La Bella Notte ~ A Classic Romance

A Sicilian Lifestyle Blog

Some years back, Emilia travelled up to Naples to stay with our family and the first stop was Grandma Forte’s brothers house so our Great Uncle (Zio) Vittorio and his wife Great Auntie (Zia) Lucia. What a brilliant couple they are and still to this day a stronger unit than ever before.

They welcomed Emilia coming out of the lift as she reached the top floor of the Italian palazzo with arms and mouths wide open as they gaped at how much Emilia looked (and still looks more and more by the day) like our Mamma (Forte) Strazzanti.

They whisked themselves straight into the kitchen diner where an array of savoury food was awaiting Emilia’s arrival. They chatted in a mixture of English and Italian as Zio & Zia used to live in the West Midlands too but decided to move back home to Naples a few years after they had arrived.

Now after a couple glasses of vino and lots of laughter and crying from the good old memories, the photos of Zio & Zia came out from their time in the UK. One of the two of them on Zio’s ‘motorino’ scooter and the other of him serenading Zia with his guitar which he then took out and started playing.

The story of that photo goes that Zia had popped out one day and left Zio with his friend who then tried to make some lunch for them both, which did not go down well at all… Zio ended up burning the back wall of the oven and the entire stove! To say the least, Zia was not happy when she came home, and she told Zio to get out sternly whilst she cleaned up his mess; we all laughed at this because Zia has such an adorable character, so her being so stern is just not natural!

Zio tried to calm and smooth things over with Zia whilst she cleaned up his mess in the kitchen. Zio began to soothe, sway and sing away with his friend outside the flat with his guitar looking up at Zia as she looked out the balcony down towards him and took the photo we are sharing with you today.

They smiled, laughed and danced the rest of the day away and ate a great plate of spaghetti and meatballs, which of course Zia cooked. The story just reminded us of a childhood film we grew up with the classic ‘Lady and the Tramp’ moment where they ate spaghetti and meatballs whilst being serenaded with the music of “Bella Notte” (beautiful night).

So here is our ode to our Zio and Zia’s classic romance and a beautiful night, and in memory of this story, we want to share with you our recipe for https://www.strazzantisicilyexperiences.com/editorial/pasta-spaghetti-e-le-polpette-valentine-special/”>Pasta Spaghetti con le Polpette to serenade the loved ones in your life, with good wine, pasta and music.

Salute e Buon Appetito!

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