FAVAS!
After five hours traveling from LA to Dullus and eight and a half to Italy I'm finally in Rome! I've started this blog to document (for purely selfish reasons) my ten or so months living in Italy. My great friends Jonia and Giorga Fava picked me up at Fiumicino this morning. Revelling at the familiar autostrada scenery on the drive back to their home in Torre Jacova I was exhausted but over-joyed to see my girls. The Fava household has a unique balance of international friends staying at their house right now: six Italians (almost all bilingual), two English, and me, the lone Los Angelina.Needless to say, I'm perfectly at home having already spent a year of my life with an international group of friends int Italy. In the few hours that I've been here (five of them fast asleep in Jonia's bed) I have savored a much-anticipated caprese, caught up with old friends, and munched on concord grapes that are literally growing around the ceiling of the porch. Oddly enough, Italians call concord grapes uva fragola---strawberry grapes.
Why?
I couldn't tell you.
Apparently they're sweet like strawberries but the taste is not at all similar. Oh, crazy Italians...
I've already sacrificed a good twenty minutes of my limited time at the Fava's household, so I'm going to have to cut this post short. In a nutshell, it's surreal to be back in the hills of Rome but only because it feels uncannily like coming back to an old childhood home. I have great company, Italian beer, and just ate a simple yet delicious pesto pasta. I'm so content and I can't properly explain the phenomenon. I guess I'm just home.
~Julia (Giulia?)
