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Giovanna and Family, and Lunch in Sant'Angelo

While we were staying in Mondavio, we had arranged to meet Paul's cousin Giovanna and her 3 sons for dinner. We were on our way to pick up a few appetizers when we got the call: they had COVID. First one, then another, but finally they all recovered and we were able to meet. We had supper at Osteria Dalla Peppa. You might recall the 'pasta magician' we saw in 2018. This restaurant is associated with that pasta shop. Here are the 3 boys (if we can call them that; they are all adults): Nicola, Davide, and Filippo. We had met Nicola back in the States when he was much younger. We met Filippo last year. This was our first opportunity to meet Davide.

Three young men sitting at a restaurant table. In the background a waiter is at a table with two customers. The walls show some exposed old stones and some plaster.

There must be something about the name Filippo. This cousin also knows many people around town and at restaurants, just like Paul's other cousin named Filippo. He is the oldest of the three, and was just finishing recovering from shoulder surgery. Nicola is the middle boy; he works in computers maintaining hospital computer equipment. Davide, the youngest, does animation and graphics. Here is our group for the evening: Nicola, Davide, Filippo, Giovanna, Paul, and Anne.

6 people at an oval table, with some appetizers on the table that consist of cheese and flat bread.

On a different day, Giovanna and Filippo met us for gelato (the Italian version of ice cream). They brought us to Gelateria Pino Bar. We were told that this the oldest gelateria in Fano, and is known for having a lot of flavors and, if you want, some fancy sundaes. We went relatively simple, but the dishes were still pretty fancy.

Oblong metal containers with various fancy looking flavors of ice cream.

Paul, Giovanna, and Filippo sitting at two small round tables with some ice cream in fancy glasses. Filippo is drinking a beer instead of having ice cream.

You might recall that Doni is from Sant'Angelo (where Paul's grandfather was from). Doni and Francesco brought us to have lunch there one day, and we were able to meet some long-time friends and relatives. Unfortunately we missed most of the names! We ate at Ristorante Vecchia Fonte. The man standing is the waiter. The man sitting on the left in the blue shirt and his wife live in Rome, but she is from Sant'Angelo. He is a retired high school language teacher (Latin and Italian). She is a tour guide for a company called Globus, catering mostly to English speaking people. She said that they actually have a tour that covers all of Italy in a week. It goes from Sicily all the way to Venice. That type of tour does not appeal to us at all. Her mother, who lives about a half hour away now, was also at lunch with us. The man at the far end of the table (who is cousins with the tour guide) and his wife live in Sant'Angelo. At the near end of the table, Francesco is holding a menu. On his right is Paul, who is sitting next to Doni.

A large table at a restaurant with large windows through which greenery can be seen.

After eating at Ristorante Vecchia Fonte, we walked down to the vecchia fonte, or old source.

Three men (a friend, Francesco, and Paul) walking down a paved road with a green hill on the left, some tall trees in front of them, and a sign that cannot be read.

This is an old spring with stonework around it. The sign at the site states that references to the spring date back to at least 1280. By popular account, it was used by Napoleon's troops for their horses.

A u-shaped stone enclosure with a circular pool of water in the middle. It is set into a hillside. Two men are walking on the far side, and Paul is standing on a second level behind an iron picket fence.

Paul reflection can be seen in some glass that covers an opening in the stone wall of a u-shaped area. There is also a window on the left, low to the ground.

We took the short walk back to the downtown, chatted for a while, and visited the house of the couple who live in Sant'Angelo.

Three men standing on a path with angled bricks and a white stone strip down the middle. Behind them a staircase goes off to the left of the photo. In the background the terracotta roofs of houses can be seen.

Francesco, the retired teacher, the local resident, and Paul standing outside next to some planters.

A woman, Doni, Francesco, the retired teacher, and Paul standing next to some planters.

They live just outside of the old city wall, at the top of the walkway heading out to the countryside. We imagine Paul's grandfather walking up this path when he was a child.

Looking over some plants down a long path that leads off to the countryside

Before we left, they took us over to a house where Renato Diotalevi had lived. He was the last Diotalevi living in Sant'Angelo. We do not know what relation he would have to us, if any. This might or might not have been the house Paul's grandfather lived in, 30 Via Sera. Although it has a different address today, they told us that Via Sera once applied to more than one street. It is probably impossible to get this all sorted out due to changes over time. They also told us that the Diotalevi Family was known as 'podere'. That translates as 'small farm' and was applied to farmers that owned their own land. We know that Paul's great-grandfather Alessandro's birth certificate said that Paul's great-great-grandfather Eugenio was a farmer and that Rosa, his wife, was a housewife. Aunt Grazia had told us that Eugenio and Rosa moved from Cerasa to Sant'Angelo di Lizzola. Cerasa is flatter and would have been easier to farm back in the 1870s. Sant'Angelo's land is very steep and would have been more difficult to work. Presumably the land here would have been less expensive than in Cerasa. Perhaps the family could afford to buy some land here, which is why they moved. The two villages are 20 difficult miles away from each other, so the move would not have been done lightly.

A clay colored house on a steep hill, with farm land and village lights in the background.