feature story rough draft

The opportunity of a lifetime is a thing someone cannot pass up, especially when that opportunity is to get married in Italy. When Cassandra and Steve got the chance to get married in Rome, Italy they took it.

 

Traveling was something they always loved to do and they were planning to get married soon. Italy was the perfect place to do it, so they packed up their stuff and went to Italy for a month. They traveled to Germany, France and Italy along the journey.

 

While in Italy they wanted to take their time for sightseeing and went to The Coliseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Venice Grand Canal and The Pantheon over the duration of their stay.

 

There are so many amazing and diverse foods in Italy, mastered over hundreds of years and perfected by simplicity. Italian cuisine is one of the most popular types of food in the world and is known for its taste.

 

“My favorite dish was the pasta e fagioli because it had such a unique flavor and my least favorite was the insalata caprese because it was really salty,” Cassandra said.

 

Cheese and wine are an important part of the cuisine along with coffee and specifically espresso. Some of the most popular foods are pizza and pasta, which is carried over to America and other parts of the world.

               

About 57 million people live in Italy, making for a diverse and unique culture group. Italians are said to be a warm, friendly and loud because they believe in living life to the fullest and love to be around family and friends.

 

“We met a woman at the hotel we stayed at that showed us around Rome and another woman that we met in one of the churches that showed us some of the best food around town.” Cassandra said. “They were all very kind trying to help us get where we wanted to go.”

 

Italy has tons of amazing sights to see like beautiful ancient buildings and the blue waters of the Mediterranean and Tyrrhenian Seas.

 

“My favorite memory about the trip was going to the Vatican City inside Rome. It was amazing!” Cassandra said. Since Vatican City is its own separate country you have to have a passport to get in, even though it is only a square mile big!

 

There are many different customs in Italy than there are in America. For one thing, when addressing someone with a university degree you use the title ‘Dottore’ or ‘Dottoressa’ if it is a woman and if you don’t know their titles you can use signore for a man and signora for a woman or signora.

 

“When you are greeting someone new they say ‘buongiorno’ which means good day and when you are greeting a close friend or young person you say ‘ciao’ or hello and shake hands with the person. When you say goodbye it is customary to shake hands again and say ‘arriverderci’ or ‘arrivederla’ depending on how many people you are talking to. It gets confusing at times.” Cassandra said.

 

Wine is an important export in Italy and is very commonly found in all households. The Italian vineyards are known as some of the best in the world and there are at least 350 common wine grape varieties used to make Italian wines.

 

“One memory I will never forget is walking around the Italian vineyards and watching the vineyard workers collecting grapes and bringing it in to make wine.” Cassandra said.

 

The streets of Italy are narrower than the ones in America so most people walk to where they want to go. There are just a lot of things that are different in Italy than America because it is a different country, but that is obvious with any other country.

 

“In Italy they send a lot of time cooking and their food is so much more rich and organic. Also, everyone in America is always trying to walk so fast, but in Italy life is so much simpler and slow.” Cassandra said.

 

 

There is so much history in the country, especially in Rome, where they got married. The cathedrals scattered around Italy are filled with so much history and are a privilege to go see some day.

 

“We got married in a beautiful church called The Baptist Union of Italy, which was probably one of the prettiest churches I had ever seen.” Cassandra said.

 

There are so many memories of the trip, good and bad, but overall it was something that no one that was a part of the group would ever forget.

 

“I would love to go back soon, especially this was my second time coming since 1998 and I had such a good time,” Cassandra said.

 

Along with Cassandra was her husband Steve, who was the one who organized the trip. He loves to travel and has been to Italy 3 times before this trip, and would still love to go back.

 

“My favorite food was the stacciatella.” Steve said. He likes all kinds of foods and Italian has always been his favorite. Steve also speaks Italian fluently because of his traveling, and actually knows many different languages.

 

Another person who went with them was my mom, which was her first time going to Italy and she would love to go back.

 

“I would love to go back because it was such a beautiful place filled with so many amazing things,” my mom, Rhonda said.

It seems like everyone can find some food to like since there is such a variety in Italy. There are many things to try and love.

“My favorite food was the crostini because they make some of the best bread I have ever had,” Rhonda said.  

The group stayed in Italy for a month, trying to enjoy as much time as possible there while they still could. It was such an amazing experience that has a very close place in their hearts, never being able to forget the carefree and easygoing atmosphere of Italy.