Liz Ann: The BEST Pizza Ever...truly

A couple of weeks ago my favorite students in the whole world invited me to one of their houses' for dinner. And it was absolutely amazing - Fiorentino is a true pizzaiolo!
I teach Fiorentino and Giovanni for an hour once a week at the school where they are both engineering professors. They are beginners, although Fiorentino worked selling tickets at the Duomo for a few years so he knows lots of useful phrases like - how much? where is the bathroom? how many steps to the top? Giovanni wants to learn English to help collaborate with other schools in Europe and both of them have plans to travel to the US next year - but mostly, it's just a fun new hobby for them.
Really, we just end up talking about whatever random topic of the week comes up - weather, Berlusconi (always highly entertaining since they are on opposite sides of the political spectrum), Fiorentino's flying hobby or his orchard, the best places to visit in Italy, my weekend travels, their weekend plans, their wives, my family, etc. I get to practice my Italian and they are improving their English slowly...it's always one of my favorite hours of the week!..

Fiorentino has been wanting me to come out and see his house and orchard and his wood-burning oven for a while - and we finally found a time to make it happen. Giovanni's wife, Laura, is from Finland and she had a friend and her daughter from Sweden visiting - so we all went out to Fiorentino's house in Montespirito.
A bellisima casa!! It was built in the 1500s and is very large by Italian standards. Two stories and a basement and an old wine cellar. It was a beautiful Spring day and we enjoyed sitting outside and talking - English, Finlandese, Swedish, Italian - I always love the mix of languages. Added to that, their friend and his Brazilian girlfriend stopped by so we had plenty of nationalities covered..

This is the wood stove that Fiorentino built in the basement. He is amazing! He had made the crust earlier in the day, since true pizza crust needs a whole day to rise. Then we sat and watched while he rolled out the crust, added the sauce and the cheese and the toppings and put it in the oven. We ate enough pizza for 20 people between the ten of us! They just kept on coming.. First, foccaccia, then pizza margherita, pizza alla cipolla, pizza con proscuitto e funghi, and pizza napolitano (without the sardines for me)...amazing, every single one of them (and I had them all). Although we were all stuffed, we also managed to finish off the night with nutella and marscapone pizza for dessert.