A Walk About Town

 Thursday, Sept 10

Strambino is a small town - about 6,000 people and my sister and husband live in an old house in the center of town next to the main church, Church of Santi Michele E Solutore (church of saints Michael and Solutore). The first stone was laid in 1764 and it took over 20 years to build. Last weekend a celebrated organist from Norte-Dame Cathedral, performed a concert on their grand organ. We were able to watch it live on YouTube so this morning we walked over to the church to have a look at it in person. It is massive and of course the church is very beautiful. We were also able to see the chapel area where Barb and Antonio were married 48 years ago. 

It was a conducive day for walking so we made our way through town to the market which is held every Thursday throughout the year. You need to keep your wits about you as the streets are very narrow and the cars are driven very fast. The market had an array of things for sale from clothing to fresh produce, stinky fish, cheese and meat. I held back since this is our first day of vacation but we did find our way to a little patio restaurant for a nice Aperol Spritz! Noah and Nathan, Barb’s grandsons came over in the afternoon and we drove together to a neighboring town named Ivrea so that Noah could get some new shoes for school. School starts on Monday (remember when we used to start after Labor Day too?). Noah will start his third year of  high school and Nathan will be starting 8th grade. This is Nathan’s last year at of parochial school which he has attended since Kindergarten. He has to decide what kind of high school to go to next year. There are many choices - technical, literature based, science based (which Noah goes to) just to name a few. 

Later in the day we visited Daniela’s shoe store which is just across the street from Barb’s house. Daniela is my nephew’s partner and she just opened the store this year. It is a beautiful store with wonderful Italian shoes and leather purses. Needless to say I did not leave empty handed! 

The whole family came over for dinner (11 people) and my sister just whipped up a delicious dinner which included fresh pasta from the store down the street. Everywhere you go here there is outstanding food and I think the main reason it is so good is because most food is fresh. I can certainly taste the difference. Oh and there is lots of wine too…I may not leave…