his terrace overlooking the landscape of Villa Ada

…of 35 planned interviews with five generations of people living in Rome (about how they organize their homes and lives around food, their memories and current thoughts on Cucina Italiana/Romana, and how things are changing) was a fascinating two hour conversation with a distinguished 92 year old Italian film director who recounted amazing tales of growing up in rural Italy where farmers went door to door selling their homemade goods, including a particular ricotta that he has a strong memory of – but mostly it was the aromas (rather ‘profumo’ in Italian) he remembered, of the various lost foods which he can still smell, but no longer exist as they did when he was young – the tomatoes, the breads, the olive oils, the wines, the potatoes, the eggs – and then later stories of his early days in 1940’s Rome and the shock of all of the strong tastes that his Tuscan palate was not used to – but it was his off-hand remark “Quando mangio qualcosa buona, io sono più buono” towards the end of the conversation that will stay with me. (a bit more on the book)