Our first stop in Italy was to visit our long-lost Mattoni cousins that my mom discovered through family history work 5 years ago. We try to have somebody go visit them every year. This was our year. :-) We wish we had more time with them, but we were able to pack a lot in the few days we did have! Lorenzo picked us up in Rome (a four hour round-trip drive over the mountains) and brought us to his home in Teramo - on the Adriatic coast. They had everything set up for us and spoiled us rotten. Literally. They always treat us like we're royalty and say my mom's name with reverence about 100 times a day. ;-) "Kahra"
Here is Grandma Rosina (Lorenzo's mother) talking to Benjamin, whom she called the "Little Prince." Sara and Francesco are Lorenzo and Flavia's two children.
In the basement of their beautiful home they have an extra big kitchen which has a brick oven in it! They taught us how to use it to make pizza and bread. Lamoni was a pro!
The finished product:
Sara and Francesco playing with Benjamin, who just ate up the attention.
The view of the Italian countryside from their street. We were there for New Year's Eve and the whole valley was filled with fireworks going off! Their house is set a bit higher than this picture so it was a gorgeous view.
In Teramo - the city where Lorenzo and Flavia are from. Their house is in the countryside nearby.
The original arch that was part of the wall surrounding Teramo.
Teramo
They had all of Sara and Francesco's old baby things out for The Little Prince.
While there we visited some other family nearby (not related to the Mattonis as far as we know). We stayed with Pasqualino Falchini and his family the first year after we found family but we didn't know the Mattonis yet. They don't speak ANY English, which is why we stay with the Mattonis now, but we always go to visit them! When I was in Rome with UNM Pasqualino and Rosalia came to see one of our concerts. The lady holding Benjamin in this picture is their niece.
Boy time
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