MANTOVA, Italy – Sunday, May 15, 2022 – On our first day in the city best known to the English-speaking world as the place where Romeo fled after killing Juliet’s cousin, we tried to ease into an Italian frame of mind, with a late-night dinner in an ancient piazza, enjoying the still-warm evening air with an old friend.

Grazia, whom I have known since Will and her daughter Chiara started pre-school together at Catlin, grew up 45 minutes away in Asola, where her mother still lives. So she made the trek from her home near the Cinque Terre, almost 3 hours away, to welcome us to Italy and catch up after many months of only the occasional text or FaceTime call. She arrived looking glamorous, as always, in a white T-shirt and jeans – how does she do that??? – with her little King Charles Spaniel, Maya, at her heels. We spent the late afternoon sitting in trattorie, exploring the barrel-vaulted splendor of the Duomo, wandering the medieval historic core, stopping at shops she has known since she was young, as always searching for the best, most authentic foods typical of the region. As you may know, Grazia is an amazing cook (I still remember the lasagne she brought to the first preschool potluck) and an expert on Italian regional food. I helped her edit recipes years ago for an app and blog she was creating, and so I had actually learned about many of the specialties she pointed out – and tasted – as we walked – a rose-shaped cake, an almond confection. I had forgotten the Mantua connection! In any case, it was just wonderful to see her and catch up on her life, her family and her many projects.

We had a very special dinner on the Piazza dell’Erbe, near the old clocktower, after a day that was unseasonably hot and extremely crowded with tourists, many of whom were Italian. It felt more like a crowded Florence in August than spring in an off-the-beaten-path Northern Italian city. However, by the time we had dinner at 8 p.m. (late for us, early for everyone else) it had started to cool down and the sky turned a deep blue, and it was just lovely. Grazia managed to talk the maitre d’ into giving us the best table on the edge of the seating area, with the nicest view and the best air flow.

We ordered the Rice from Mantua, or Risotto alla Mantova, which has a special place in all our hearts. Grazia taught me to make this dish years ago, and it is one of Will’s favorite comfort foods. I always knew I wasn’t making it quite right, since I didn’t have the proper kind of pork, but I wondered how close I was getting to the authentic dish. When the waiter placed the dish in front of us, it looked, well, like Rice from Mantua – the rice had the right shape, the meat the right texture, the taste startlingly familiar. Will seemed astounded that it really was like our favorite dish – we were eating our home cooking in the hometown of Virgil, in a medieval piazza thousands of miles from home. To be having the authentic dish with Grazia herself made it all the more special. After two years of the pandemic, and several more before that of my own surreal cancer trauma, it felt like an experience I would never imagine I would have again in my life. And it felt so normal, to be sitting with an old friend, catching up, enjoying the food and the evening air. So simple. So precious.