Catalina’s family was from Monteriggioni, a small town in Tuscany. They moved to US right before Catalina was born. When she grew up it didn’t come as a surprise to her family that she loved food and wanted to be a chef. Even though her parents loved their new country, they truly believed that no one cooks like a true Italian. When Catalina finished her sophomore year in college they told her to take a break and send her to study, as they said, real cooking, in Florence, Italy for a year.
Catalina spoke fluent Italian so it wasn’t too hard for her to blend in. She always called that year the best year of her life. She learned how to make home made pasta, meat sauce, marinated veal, and many other authentic Italian dishes including their deserts. Year was coming to an end. Catalina only had a few days before her plane would take off and take her back to America. After her last day of classes she decided to take a walk around Florence before going back to her apartment to pack. It was a hot August day.
The air was thick and full of dust. Catalina was beginning to think that maybe this walk wasn’t a very good idea. And then, out of nowhere, just like a night in shining armor, a white Cadillac pulled up next to her. The window rolled down, Catalina’s heart skipped a beat. The culinary school she was attending was owned by one of the most famous restaurants in Florence – Cantinetta il Francescano.
Alberto was the head chef in that restaurant. He was gorgeous, smart, funny, amazing chef, rich, and he owned a vinery and now this amazing man was in the car in front of her asking her to dinner. Without thinking twice she got in the car. Alberto has seen Catalina a few times around school. Something in this Italian-American girl has caught his attention.
Alberto gave Cataltina a beautiful bouquet of white roses. She kept pinching her every few minutes. Maybe this is just a dream? Alberto took her to a small restaurant in the hills of Tuscany. That evening Catalina fell in love.
They sat at the table in the garden and looked into each other’s eyes. They drank wine and soon she didn’t know if her head was spinning from alcohol, from hot thick air of Tuscany or from a beautiful man sitting in front of her. After dinner they went back to his place. He had a Villa in Monteriggioni. How ironic, she thought. They had more wine, walked around his vineyard, and talked about their very different lives. They watched steaming hot sun set behind hills of Tuscany. Alberto offered to take a swim in his pool. Their first kiss couldn’t have been any more perfect. They kissed in his salt-water pool, under the stars of Italy. Catalina said that that night was pure magic.
Catalina and Alberto only spend ten hours of their lives together. Before she left, he pulled her close to him: “Please don’t leave. Stay. Stay here with me.” The crazy thing was, that she actually considered staying. But then thoughts of her family, her friends, her life, her career, all of them, like little bugs clouded her head. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”
Catalina left. Few hour later she boarded the plane and in just eight more hours she was in New York. When Catalina told me the story, the first thing that came to mind was “Why didn’t you stay?” The story just seemed so romantic, it was a true fairy tale. Time passed and Catalina still said the she has found the man of her dreams. His name was Alberto and he lived in Italy. She dreamed of going back to Italy and this time staying with him in his villa. However life gets busy. She had her exams, graduation, interviews for a first job….. time flew and Catalina was still here and Alberto was still there.
They wrote to each other for a while, but like it always happens, letter became more and more rare. That sleepy morning, when she was getting ready to leave and Alberto was pulling her back into his bed, maybe she should’ve taken a risk and stayed in Tuscany. Unfortunately she can’t turn back time, and now she will never know the ending to a love story when an American girl stays with the man of her dreams in Italy.
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