When I travel to Italy, it feels like coming home…..not because I am not proud to be an American – I AM! 1/2 of my family is still in Italy and the other 1/2 is here in the United States. A lot of the time I feel torn between the two - because I love both families and both countries. This summer was so special to me because my kids were going to experience the home my mother grew up in; the home my sisters were born in and the authentic Italian food, language and love that has surrounded me my whole life. We were just a few miles from Marano Marchesato!!!
It is also such a place of heritage, family memories and stories….stories that I have heard since I was a baby about my mother and her sister, Maria growing up in Nonna’s house.
One of the most special stories my mother told me and my sisters over and over is of a regular day in their little house in Marano Marchesato.
The winding cobblestone streets and little alleys with freshly washed clothes fluttering on the line and the wafting scent of the day's fresh pasta sauce simmering in the kitchen would be as vivid for me as my mom told it as if I was actually there!
She told us that our ma and aunt were upstairs playing while she was downstairs sweeping the steps (for any of you Italians out there – you will understand just how important that job was!!!! 
) A beggar was coming down the street and my Nonna yelled up to her daughters to get the money that was on her dresser for the unfortunate man. Kids being kids, my mom and aunt grabbed the money and threw it over the balcony to the waiting man below. As he stooped to retrieve the coins, my Nonna said “Don’t you dare pick up that money” and called her girls to the street. She told them to pick up every single coin and to hand it to the man with respect. After the man walked away, she said, “You must always give with grace and respect because you can never understand how hard it was to ask for help. It is a honor and a blessing that we are able to help someone.”
I have always remembered that lesson – and my mom, aunt and all my sisters did too. And here we were, in Italy – standing on that EXACT SAME BALCONY!!!
Looking down on those COBBLESTONES
where the lesson was taught all those years ago. Life really is a circle and now I stood there with my daughter and sons and told them the story again.....and now I have told it to you..........I hope it made you smile. 
Xoxo A
P.S. The church that is pictured in the "Welcome to Marano Marchesato" is 900 years old. It is where my mom and dad got married and my two sisters, Dina and Maria Grazia were baptized!