Our home exchange there was really a hospitality stay. We had not understood that until we arrived. This means that the host family stays at the home while you are there and, in this case, was like bed and breakfast. Our fantastic hosts, Anna and Nicola, not only provided us with a large lovely bedroom and attached bath but three terrific meals a day and anything else we needed. They were the most charming hosts we could possibly have had.
Their home was very spacious and beautiful and the surrounding gardens were amazing....huge vegetable gardens and fruit trees of pears, figs, olives and almonds to mention a few.
Anna was a superb cook and our main meal everyday around 1:00 pm featured a wonderful pasta dish followed by the main course featuring delicious meat or chicken with vegetables, home made bread, home grown beefsteak tomatoes(the BEST we had ever tasted anywhere), fruit and some of Nicola's terrific homemade wine. An amazing experience every day! Not to mention fabulous strong Italian coffee and Nicolas's home made bread, honey and jam at breakfast Dinner was light and equally delicious with Nicola's homemade pizza(baked in a wood oven that he had built himself), home cured prosciutto, cheese, fruits, bread and wine. Walking in the countryside could barely keep off the pounds.
It is obvious that Nicola was a real Renaissance man in his garden and home growing organically almost everything we ate and building almost everything he needed to do it. He is also a wonderful man of kindness and generous humor. He didn't speak much English but with our struggling Italian we became close friends.
The same with his lovely wife, Anna. She is amazing as well. She is a wonderful cook and keeps a beautiful home; is a retired teacher and mother of two with two grandchildren and also caring for for her 96 year old Mama. She is a warm, loving and caring woman with a joyful personality and ready smile. She claimed not to speak English but after a few days was recalling a huge amount of the English class she had taken.
The best part of our trip is that we have made friends for life and they will be coming to visit us on Peaks Island next summer. I need to start cooking and taking Italian classes asap.
The following photos are of our friends with us, their beautiful home, their lovely dog, Streudel, and some the fruits of their fabulous garden.
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