Was It Really So Long Ago

By LincolnGreen

Piazza Bellini

Pomezia having been built entirely new in 1939, was rearranged by German bombs during WWII and then rebuilt into an industrial centre in the ensuing years. Piazza Bellini lies close to the centre of Pomezia, holding a couple of dining venues, one informal and the other more formal (although it is known to show important football matches on a big screen, something which in England might be at odds with its formal credentials). I can’t recall its name, but it lies to the right in this picture in the middle distance. 

The less formal venue, Taverna Bellini is much more lively, fully of locals and therefore more appealing to the lone travelling diner such as myself. I’d eaten there before and the food was of a good standard, but I don’t recall there being no menus. The hostess’s English was only slightly better than my Italian, so ordering and agreeing on food choices was something of an ordeal, but nevertheless, just about workable. I avoided the antipasti on account of having dined plentifully at lunch on a traditional Italian Christmas Dinner comprising meat ravioli in a pumpkin sauce, followed by a lentil sauce surrounding some kind of fatty sausage (which was delicious but rather too fatty for my taste) and a most generous slice of panettone, which was sublime.

So for dinner, I was keen to limit my intake, whilst grasping at something I recognized the Italian words of. The first, acqua naturale, followed quickly by vino rosso. Having successfully negotiated around the antipasti (starters), the word carbonara arrived. It was a fine dish, but left me somewhat less than replete, so I settled on the griglio misto or mixed grill, the only dish offered by the helpful hostess. It was modest when compared to similarly described dishes in England and slightly worringly included a sausage, which was pink in the middle. Since it was blatantly pink and not just a slight shade of the colour, I decided this was normal and enjoyed the full extent of the meat accompanied by a insalata mista (mixed salad) washed down with a few chapters of Wodehouse from the e-reader.

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