Last night Cousin Tullio asked me if I had a car (he doesn’t) and whether or not I had been to the cemetery yet. A visit to the cemetery is just something that you do when you’re here. I assured him that I would take him this morning, so he met us at the hotel, and into the Fiat we all jumped to pay respects to the ancestors. We did a little cleanup and worked together to repair a footing at the door to his chapel where his wife, Marina, rests, along with his parents and grandparents. We chatted about our family history, as we usually do, and departed with our sense of family well intact.
On our way back to town, we stopped at the museum to see some artifacts from old Alfedena . An unexpected stop, but very interesting. Glad we stopped there.
After the museum, what else…? FOOD!! Cousin Tullio insisted on buying us lunch. Can’t say no; off we go. 
I still had more visits to make, so after lunch Jodi and I strolled over to visit with my wonder friend Adele. I call her zia Adele but she isn’t my aunt, only a warm and lovely lady that anybody would love to have as a relative. She is the type of person who makes you feel like she waited all year for your arrival.
Zia Adele speaks faster than any Italian I’ve ever met. But what is interesting is that I understand almost all of everything she says. I think maybe it’s because I don’t have time to try to figure out nouns and verbs, I just get about every 5th word and the conversation flows. Our visit together is always a highlight of the trip.
Next we strolled back to the hotel for awhile because we had plans this evening to pop a bottle of Asti with Cousin Tullio. Let me rephrase that… Cousin Tullio had plans to pop a bottle with us. He is so happy we are here that he is taking advantage of every minute he can get. I told Jodi we only needed to have a quick drink to make him happy, and then we could scoot out. I’m thinking by now Jodi might be on Tullio overload so I was hoping not to stretch this out. (Think again.)
Cousin Tullio started proposing toasts to everybody; our children, Jodi’s grandson, Dennis, the family, Pucci the cat… That was really unfair of him. You can’t start toasting people and walk away. So we didn’t. We finished the bottle. You win, Tullio. We surrender.
On the way home we stopped for a pizza. Jodi was pretty full from all the cookies that Cousin Tullio feed us with the Asti, but I went all in. Pizza was delicious. I should know, I ate most of it.
Tomorrow… off to Orvieto.
Alfedena AQ 