It's Italian

It's Italian

Fernando and Isabella Angelica are one of many married couples who live in a small country town not far from the largest city in Italy. Rome is a beautiful place to visit. Their marriage was a traditional cultural ceremony that every other Italian couple went through in their town. It was important to them to keep the tradition alive. Anything other than holding to tradition was often looked at to be going against the family’s heritage.

One of the main types of careers or vocations in life was to maintain the family’s vineyards. Every generation of Fernando’s and Isabella’s families was responsible for raising grapes. Grapes, for those of this small town, were a way of life. To imagine any other career was considered in bad taste.

Isabella and her husband had five children, two of which were teenagers named Aurora and Miguel. Their names were chosen by their mother because she wanted them to be special and different from all of the other children in the town. Aurora was a beautiful young Italian girl and Miguel was her older brother. Neither of the children was able to decide if the family business was for them. But in time, they knew that they were expected to take over the jobs of their parents.

As the children grew older, neither of them wanted to take up the jobs in the vineyards as their parents expected them to do. Both children wanted to make their own way in life, but they also wanted to make their parents happy. The fact that they didn’t want to continue the heritage of wine-making suggested that they were turning their backs on their family’s world.

Neither of them could think of a way to start a new business, but both wanted to be successful. They often talked about things that they might want to do, but no decision was made that made sense. Their parents had the vineyards where the family raised grapes to make wine that had the family label on the bottles. Bottle after bottle was filled with perfectly aged red wines and shipped throughout Italy and beyond.

But Aurora was better at making pasta. Her bother agreed with her that she was one of the best in the town to make all types of pasta for many different dishes.

“Oh, Maguel, come taste my pasta,” stated Aurora as she walked from the stove to the table carrying a large plate of freshly made pasta.

After watching and listening to Aurora make such a scene about her pasta, Miguel had to have a plate to eat.

“Yes, Aurora, this is terrific. But, you know how much Mother and Father wants us to work in the vineyards.” replied Miguel as he raised his fork filled with Aurora’s fresh pasta.

Their mother, working close to the kitchen, heard her children talking in the kitchen. She came in and found them eating pasta instead of getting ready to go pick grapes as they usually did every afternoon after school. Both of the children were startled because they knew their mother had heard them talking about the pasta and maybe starting a business of their own making pasta to sell.

“We love the vineyards Mother, but we want to have our own pasta shop where we can make pasta and serve it with the wine you and Father make here from the vineyards,” said Aurora as she lowered her eyes.

Looking at her children, Isabella knew they were telling the truth, but to go against family tradition, well, that was very serious. She knew she’d have to talk to her husband to explain what the children were talking about doing. If their father heard them making plans to do something different from making wine, a family tradition, his heart would be broken. For the Italian family, their wine with their name on the label was a family business that went back hundreds of years in the Italian wine business. Like many other vineyards in the country of Italy, it was always a success.

Italy was known for many things, but one of the best items is its wine. For centuries, Italy grew grapes and along with the business also grew the well-known names of the families with their names on the label. For Fernando, his label was important to him. It had to be one bottle to show people who made the wine and where it came from in Italy. He helped his father who helped his father keep the wine flowing for many years in the same little town. To think of any other business for the family to get into was unheard of.

At dinner time, Isabella and her husband, and their children gathered around the big table and prepared to have their evening meal. It was at the dinner table that the family talked about things going on and about how the grapes were doing. Fernando always wanted to talk about his grapes. Today, there was another topic that would be talked about. It wouldn’t be about the grapes or the wine, but about the pasta that Aurora made for dinner. It was very good. She worked hard to make it the best she had ever made.

As Aurora served each person, she asked them what they thought of her food she’d prepared for dinner. She was sure they would have something to say. She was ready for what they might say, but she hoped they liked it.

“How’s the pasta?” Aurora asked as she looked around the table at each person.

“Is it good? I made it myself!” she said as she smiled at everyone.

“What do you think of it, Fernando? Do you like it?” asked Isabella as she looked over at her oldest daughter. She knew Aurora wanted to start a business of her own with her brother’s help, but if her father didn’t agree, then her dream would all fall apart.

“I think it tastes great Aurora, may I have some more?” asked Miguel as he raised his plate and waited for Aurora to put some more on it.

“Fernando, Aurora wants to start a business making pasta. She and Miguel have been talking about it for two weeks. What do you think?” asked Isabella as she looked over at her husband who was not saying a word. He was eating homemade pasta.

A few minutes passed and each of the children told Aurora how good the food was and how much they liked it. Everyone but her father wanted to know when she would start her business. It wasn’t hard to see that Fernando was not interested in Aurora’s pasta dreams. He sat still for a long time at the table with the family.

“What about the vineyards, Aurora? You know you and Miguel are next in line to take over the wine business. Are you not going to help me? How can we continue the family name on the bottles of wine if you and Miguel do not help me?” asked her father.

“Fernando, Miguel has come up with an idea that will keep the wine business going in the family’s name. He wanted you to let the next oldest in the family take over the wine-making when he’s old enough. When he takes the business over, Aurora and he will have the pasta restaurant, sell the family wine there, and have the pasta sold with the family name also. It will be printed on the bags for all to see.” said Isabella as she turned to wait on Fernando to reply to what she had just said.

It was very quiet around the table as Fernando thought about what his wife was telling him. His wine would continue to be made by his third oldest son, while Aurora and Miguel sold her pasta with the family wine at their restaurant. Aurora would sell her pasta in bags with the family name on the label of the bag. It was a good idea. Both the vineyard would continue to make money and the family name would be on two different things, the wine and the pasta.

It was a good idea for the whole family. The two children were starting a new tradition.