On the morning of March 15^th, my grandmother “Nonna Lena” passed away peacefully in her home, on the winery grounds, surrounded by my family. Nonna Lena lived over 96 wonderful years.  A person could only hope to leave behind a legacy like hers. She affected so many lives including family, friends, and scores of customers who visited our little winery where she spent more than 50 years making lifelong friends. Nonna was famous for many things during her life such as her cooking, friendliness, famous “Nonna quotes”, hospitality and most importantly love and devotion to her family, which  all together makes her the most incredible person I’ve ever met in my life!

This past week I spent a lot of time talking to family and friends remembering Nonna. One topic that came up in each conversation was how she had a saying or “Nonna quote” related to almost every situation. If you told her she looked good, she said, “It’s all drug store”, if you asked her about  her recipes she would say, “Oh it’s just the dump method”. Each time the winery was flooding, she would say, “A lot of water is running under the bridge” when she was coming to your house for dinner and you told her what was on the menu, she would say, “I’m like Jesus, I love everything”, and when it was time to go home, she said, “The bus is leaving”. Those were just a few of many famous sayings that I remember.

Cooking was a passion for Nonna and she loved entertaining in her favorite room of the house, “The Kitchen”. From home made ravioli’s and foccia bread to Tortellini soup, there simply was not a better place to eat. To this day when I go out to a nice Italian restaurant, I never order pasta because nothing compares to Nonna’s fresh pasta made from scratch. Nonna always said, “I don’t eat to live, I live to eat”. Along with eating, wine everyday was a must, which she enjoyed up to the day she passed away. I can remember her saying that you should drink wine because water will rust your joints.

As I write this, I see just how much influence Nonna had on my life. I find myself striving to be like her every day; though I know, there is only one Nonna Lena.  However, I won’t give up hope because as Nonna always said, “Apples don’t fall far from the tree”.

For years Nonna would say, “When I get too old, just roll me down to Rockville”.  Well Nonna this past Monday your family rolled you down to Rockville to be with your husband Mario and your daughter Marlene.

Salute’

PS. Nonna, I also got that from you!