After a huge Easter, Frank and I were invited to lunch with another side of the family.  This was to be a smaller affair.  But we should have known – nothing in Sicily is a small affair!  Our first hint was when we picked up Enza, dressed with flair.  : )

It turns out the day AFTER Easter is a big holiday, too – called Pasquetta (or “Little Easter”). 

As the family explained to us, Pasquetta is the day you go to your capagna (or country home) and grill out with family to celebrate the start of Spring.  (We aren’t sure if this is the case in all families, but everyone we know in Sicily seems to have a city home and a country home.)

Enza’s son, Johnny, drove us a little way’s out of town until there were trees and dirt roads, fronted by high stone walls.  We pulled up to a gate, and Johnny picked up a phone.  The gate opened to reveal a very nice country house indeed.

This was the capagna of Johnny’s in-laws (his wife, Monica’s, parents) – with beautiful vistas of the mountains . . .

A swimming pool in front of an olive grove (from which they press their own olive oil) . . .

Lemon and orange trees . . . .

And even a bust of Monica’s father presiding over the compound.

Inside, was a beehive of activity, while they sent Johnny and Frank to the outside kitchen to grill.

We had another feast of the traditional Pasquestta pasta, grilled sausages, grilled ribs, roasted potatoes, strawberries soaked in limoncello, and more tiramisu. 

Buona Pasquetta!