An outing in the country

We'd been invited by a friend of a friend to come for lunch and a swim at her home in Torri in Sabina. But first, Josh recalled that all the markets would be closed on Sunday so we had to stock the fridge before departing Rome. Also, we needed to get some transformers so that we could actually hook up the vonage phone box. In any case, the point is that while we wanted to hit the road at 10:30am, it was actually 12:30 before we were ready to go.

Twenty minutes outside of Rome and it's hard to believe you've just left a world capital. You're truly in the countryside with green, rolling hills. The drive to Torri was about an hour altogether and very lovely. Nicole Franchini was introduced to us by our friend Tom Masters who is an art gallery owner in Chicago. Nicole grew up in Chicago but has been in Italy for the past 20 years, is married to an Italian, and has two daughters.

We spent a wonderful afternoon having lunch and swimming at the Franchini's pool, with vistas overlooking the Sabine hills. The kids (especially Avery) also enjoyed playing with the family dog, Pepe. The property is full of olive and lemon trees and grape vines as well. We tasted their home pressed olive oil which was delicious - especially on bruschetta with a little garlic and salt.

Among other things, Nicole is a travel writer for the Karen Brown Italy books. The original plan for the day was to take the kids to Bomarzo, a big park with giant "monster" statues. But as the afternoon was getting late, and another 40 minute drive did not appear to be in the cards, Nicole directed us to Casperia, a medievil town a few kilometers away.

So off we went...at 6:30pm. The kids were already so tired that the younger two fell asleep during the 10 minute drive. Casperia - no one's ever heard of it, right? There is no famous church or artwork there. But it is a super charming, gem of a town. There is one (only one) restaurant, and it is situated on a square with 270 degree views of the neighboring towns and hills. We sat outside on this terrace - Really a magical setting. Especially so because the kids could run around while we waited almost an hour for them to make our dinner

It also happened to be the night of the world cup qualfying soccer match between Italy and Georgia. Therefore the owner of the restaurant pulled down his outdoor TV projection screen and so that one and all could come sit outside, have a beer and watch the match. And they did.