Hey, who’s this young lady sitting next to Graziano??

Do you remember that young lady jumping behind Monsieur le Président?

A few months later, we find her again, sitting close to Graziano De Silva, the Head of FAO.

Nobody is safe. Who will be her next target???

Leo, leggi una storia a Tommy?

- Leo, leggi Pablo** a Tommy?

- No
- Perché no?
- Perché Tommy non capisce il francese…*

(*) “Leo, would you read Pablo to Tommy?”. “No”. “Why not?”. “Because Tommy doesn’t speak French…”

(**) 'Pablo il pinguino freddoloso' (Pablo the cold-blooded penguin) has been Leo’s favourite book for long time. Needless to say the book was in Italian… (For those who do not know the story, check the short movie here).

The best sea food meal in a long time! (2)

Even though we have spent more than three years in Rome by now, and even though there are a few places and restaurants where we like to return to, I am not sure we have found our ‘favourite’ restaurant yet.

Except, perhaps, for this restaurant in Sabaudia, about one hour and half from home.

When we feel like we need to stay a bit among ourselves, escape from the kids, and enjoy some peace and fresh air, particularly in winter, we take a day-off, leave the kids to Claudia, take the car and drive south, ‘til the sandy beaches of the Agro-Pontino, where, after a stroll on the beach, we refill to our ‘favourite’ restaurant !

Not bamboccione anymore

Bamboccione was the term with which Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, a former Italian Minister of Finance, defined the typical Italian male of my generation: immature, over-spoiled, overgrown and still living with his parents.

And well, even if I left home back in 1998 after graduation, officially - according to the statistics - I could be considered a bamboccione in all respects.

When I in fact moved back to Italy in 2011 after India, I temporarily shifted my residence at my mum’s in Milan while waiting to find a permanent accommodation here in Rome. When we finally found a place to stay here in Rome, I then procrastinated to register myself to the Rome General Registry Office - initially light-heartedly simply because overwhelmed by other more priority duties, then deliberately after having experienced first-hand the challenges of registering Mathilde and Leo.

Anyway, after almost three years having lived as an ‘illegal’ resident in Rome, and after having contributed for three years to feed the statistics - and the stereotype - of the almost-forty-years-old Italian male still living with his parents, I then decided that time has come to grow-up, leave my motherly nest, and finally join my wife and my kids in Rome.

I would spare you the details of the story of my registration. I would just share this sketch, when I met the lady of the General Registry Office in charge of distributing the tickets with the numbers to regulate the priority access the various counters (the Rome General Registry Office does not have an automatic number distributor - or if it does, it doesn’t work):

- The lady (with a strong Roman accent): “What are you here for?”
- Myself (with a clear Northern accent): “I am here to change my residence”
- The lady: “Are you sure?”

(Am I sure???)

Tommy - January 2014

It's so rare to see Tommy smiling, that when he does it, your heart beat speeds up, your stomach gets sized by cramps, your knees shake, the palm of your hands sweat, you feel breathless - in short, you feel in love...

Best ‘Foto per le mamme’ 2013

And the winner is... Les M&M's in Todi (June 2013)

New Year’s eve chez Les M&M’s

From top/left: Guido, Peter, Sophie, Germana, Federico, Ewa, Marie-Aude, Mathilde, Matteo, Daniela, Alessandra e Marco.

Christmas in Rome

 

We must have been really good in 2013! After having found plenty of presents under the Paris and Milan’s Christmas trees, we found another plenitude of packages waiting for us under our Christmas tree in Rome at our return home.

Three Christmases in one week!

Mare

Il rito del bagnetto (The bath ritual)

Every evening, at seven o’clock, no matter what, Leo & Tommy, as two tiddlers, dive in the bathtub and have their bath…

Three generations of Marchisio (5)

Gli stivali delle sette leghe (The seven-league boots)

According to the legend, the seven-league boots are magic boots that allow the person who wears them to take strides of seven leagues per step…

Come conquistare un nipotino (How to conquer a grandchild...)

We already described high and low, far and wide, Leo’s passion for big, noisy engines (and it doesn’t matter if two- or four-wheel).

You should have seen how his eyes were shining when he saw Nonno’s quad parked in the garage…

But… and the helmet??

Leo & Nonno

L’olivo di Tommaso (Tommaso’s olive tree)

E anche Tommy ha il suo olivo. 

Vicino a quello del fratello, guarda il mare come quello di mamma e papà…

Leo & Giustino

Carrube

Le carrube (or carobs) are the fruits of the carob tree, a flowering evergreen shrub in the pea family.

Carobs are rich of sugars, carbs, calcium and iron, and virtually fat-, cholesterol-, and caffeine-free. They are considered to have anti-oxidant and hypo-cholesterolemiant properties.

Apparently, they taste like cacao.

Donkeys love them!

Tommy & Giustino

And as for Leo’s two years ago, this has been the occasion for Tommy to meet Giustino.

I don't know why, but it seems there is a natural attraction, an innate affinity between babies and donkeys, and we hope this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Les M&M's in Liguria 2013 - Foto per le mamme

Liguria

As a yearlong ‘Groundhog Day’ (Giorno della Marmotta, Jour de la Marmotte), after France and Milan, we went to Liguria, where we spent a few days with Nonno…

The good thing of our now recurrent leg in Liguria is that no matter how cold, grey, rainy or snowy France and Milan are in December, in Liguria it’s always sunny and warm(er) (below you can see the Corsica on the horizon…)

Christmas in Milan

Second leg of our Christmas tour 2013: Milan...

Tommy, Santo subito (a few more pictures...)

Tommy, Santo subito! (Tommy, immediately Saint!)

History is full of Saint Thomases: Saint Thomas the Apostle, one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, best known for questioning Jesus’ resurrection when he was first told of it; Saint Thomas Aquinas, the most important Catholic medieval philosopher and theologian; Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered by the followers of the king Henry II in the Canterbury Cathedral, and many others.

From December we have another aspiring Saint Thomas: San Tommaso Marchisio! 

Constance & Tommy

Christmas in Paris

Our Christmas vacations are always a bit like being on a tour: three cities in five days, do and undo your luggage, load and unload the car, run to and from the airport, etc.

First leg: Paris…