It was Good Friday in Rome. The streets were abuzz with shoulder-season tourists and the religious faithful riding high from the election of Pope Francis I two weeks prior. While many fought through the crowds in Saint Peter’s Square — in hopes of getting a glimpse of the accessible Argentine pontiff — I found myself a few miles away in the picturesque, cobblestoned Campo de’ Fiori square.

I had come from Milan to take part in a Home Food experience along with my friend Amber, a fellow expatriate in Italy. Home Food is an Italian organization that allows travelers to dine in locals’ homes and experience traditional cuisine and hospitality.

Each cook is known as Cesarina — an old-fashioned Italian woman’s name, which brings to mind the nostalgic idea of a matronly woman who shows affection through food. Those interested in taking part in a Home Food dinner can view the menu descriptions offered by the various Cesarine (or Cesarini, as some hosts are male) throughout Italy and reserve a place at a table via the Home Food website. Meals cost around €50 (roughly US$66) per person1.

After making our way through the famed Campo de’ Fiori fruit-and-vegetable market as vendors dismantled their stands, we arrived at the appointed address. There, we were greeted warmly by Cesarina Hilary, a slender former dancer with a sweet smile. Despite her non-Italian name, Hilary assured us that she is Italianissima (“very Italian”).

We entered Hilary’s home directly into a candle-lit kitchen and dining room with soaring wood-beamed ceilings, where we were welcomed by Hilary’s companion, Luca, a well-known film director.

Luca set about enthusiastically showing us around and telling us the history of the home, which at one time was part of a palazzo owned by the noble Orsini family. Not only were the Orsinis one of the most influential families in Renaissance-era Rome, but they also had much clout in the Catholic Church, with several Orsini males going on to become cardinals and even popes.

Yet the site of the palazzo dates back even further, to the ancient Theatre of Pompey, built in 55 B.C. In fact, columns from one of the theater’s annexes, the Temple of Venus Victrix, can still be seen in various points throughout the apartment; they were maintained as supports when the Palazzo Orsini was built in the 1400s.

Before dinner, Hilary and Luca invited us to sit in the living room and enjoy a glass of wine as we waited for the other guests2.

Back to Italy's roots

Home Food in Italy is not as much a trendy locavore movement as an attempt to safeguard and promote recipes that have been handed down generation after generation in Italy’s various regions, each of which has its own specific cuisine. Indeed, to become a Cesarina for Home Food, Hilary had to prepare a meal for a panel of judges who would ensure the authenticity of her dishes.

In the years since then, Hilary has enjoyed sharing the Roman recipes that have been passed down from Luca’s mother. Their guests have been mostly Americans and Australians. Understandably, Hilary pointed out, Home Food dinners are not as popular with Italians; as the organization’s name implies, most Italians eat this way at home during a typical Sunday lunch.

“These dinners are a moment in time that brings people from different cultures together,” she said. “They give you the opportunity to meet people you’d never imagine meeting, like the five Eskimos who are coming to dinner in a few weeks.”

The American couple that was to join us canceled at the last minute, so the four of us made our way into the dining room for dinner, which featured a menu titled “The mysterious scents of ancient Rome at Palazzo Orsini.” An elaborate table had been set for our feast, with brightly colored, mismatched antique plates and large ceramic candleholders from Caltagirone, a town in Sicily famous for its pottery.

Hilary immediately brought us a selection of Roman country appetizers, including a pumpkin-and-walnut spread, pickled red onions, sundried tomatoes and prosciutto adorned with chives — all made with local organic ingredients.

The smooth pumpkin-and-walnut spread was especially interesting because, in Italy, pumpkin typically tends to be an afterthought in risotto or winter minestrone; here, it received star billing. The combination of the two ingredients was unusual but pleasing, with the sweetness of the pumpkin blending with the nuttiness of the noci (walnuts).

Following the appetizers, our first course was stracceti (wide ribbons of fresh pasta) with zucchini, pumpkin, mint and freshly grated Roman pecorino cheese. The mint added a delightful freshness and made for a dish that was different from anything found in the typical wood-paneled Italian trattoria.

While the abundant portion of pasta could have been a meal itself, there was still the second (meat) course to come, plus salad and dessert, as is typical for a traditional Italian meal. The second course carried the evening’s secondary theme — film — with Picchiapò-style boiled beef, as featured in the Italian movie We All Loved Each Other So Much (a 1974 Rome-based comedy/drama directed by Ettore Scola).

The Picchiapò beef dish — stew-like with onions, tomatoes and spicy pepper — is one of those cucina povera (“poor food”) classics that usually involves recycling leftovers but has made a comeback in modern Italian cuisine.

After Luca explained the dish, he started talking about film sets he’s worked on and some of the famous directors and actors he’s gotten to know. As we moved on to a seasonal salad of arugula, walnuts and pecorino cheese, conversation turned from Luca’s recent projects to the touchy subject of Italian politics.

Thankfully, the dessert course quickly followed, sweetening the tone of our discussion with a ricotta cake featuring pears soaked in chestnut honey, ginger and clove. I had never tasted such flavors in an Italian sweet, but Hilary assured me that they date back to ancient Rome, as ginger and cloves were prized commodities brought from places like India and Indonesia.

After dinner, the couple graciously invited us to choose a movie from their vast collection of Italian classics and watch it on the pull-down screen in their living room, but we reluctantly declined. We had trains to catch the next day, and we also knew that Hilary had a large Easter meal to prepare.

We were heady as we made our way out into the Roman night. It could have been the wine — a Rosso Piceno table wine from a town a few hours outside Rome, near the Adriatic Sea — but more than likely, it was the magic of an unexpected evening full of new tastes and new friendships. Truly like something out of a movie.