Carter smiled, for he recalled his debate that summer with Giancarlo about which was the tougher sport, football or cycling. He considered asking Giorgio where he thought soccer fell in the mix, but he did not want to stir up any more trouble than he suspected already existed between the two brothers. He kept the question to himself, and the two went on their way home.

Antonella’s mother and father, Silvana and Paolo, who still lived in Castelalto, joined them for dinner that afternoon. They were a sweet old couple, and Giorgio called them Papa and Mama, just as if they were his own parents. Upon meeting Carter, Paolo shook his hand enthusiastically, while Silvana gave his cheek a healthy pinch and a gentle slap before exclaiming, “Che bravo ragazzo!”

They all ate together in the dining room, which was more or less one end of the living room, where the television was set up so that Giorgio could watch the afternoon soccer match while he ate. As they sat down at the table, Giorgio pointed out for Carter the upright piano against the far wall, the same one upon which his brother, Giancarlo, had first learned to play long ago.To all appearances no one played the piano any longer; its primary purpose seemed to be as a place to display the family photographs, of which there were many.

The meal surpassed by far any Carter had yet experienced in Italy. It began with the minestrone, a savory vegetable soup that Silvana had cooked that morning. It was almost a meal in itself.When the soup bowls were cleared away, Antonella brought out the cannelloni, slices of rolled pasta stuffed with beef and pork and covered in what Giorgio called “un bel sugo,” a rich, zesty tomato sauce. By the time this course was completed, Carter was already feeling as stuffed as one of the cannelloni, and so it astonished him when Antonella brought out a leg of roast lamb and a platter of broccoli rabe. Later on, for dessert, they nibbled on fruit and nuts, before enjoying a cup of coffee with a piece of chocolate cake sprinkled with almonds. Lastly they sipped amaro, a thick liqueur that Paolo explained was good for one’s digestion.

Fortunately, the meal had been served at a slow, leisurely pace, which allowed for lively conversation as well as adequate time for one’s stomach to recover between courses. Nonetheless, when it was finally over, Carter could barely stand, and happily admitted to as much.

“That was nothing,” laughed Giorgio. “You should have been here last week, when my daughters, Giulia and Daniela, were here with their husbands.What a feast we had!”

Carter could scarcely imagine it.