Welcome, Friends, It’s so nice you’re here. Today we’re going on a Field Trip to a wonderful Italian bakery. I’ve been studying Italian for about a year now having weekly lessons with a friend and having my Hubby as mentor since he speaks fluent Italian. We were starting from scratch and had to learn the basics before feeling comfortable about trying out our Italian outside our homes. Today we took a “field trip” to a wonderful Italian Pastry shop called “Dolce Italy. It has been in our area for about 10 months.
We prepared a few sentences and set out to use our Italian in a real life situation.
Upon arriving, when the shop opened, we were greeted by Luigi, the owner’s son. He was terrific and encouraged us to practice speaking to him, ordering in Italian and actually having a conversation. Then he took us to a map of Italy and showed us were he was born describing some of the highlights of the area.
We had a difficult time choosing our pastry as they all looked delicious. We asked, in Italian, where their recipes came from and, as we expected, they are his Mama’s. He introduced us to his family and we learned that they were having Pasta Ragu for lunch…homemade, of course. Luigi’s eyes sparkled at the thought of his Mama’s Ragu.
On Saturdays many of the customers are from Italy and spend the afternoon in the shop eating, drinking and conversing in Italian. We were invited to return and join in the camaraderie.
Everything in the shop is made on the premises and, honestly, it was the most authentic Italian food I’ve had since the last time I was in Italy. The cappucino was perfecto!…and the pastries…I had one filled with ricotta and chocolate… the best I’ve had. They were really authentic and absolutely delicious. If you’d like to look them up, if you’re local or planning on visiting Greenville, you can go to their website at: Dolceitaly.us for a closer look. You won’t be sorry.
It was fun to be able to speak some Italian with a native speaker and learn about this little part of Italy in our hometown. Learning a new language can be a bit daunting but outings like this make it fun and approachable as well as absolutely delicious. Ciao!
Oh that sounds like such a fabulous (and yummy!) field trip. The perfect way to practice some of your Italian.
It was, Joanne, and something we are already planning to do again. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Lyne