a little nervous (my American brain was thinking "what if he is an axe murderer") but knowing the hospitality of the Spanish people as well as the Italian people I put those fear aside and we reserved this day for him, and we were not let down.

We took a short Metro ride out to the outskirts of Rome and Angelo met us at the stop.  He walked us back to his home and was so funny because he would take a few steps and then stop and explain something else to us or tell us a story.       His home was beautiful with a large wall around the entire thing and the home next door was his sons.  The entire house was surrounded by wonderful patios.  The house was really two different building, one was the kitchen and the dining area and the other the living rooms, study and bedrooms.  It had a beautiful covered breezway between them.  It was the most picturesque italian home, we loved it.  He is a retired race car driver and now owns a race car driving school that his son now runs.

 After we got there and Angelo got us settled he told Steven that I would stay at his home with the kids and Angelo and Steven would go buy a few things for our meal.  Okay,  The kids and I stayed in this wonderful home and played outside in the nice warm sun.  We had room to run and play and the children found ample things to entertain themselves.   During this time Steven went on his own adventure with Angelo.  They stopped at the local market to get the most divine pork for us (seen in the picture below) as well as cured pancetta (yum)  They were gone for a good hour maybe more but it was the experience of a lifetime for Steven and we were plum happy back at the house.

 Then when we got home Angelo invited me into his Kitchen to come and cook with him.  We cut onion and garlic together and he showed me how he makes spaghetti sauce and his spaghetti.  It was so cool.  (and Super delicious)

Then we sat down to eat a 4 course meal in the sunshine of his patio.  We started with the spaghetti, then had a pork roast with bread, then cured pancetta with more bread, and finally a red orange.  They really tasted so different than a normal orange almost like a fruit punch.  I was so full by the end of this meal I could not eat one more bite and it was all so delicious.
I could go on and on about this day and this meal and how nice Angelo was to us.  He could not have been more hospitable. It really was the highlight of our trip to Rome.
He invited Steven and I to come back to Rome next year without the kids and he would put us up in his beach house.  Love the friends we make as we travel the World!!