A few if us had our practicum this Tuesday with world-renowned chef, Antonello Colonna. We visited his resort, Antonella Colonna Resort and Spa, earlier in the semester with the whole group and toured the facility. However, this time, we were in a group of nine students and we got to speak with him about his business and passion of food. The group was made up of students in many different majors. A few of us were Hotel and Restaurant Management, Marketing, and Psychology majors. I loved how diverse our questions were for Mr. Colonna. He was very open about his career path and different restaurants. We really enjoyed all that he had to say about his business concepts and love of fresh, Italian cuisine. When we visited the resort the first time, our favorite part was Argo, Colonna’s sweet pup. Colonna informed us that Argo was missing this morning and they were trying to find him. We were sad that we didn’t get to play with him and concerned that he was lost. Finally, Argo returned and we played with him for the rest of our afternoon there. Perhaps the best part of our morning and afternoon came around lunchtime. Colonna treated us to an incredible meal that is worth explaining in detail. We started with a pork salad with fig and a berry jam for the appetizer. It was so incredible and reminded me of the porchetta for which Ariccia is known. Then, we ate homemade pasta with a light and savory mushroom sauce that was out of this world delicious. As if it couldn’t get any better, we then had dessert. I could’ve easily written this whole blog post about the flourless chocolate almond cake with raspberry sauce. It was absolutely decadent and the best part of my week! We were so honored to learn from such an incredible culinary genius and businessman.  The rest of our week consisted of creating our journals for class and spending time in Ariccia. We are all headed out for our mid-semester break tomorrow, but I am sure you will hear more about those in the coming weeks!
Until then, arrivederci!
Maggie Hannum

Marie, Chef Antonello Colonna, and Argo