Compleano di Massi

There was a Festa della Sangria held last Friday in a village called Belvedere Ostrense which besides great local food, overly sweet and hang-over inducing sangria, and a DJ playing Latin dance music, was incredibly entertaining yet mostly unremarkable except for the incongruous pairing of a Latin themed Sangria festival being held in a small Italian village. No one else seemed to notice so I just went with it. It was me, Massi, Lorenza and Stefania and we met Lorenzo (who was giving a performance with his dance class) and his wife Veronica (amazing dancer). A long, very late summer night with lots of happy people, plenty of food and some sangria (wait, flip that) and too much dancing.


What wasn't incongruous was Saturday, 17 July, my friend Massi's birthday. To celebrate, he set-up a dinner at a local restaurant and then afterwards we all went dancing at the Passetto at a recurring party that happens every couple of weeks during the summer called "Passetto On The Rocks".

So after a big seafood dinner including (let's see if I can remember everything) raw octopus salad, salmon sashimi, muscles, snails, sardines in lemon and oil, cooked octopus, spaghetti with clam sauce, chitarra pasta with shrimp, grilled seafood platters, french fries and crema catalana we walked to the Passetto where there were two parties going on with separate DJs. The beach at the Passetto is rock, not sand and there are also a lot of large boulders forming a harbor for swimming. One the rocks there were also bars serving beer and cocktails. So, get it: Passetto On The Rocks? Not a bad double-entendre, no?

Eating dinner on the roof of the restaurant as the summer sun set, surrounded by many of the new friends I've made since moving here, and then going down to the beach for a gigantic, outdoor party - with only minor variations it could have been a birthday party in Portland, but as it was, it made me think about and miss the friends I have back home but also appreciate and realize how blessed I am for the new friends and the experiences I am having here.

And what can't and shouldn't be said with words can be summed up with this little number HERE.