This weekend around the palace and the apartment, we have been catching up on our sleep from the action packed first week and exploring the town of Ariccia and the neighboring town Albano. Today, Monday, was our first day of classes for the second week. In the first part of our classes today we went to a fresh market that sells fresh fruits and vegetables. This market was equivalent to a farmer’s market in America.
Next, we had our second lesson of “Survival Italian” with Lanie Dakin. In this class time we went into local coffee shops and convenient stores and put to use our Italian phrases we learned in the past week.
Italian class is not the only lecture that we are putting to use outside the classroom. Our lectures from Professor Francesco Petrucci and Roberta Londi on The Grand Tour will prove extremely useful on our excursion to Rome at the end of this week. In these classes we learned exactly why it is that Rome is such a historical city and how fortunate we are to be living here for the summer.
Today was also a day for firsts. We had our first cooking lesson with Chef Amedeo Paoloni. We are lucky to be in the presence of Chef Amedeo Paoloni, the chef at a local delicious restaurant we dined at for our arrival dinner. In this time, we observed Chef Paoloni while he prepared risotto with bacon and artichoke hearts. We gathered around in the palace kitchen, taking in the aroma, asking questions, and jotting down cooking tips. When the meal was complete, we excitedly began to eat and never put down the fork. After the risotto, we had nutella and creme iced cake for dessert. These dishes were delicious, yet simple, hopefully something we can replicate at home and impress our families!

Chef Amedeo Paoloni preparing our group lunch.

The finished product! Rosoto with bacon and artichoke.