I am now 87 years old, and living in a nursing home, unfortunately I have Alzheimer and can’t write or speak, but my oldest granddaughter Loredana will be my hands in writing to you.

I was born, strangely enough, in a hospital (strange because in those days children were delivered at home) in Morciano di Romagna, a small town by the river Conca, in the province of Rimini. I was a beautiful girl, and very much courted by the local young men.  I fell in love and married my late husband Agostino when I was only 16.

It was 1937, two years before WWII broke out, and before Agostino had to go  to fight in Northern Africa.

When he returned, we opened a small wholesale business of fruits, vegetables and oils. I became the mother of four, and worked alongside my husband and three of my children until I became ill about ten years ago. My other child, my oldest, Marisa, immigrated to the United States with her three children in 1967- I almost died of grief, when she left, thinking I would never see her again, America seemed so far away, but I gathered all the courage I had and after six months took an Alitalia flight and went to Brooklyn to make sure she was well. Fortunately she was also able to return to see me every year.
It is her daughter Loredana who is writing for me, my first grandchild and the one I handed down all my recipes to, not in written form, but engraved in her heart. I hope you enjoy them.

We have chosen to tell you about what I prepared for my son’s wedding, in 1965, which we held in our home. I can tell you I cooked while crying thinking of my 20 year old son already married, it is possible that a few of those tears of joy  acted as an additional condiment to the dishes, because they seemed tastier, or maybe it’s because the entire family was around my table…

Pranzo di Nozze

At weddings in Romagna, in the old days, and for modest families who could not afford to go to a restaurant with the entire clan of hundreds of relatives

(my husband alone had 15 brothers and sisters)

the menu was:

Antipasto:
Culatello, prosciutto and salame served with bowls of fresh pinzimonio
Crostini with fegatelli insaporiti
Frittatine miste (some with onion, some with mint) and some with the seasonal herbs available

Primo Primo (first first dish)
Cappelletti in brodo di capone

Primo Secondo (first main dish)
Carne lessa accompagnata da patatine lesse ed erbe saltate in padella

Secondo Primo
Lasagne verdi al forno

Secondo Secondo
Pollo, faraona, coniglio e cosciotto di capretto al forno insaportiti con rosmarino e alloro accompagnato da insalata e verdure in gratin.

Dessert
Frutta di stagione
Torta nuziale (pan degli angeli farcita con glassa di zucchero e vaniglia bianca)

e confetti a volonta’

Il tutto annaffiato da Sangiovese e Albano