The Italian wedding!

On Thursday evening I celebrated a wedding Mass here in Rome.  It was for a couple from Holy Angels - Catherine Lanzilotti and Eric Schober.  Three of the Lanzilotti clan were there - Catherine (of course!), Christine and Christopher.  Also present was Henry, a young man from Chagrin Falls.  The wedding was beautiful.  Held in San Giovanni a Porta Latina, it was a little church not far from the Circus Maximus.  The wedding was held a little after 4:00 p.m.  The sacristan, a little old lady in her 80's or 90's, greeted me but spoke very little English.  I spoke very little Italian so we were a good match for each other.  She prayed the rosary in Italian.  I prayed the rosary in English.  When the wedding was completed, she took my hand, led me over to the fresco of the Virgin Mother, and we held hands together, singing the Ave Maria in Latin.  It was definitely one of the beautiful highlights of the wedding for me.

Later that evening - at 8:00 p.m. we met in Trastevere (a neighborhood of Rome) where we gathered Eatwith.com"  It's a wonderful movement that gathers people around local tables and cuisine as they are visiting foreign places.  There are a handful of such spots in Rome.  You sign up online and never quite know who the other visitors will be.  We gathered with 13 people in total.  A couple and a friend from San Francisco.  A single woman traveling from New Mexico and a young couple from St. Louis, Missouri.  There were six in the wedding celebration group.  It was a spectacular night.
for dinner in the home of a woman whose name is Barbara.  Barbara is part of an international movement called "

We began with appetizers of puffed pastry with mushrooms and bruschetta.  Then we moved too the pasta dishes - lasagne with a white mushroom sauce, stuffed tomatoes with rice, homemade gnocchi with a green olive sauce, veal with potatoes and red peppers. With wine, wine and more wine!!!  To top it all off, she had an Italian creme cake which was awesome.  It was topped with 3 gummy figures - one representing bride, the other groom and me!  We didn't leave her home until Midnight.  It was awesome.  If you'd like to see a video of Barbara and her work, check it out here: http://www.eatwith.com/host/3875/.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Eric Schober!!!!!